Russia: VK now supports payments to e-merchants, online communities

In addition to stimulating social commerce, these features are presented a first step towards transforming public pages into crowdfunding platforms, according to the Russian ecommerce blog Oborot, citing a VK representative. Thus, musicians can raise funding to record an album, while homeowners can co-finance a parking for bicycles by the house. 

Mastercard and Maestro card holders will pay no commission fee, while Visa users will be charged 1% or RUB 40 (approximately USD 0.7) at minimum. The maximum amount which can be transferred is RUB 75,000 rubles, or USD 1,315 at the current exchange rate.

VK users have been able to send money in messages using their bank cards since 2016. The recipient decides on which account the money should go.