According to China Central Radio and Television's Voice of China's "News Vertical", "the 1,400 yuan washing machine was 'refunded only' because it could not be installed" and "the 9.9 yuan short-sleeved was not liked and was "refunded only"...... Recently, the topic of "refund only" in online shopping has rushed to the hot search many times. Everyone found that the original intention of the e-commerce platform to support "refund only" was good, but it gradually changed in the implementation process, and "refund only" has become a tool used by some people to "gather wool", and many merchants have suffered losses.
Recently, well-known e-commerce platforms announced that they will propose a series of adjustments to "refund only" from August 9. The new policy reduces after-sales intervention in premium stores and gives merchants greater autonomy, while relying on big data and intelligent systems to streamline the refund process and improve efficiency. According to the new regulations, high-quality merchants will not be actively intervened by the platform to request "refunds only". How should platforms balance consumer rights and business fairness?
Qianli Tracking, confronting "refund-only" customers, on short video platforms, some e-commerce merchants recorded the process of chasing malicious "refund-only" users. Mr. Guo, who is engaged in the lighting business on multiple e-commerce platforms, was deeply touched by the user's behavior of "picking wool" and causing losses to normal businesses, and he told us that some customers recently applied for a "refund only" on the grounds that the lamps were counterfeit and shoddy products, but did not provide sufficient evidence.
Mr. Guo said: "The customer said that the ceiling lamp was a fake and shoddy product, and he applied for a 'refund only' without saying anything. At that time, the fire was very big, and the product was finally sold, and we paid a lot behind our backs, and we were very angry. ”
A few days ago, Taobao announced that it will make a series of adjustments to the "refund only" from August 9, and the new "refund only" strategy has added protection clauses for the rights and interests of merchants on the basis of maintaining the original protection of consumer rights and interests. For example, in the testing phase, for merchants with a comprehensive experience score greater than or equal to 4.8, the platform will not actively intervene through Want Want to support the "refund only" after receipt, but encourage merchants to negotiate with consumers first. At the same time, the platform has optimized the "refund only" appeal link, after the merchant initiates an appeal, the platform will ask a third-party testing agency to conduct a random inspection of the goods, and if the test is passed, the platform will compensate the merchant for the loss. In addition, the platform will upgrade the "refund-only" behavior recognition model for goods that have been received, and reject the "refund-only" claims submitted by consumers with abnormal behaviors. In Mr. Guo's view, the platform has taken a step on the right foot to improve the "refund-only" service.
Mr. Guo said: "I think the platform should be even, and it must protect the interests of consumers and merchants. It cannot be said that in order to quickly solve the various demands of consumers, it will break the hearts of merchants to blindly crush the rights and interests of merchants. After the business has opinions, it will inevitably not be able to provide better services to consumers, forming a vicious circle. Whether the appeal is reasonable or not should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and the merchant must also be given the right to express his opinion. I think this is the right direction to use technical means and the optimization of rules to block unreasonable 'refunds only'. ”
The original intention of the "refund-only" service is to protect the rights and interests of consumers and reduce unnecessary returns. Zhuang Shuai, an expert in the retail e-commerce industry and founder of Bailian Consulting, said that in 2021, Pinduoduo took the lead in launching the "special circumstances refund only" mechanism in China, mainly for fresh food that is inconvenient to return and some low-priced goods with a value lower than the shipping cost.
Zhuang Shuai said: "When there are after-sales problems in many categories, they cannot be re-sold, especially commodities such as fruits and vegetables, which cannot be re-sold if they are sent back." Therefore, the original intention is to establish an after-sales service system for specific categories. ”
Zhuang Shuai said that the "refund-only" policy has greatly improved the shopping experience of consumers, while reducing unnecessary transportation costs due to returns. In September 2023, Douyin e-commerce updated its rules regarding "refund only". Since then, Taobao has also changed its dispute handling rules and added a "refund-only" provision. From the end of 2023, "refund only" has gradually become the "standard" of major e-commerce platforms, but this is a measure to improve consumer experience, but it has been targeted by some "wool parties", and all kinds of "wool picking" tutorials have emerged in an endless stream, and even formed a "wool" gray industry chain.
Zhuang Shuai said: "Some 'wool parties', through the loopholes of the platform, carry out 'refund only' operations on other categories, causing losses to many merchants. I've learned that some malicious competitors will do something like this, buy a product from their own competitor, and then refund it without returning, curbing the growth of the competitor. Even some ordinary consumers are involved, and the process takes 'refund-only' away from the original purpose. ”
Imperfect refund-only rules increase merchant costs, which can be passed on to consumers in the form of price increases. Zhuang Shuai said that the biggest problem with the "refund only" service was that merchants did not have the right to dispose of "refund only", and the platform has recently loosened the "refund only" rules to give merchants more autonomy.
Zhuang Shuai said: "Consumers do not need to communicate with the merchant, nor do they need to negotiate the corresponding refund amount, and the default amount set by the platform is refunded, which is the biggest contradiction between users and merchants, and it is also where the loophole lies." Taobao's current approach is to optimize the unreasonable 'refund-only' loophole through experience points, so that high-quality merchants can negotiate with users independently. Experience scoring is also a dynamic process, with a systematic assessment and rating system to delegate different permissions to merchants, rather than forcing the platform to intervene instead of merchants. ”
In Zhuang Shuai's view, the "refund-only" service has its value, and the platform has the responsibility to continue to optimize the strategy to achieve a win-win situation for consumers, merchants and the platform.
Zhuang Shuai said: "I think the 'refund only' form is reasonable and necessary. So far, we have found that 'refund-only' is unreasonable, and we hope to make it better by optimizing and improving it. As a platform, we should realize that merchants and platforms are a community, and they should serve consumers together, rather than causing conflicts and contradictions between merchants and users. There are some detailed rules that need to be optimized and defined according to different categories and different returns and exchanges, rather than one size fits all, which I think needs to be improved at the technical level and at the operational level. ”
Source: CNR