Alibaba’s wholesale platform 1688 announced on March 17 that it will fully remove the “refund only” option starting in late March. Disputes over product quality will now be assessed based on buyer credibility, with eligible cases receiving compensation funded by the platform. Sellers will not bear the cost, and buyers will not need to return any items. Other refund requests will be handled at merchants’ discretion. In February, 1688 vowed to crack down on fraudulent refund claims and compensate merchants who successfully appealed. The platform pledged to prioritize buyer experience and seller interests over revenue. The proliferation of the “refund only” policy among e-commerce platform has been a major concern for sellers. In 2024, 33.96% of complaints on China’s e-commerce dispute platform were related to it. Kuaishou ended its “refund without return” policy in December, while Taobao and PDD introduced measures to limit unfair refunds. [the Paper, in Chinese]
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