"The other party withdrew a fine from you!"
As we all know, the platform is like a "gold swallowing beast", the fine goes into the pocket, and there is rarely a reason to "spit out".
But recently, many Douyin merchants have suddenly received a refund, behind which Douyin is automatically revoking the merchant's Class B violation fines.
Douyin Class B violations refer to serious violations, including the sale of counterfeit or pirated goods, such as imitation of big brands, celebrities and other products without authorization.
In this regard, many businesses have inadvertently "stepped on the thunder", and Douyin's implementation of the penalty rules has always been strict, whether it is a large business or a small business, it is difficult to be spared, and it is not easy to appeal.
Nowadays, Douyin's sudden refund is really abnormal, and the recent rule changes seem to be biased towards improving the business environment for merchants, why is that?
The deposit is refunded the way it came!
Doudian automatically revokes the Category B fine
Although there is no official document notice yet, according to the feedback of many merchants, Doudian has recently refunded the deposit fined when it was judged to be a Class B violation from March to June due to the blocking of trademarks and unauthorized sales.
Category B violations are also changed to Category A violations.
Source: Douyin
The merchant who received the refund also said that the revocation was passed without any appeal materials, and even many did not need to appeal, the platform automatically dealt with it, and all of them were returned in the same way.
This type of fine is generally due to violating Douyin's "Merchant - Detailed Rules for Selling Counterfeit/Pirated Goods".
According to the existing violation points management mechanism, the punishment for serious violations (Category B) undoubtedly takes the "seven inches" of merchants.
For every 4 points and 8 points of violation points, there will be a penalty of suspension of business for 7 days and a deduction of 2,000 yuan and 5,000 yuan of liquidated damages, and the cumulative 12 points will be refunded, and all the deposits payable will be deducted.
For merchants who have been judged to be in violation, Douyin's punishment is also very severe, and it will generally not be withdrawn.
In addition, the process of merchants appealing is also "difficult to climb".
In the appeal process, merchants need to provide clear and detailed appeal materials and evidence as much as possible to improve the success rate of the appeal.
And the appeal cycle is generally 1-5 working days, and during this period, the merchant may also be in the state of store suspension and product removal, and the cost of each day needs to continue to be borne, and the appeal result is sometimes unsatisfactory.
Source: Douyin E-commerce Learning Center
In order to succeed in further appeals, it is not enough to rely on the platform's internal complaint channels, and it is generally necessary to rely on external forces, such as industry associations or third-party complaint platforms, to intervene or directly complain to government regulatory authorities, which is a long cycle.
For this reason, many merchants jokingly call Douyin a "Somali e-commerce platform".
It is precisely because of this that as soon as the news of Douyin's withdrawal of the violation fine came out, many merchants expressed disbelief and wondered if Douyin was "bug".
Douyin moves frequently: adjust the price comparison system
The revision is only refunded and the deposit is reduced!
In fact, not only is the deposit of merchants refunded on a large scale, but recently, Douyin has also taken frequent actions.
First of all, Douyin has recently further upgraded its price comparison rules.
It is reported that the Doudian has now canceled the price comparison system for some categories such as women's clothing, although the rest of the categories are still in internal testing, but at present, similar lower price recommendations are no longer displayed on the main picture of the product, and the lower price of the same model is not displayed at the end of the detail map.
In addition, the new rules also cancel the mixing ratio between white labels, and at the same time, the price of branded products will be compared with the same brand on off-site platforms.
Secondly, for the refund of many merchants who "hate" only, Douyin has also been revised.
In the latest "Merchant After-sales Service Management Specification", it is clarified that consumers need to communicate and negotiate with merchants before they can initiate a refund only, and the platform's intervention will be weakened.
Finally, Douyin e-commerce also officially announced two new policies: multiple openings for one certificate and a reduction in margins.
The rule of "one business license to open one store" is generally implemented by e-commerce platforms, while Douyin has liberalized to "open multiple stores with one license", that is, one business license to open multiple stores.
In addition, Douyin not only supports some categories of "0 yuan to open a store", but also covers nearly 70% of Douyin e-commerce merchants, and more than 90% of enterprise store categories have a margin reduction of ≥50%.
At the same time, the policy is also applicable to all merchants, new and old merchants are subject to the latest deposit amount, and old merchants can also refund the corresponding amount in accordance with the new regulations.
Under various policies, Douyin seems to be trying to improve the business environment for businesses.
Write at the end
The rules have changed, from the previous "severe punishment and no loans" to the current frequent "goodwill", the operation of Douyin e-commerce is really gratifying, but also a little confused.
What is the reason behind these actions?
One of the most obvious reasons is that compared with other e-commerce platforms, Douyin's rules can be called "day and night", and the continuous revision and change of rules has become the norm, so that the contradiction between the platform and the merchant continues to intensify.
The rules of the platform change too quickly, and there is often a lag in the learning and adaptation of merchants to the rules, and the previous compliant operations will be unconsciously judged as violations.
There are many controversial rules, especially when the amount of fines is large, the reasons for the penalty are often unconvincing, and even the system will misjudge, which also makes merchants miserable, and their loyalty and satisfaction with the platform are greatly reduced.
Merchants who finally leave the store due to the pressure of deducting points, fines, and appeals abound, and the merchant churn rate has increased greatly, which is very unfavorable to the platform.
A more important reason, which has been speculated in the industry, is that the upcoming "Interim Provisions on Online Anti-Unfair Competition", which will be officially implemented on September 1, has a deterrent effect on the platform.
In Article 24, there is a clear wording that "platform operators shall not withhold security deposits by unreasonable settings", and the answer may be found here.
For merchants, although the "open side" of the platform gives us a respite, we also need to recognize that the platform's crackdown on violations has not weakened.
We don't know whether the spring of e-commerce will come, but the iron still needs to be hard.
With the help of external forces, we can learn the rules in time to avoid violations, and constantly improve our comprehensive strength, inject vitality into the enterprise from the dimensions of improving product power, service power, marketing power, etc., and "create" a spring for ourselves.