In this study we analyze the major exporting and importing merchants in Bessarabia through the prism of cultural / social anthropology. In other words, we examine the formal and informal practices of the big wholesalers involved in foreign trade, the relations with the state institutions, the way in which this social group carried out its lucrative activities, the interaction with other social groups and their social ascension efforts. As a result of studying the documentary sources, we can ascertain that in the period 1812-1856, in Bessarabia, a large group of importing and exporting merchants was established. However, although they carried out operations of tens and even hundreds of thousands of silver rubles annually, and involved in their activity various agents and commissioners, the great exporting and importing merchants from Bessarabia did not affirm themselves institutionally in the province, that is by establishing trade houses, as in other regions of the Russian Empire. Probably a reason was the fact that being a border province, the import-export operations did not require substantial investments, which would have involved the establishment of commercial enterprises on an associative basis. Another cause could be the instability of the merchants who arrived in Bessarabia, who were attracted only by the privileges granted by the tsarist authorities, but had no plans to stay after their expiration