Westerners would never use such a term because it is too obvious. Western companies that perform the same service use the terms ?dating service? or ?introduction service.?

I prefer the Russian term, as it leaves no misunderstanding as to what they are about.

Each marriage agency is located in a specific city or town in the CIS countries and represents the women who sign up with their agency locally. They are usually locally owned. They may or may not have their own website.

Westerners, or Russian wives of westerners, usually own the major agencies whose websites you will visit on the Internet. They are usually affiliated with one or more of the local marriage agencies located in CIS countries.

That is why you see certain cities promoted on their sites. For example, you may see them list women from ten medium sized towns in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

How They Work
The local marriage agencies provide the women. The Western agencies connect them with the men, via the Internet and their website.

There is usually some kind of split that is made when transactions are made over these websites. For example, when you pay for the names and addresses of the women.

The local marriage agencies in Russia make money from the email forwarding services, translation services, and other local services such as procuring gifts for local women. They also make money providing tours and services for men visiting their agency.

Sometimes there are breakups of these affiliations, due to misunderstandings or outright contract violations. I have been in the middle of several of these disagreements.

I had my primary contact with the Western agency, and when their relationship dissolved, the local marriage agency tried to usurp my relationship with the primary agency and contact me directly. It was interesting to watch.