Terina Nie
The 11.11 shopping festival is coming to an end. Have you purchased anything with large discounts but now think it’s useless after receiving it? Want to return it? The Q&A below will offer some basic clarification of the famous “returning goods within 7 days without any reason” rule.
Q: When does this 7-day period start?
A: The 7-day period starts from day after you received the goods. For example, if you received the online purchase on November 13, the 7 day period will be from November 14 to November 20.
Q: Can all products returned within 7 days without any reason?
A: No. Products customized by the customer, fresh perishable goods, digitized goods such as audio-video product and computer software downloaded online or opened by the consumers, and delivered newspapers and periodicals cannot be returned within 7 days without any reason.
Other than the goods listed above, the rules of “return without any reason” do not apply to other goods that are inappropriate to return, according to their nature, as long as confirmed when the consumers purchase them.
Q: What does it mean by “the goods returned shall be intact”?
A: Goods shall be deemed as intact if they can maintain their original quality and functions and are intact in terms of the components and and trademark symbols.
Opening packages or containers for examination purposes or the reasonable testing of goods for confirming quality and functions does not affect the intactness of goods.
Q: How to judge whether a product is “intact”?
A: Where a consumer uses goods for purposes of examination and confirmation of the quality and functions of the goods, not leading to significant devaluation, the goods shall be deemed as intact. On the other hand, below are some examples of goods that would be considered no longer intact:
-For food (including healthcare products), cosmetics, medical devices and family planning supplies: indispensable and disposable sealed packages are broken;
-For electronic and electrical appliances: repaired or altered without authorization; their compulsory certification marks, indication labels or serial numbers of machine are destroyed or altered; have surficial use traces which are difficult to be recovered; traces of the use of data, such as activation, authorization information, retention of unreasonable personal use of data, etc.;
-For garments, shoes and hats, suitcases and bags, toys, home textiles and homeware: trademark symbols have been taken off or cut off, or the goods are blotted or damaged.
Q: If I have received some free gifts together with the goods I purchased, how should I deal with such gifts when returning the goods?
A: When returning goods, all the accessories as well as gifts (if any) shall be returned together with the goods. Gifts include material objects, store credits, cash coupons, discount coupons, etc.
Q: Who should undertake the delivery costs generated by the return of goods?
A: The delivery costs for return of goods shall be undertaken by consumers, unless otherwise agreed between the operator and the consumer.
Q: When can I receive the refund of the returned goods?
A: If the returned goods are intact, the online seller shall refund the consumer within seven days upon receipt thereof.
Q: If I paid for the goods by credit card and paid corresponding service charges, can those service charges also be refunded?
A: Under this situation, the relevant online seller may only refund payments for the goods, not including service charges. Meanwhile, if a consumer pays for goods by credit card and the corresponding service charges have been exempted by the relevant online seller, the online seller may deduct such charges while refunding payments for the goods.
