Just one day after Taobao, JD.com has also launched a "refund no return" after-sales policy.
On December 27th, it was reported that JD.com has updated the "JD Open Platform After sales Service Management Rules" and "JD Open Platform Transaction Dispute Handling General Rules", adding execution standards that support refunds without returns. The adjustment will take effect on the 29th.
According to Interface News, according to the new regulations, if users have transaction disputes with merchants after receiving goods, the platform supports users to directly receive refunds without the need to return the goods to the merchants. After the refund is completed, consumers will not be able to initiate a return request for this product again.
An insider at JD.com revealed that in fact, JD.com has launched a "refund only" service since 2014 and has been using it ever since. This revision of the after-sales and dispute resolution rules extends "refund only" from JD's self operated business to the scope of third-party merchants.
The well-known "refund no return" after-sales policy in the e-commerce industry originated from Pinduoduo. In 2021, Pinduoduo launched the "Refund Only" service, which means that consumers can apply for "Refund Only, No Return" within 15 days from the date of confirmation of receipt if there are after-sales issues with the order.
Interface News reporters previously learned from merchants and consumers that when Pinduoduo users need to communicate with merchants about after-sales issues, Pinduoduo customer service often intervenes, directly communicating with consumers and processing return and exchange requests.
At the end of this year, Pinduoduo surpassed Alibaba to become the most valuable e-commerce company. Faced with the strong attack of competitors, Jack Ma promised on the intranet that "Alibaba will change", and Liu Qiangdong also vowed that JD.com "will not lie flat" in the low valley.
Nowadays, JD has joined the "refund no return" team, indicating that under fierce competition, the differences between e-commerce platforms are gradually being smoothed out.
The business manager of an e-commerce platform once explained to Interface News reporters that the "refund no return" policy on e-commerce platforms is more to meet consumer needs and provide users with a guarantee of after-sales service, but it may not necessarily have a restraining effect on merchants who produce defective products.
"It is essentially the same as the return rate and has a certain proportion." The person in charge mentioned above said that for merchants who produce defective products, the extreme situation is that the "only refund and no return" part may account for 20% of all orders. Merchants will compress the cost of the 20% return and exchange rate into the cost of the product, and then find a profit point and balance point to make money from it.