Taobao recently announced a series of optimizations to its "refund only" policy, aimed at combating misuse of the policy and enhancing merchants' autonomy in after-sales service. The new measures will be officially implemented from August 9th.
Firstly, Taobao will upgrade its "refund only" identification model to enhance the detection of abnormal behaviors, such as unusually high frequency of refunds, sending empty packages or missing items, and frequent counterfeit goods refund issues. This initiative is designed to reject refund requests with abnormal behaviors, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of both merchants and consumers.
Secondly, Taobao will grant more autonomy to merchants with high comprehensive experience scores. For merchants whose experience score reaches 4.8 points or above, the platform will not actively intervene through Wangwang to support refunds after receipt, but instead encourage merchants to negotiate with consumers first. For other merchants in different experience score segments, the platform will provide varying degrees of autonomous handling rights based on the experience score and industry characteristics, with higher scores corresponding to greater handling rights for the merchants.
Additionally, Taobao has optimized the refund-only appeal process by introducing third-party inspection agencies to conduct random checks on goods. If a merchant's appeal is successful, the platform will compensate the merchant for losses, further safeguarding the merchant's rights.
Through these measures, Taobao aims to protect consumer rights while also providing merchants with a more fair and transparent after-sales environment.