Advertisement
ByteDance
TechBig Tech

ByteDance’s Douyin makes instant refunds mandatory, following PDD, Taobao and JD.com amid fierce e-commerce competition

  • Merchants selling on the short video app Douyin can no longer opt out of the option to instantly refund up to US$211 before receiving returned goods
  • Alibaba’s Taobao and JD.com recently started offering refunds without returns to woo consumers away from rising budget e-commerce champion Pinduoduo

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
The logo of Douyin displayed next to a mobile phone displaying an e-commerce site on the app in an illustration picture taken on October 25, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Coco Fengin Beijing
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok that is betting big on e-commerce, has made its “express refund” policy mandatory, forcing merchants to immediately return money to consumers upon request to compete with similar offerings on Taobao and Pinduoduo.
The platform operated by Beijing-based ByteDance, which added a shopping channel in 2019, allows users to get a refund as soon as they mail back the returned parcel, rather than when the merchant receives it. A recent policy update regarding the service introduced in 2021 denies merchants the option of turning it off.

E-commerce platforms are turning to policies known as “refund without returning the cargo” or “refund without reason” as part of a push to be more consumer-friendly at the expense of merchants amid intensified competition. Online retail sales of tangible goods in China increased 8.3 per cent in the first 11 months of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Budget shopping app Pinduoduo, owned by PDD Holdings, was the first major e-commerce site to introduce a similar refunds policy in 2021 allowing users to get their money back without returning goods found to not match merchant descriptions. This was seen as a major factor in helping Pinduoduo woo price-sensitive Chinese consumers away from competing platforms.

The policy of allowing refunds without returns has started to gain favour as platforms look for any possible edge over rivals.

Taobao, the e-commerce platform from Alibaba Group Holding, and JD.com last week rolled out their own “refund only” policies, finally matching the option from Pinduoduo. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Douyin has offered refunds without returns since September.

Advertisement