This guide will walk you through refunding or returning items in different scenarios you may encouter during your buying spree in Taobao. There are three main scenarios which you may want to refund or return an item. We will go through each scenario and list out the steps one-by-one to return and refund an item.
You can tap on the buttons below to jump to an appropriate section for your case.
When the item you bought has reached the shipping warehouse, and for whetever reason, you decide you do not want the item anymore, you can send the item back to the seller and ask for a refund of your money. If you paid with Alipay via a credit or debit card as shown in our guide, the money will be transferred back to your bank account automatically in a few days' time.
To initiate a refund and return, you need to go through the following steps :
Open the Taobao app in your phone, and navigate to the My Accounts screen by tapping on the button as shown in the picture below.
Select your item to refund and/or return by selecting your unconfirmed orders, as shown in the picture below.
Before you can get a refund and return the item, you first need to get some information about the item you are refunding, and contact the seller of the item to inform the seller of the refund and return of the items. Tap on the item you want to refund, as shown in the picture below.
Get your item's Taobao order number by selecting the button here, as shown in the picture below. This will copy the Taobao order number. You will need this number to tell the seller which order is yours.
Tap on the Contact Seller button to chat with the seller to request for a refund and return, as shown in the picture below.
You can chat with the seller in the interface similar to the picture below. You can type in your enquiries or requests by tapping on the box circled in the picture below. There are two crucial pieces of information you must get : Seller's agreement for a refund and return, and the Seller's Address. Click here for some examples of lines to use when talking to a seller, where you can copy some sample lines to chat with the seller to request a refund and return. You are recommended to take a screenshot of the seller's address to make filling in the seller's address later on easier.
Now that you have the seller's agreement to return the item and get a refund, you will need to send the item back to the seller. Tap on the back key if you are on an Android, or on the arrow in the top left hand corner if you are on an Apple device to get out of the chat window. Then, tap on the Send back to Seller button as shown in the picture below.
A screen will appear for you to fill in the address of the seller, similar to the picture below. We have labelled it to make it easier for you.
Below is a few examples of China addresses, to help you understand how to fill in the address when returning the item to the seller.
When the item you bought has reached your address, and you decide you do not want it due to reasons, like ill-fitting clothes or the item not working as intended, you can send the item back to the seller in China and ask for a refund of your money. If you paid with Alipay via a credit or debit card, the money will be transferred back to your bank account in a few days' time. However, this is much harder as you will need to send the item overseas and reach an agreement with the seller to refund your money when the seller has received your items.
To initiate a refund and return, you need to go through the following steps :
Open the Taobao app, in your phone, and navigate to the My Accounts screen by tapping on the button as shown in the picture below.
Select your item to refund and/or return by selecting your unconfirmed orders, as shown in the picture below.
Before you can get a refund and return the item, you first need to get some information about the item you are refunding, and contact the seller of the item to inform the seller of the return and refund of the items. Tap on the item you want to refund, as shown in the picture below.
Get your item's Taobao order number by selecting on the button here, as shown in the picture below. This will copy the Taobao order number. You will need this number to tell the seller which order is yours.
Tap on the Contact Seller button to chat with the seller to request for a refund and return, as shown in the picture below.
You can chat with the seller in the interface similar to the picture below. You can type in your enquiries or requests by tapping on the box circled in the picture below. There are two crucial pieces of information you must get : Seller's agreement for a refund and return, and the Seller's Address. Click here for some examples lines to use when talking to a seller where you can copy some sample lines to chat with the seller to request a refund and return. You are recommended to take a screenshot of the seller's address to make filling in the seller's address later easier.
Now that you have the seller's agreement to return the item and get a refund, you will need to send the item back to the seller. Tap on the back key if you are on an Android, or on the arrow in the top left hand corner if you are on an Apple device to get out of the chat window. Then, tap on the Refund button as shown in the picture below.
There are two options you can choose in the following screen, whether to just refund or send the item back to the seller, and when the seller receives the item, a refund will be given to you. In this scenario, we are sending back the item to the seller, so choose the Send item back to seller and refund option, as shown in the picture below.
On the next screen, you will need to fill in the reason for refunding the item. If you have agreed on a reason with the seller, be sure to choose it here. Otherwise, if you are refunding the item for reasons like you do not like the item, or if you have not agreed on a reason with the seller, you can select it here.
Below is a possible list of reasons for refunding you might see for the item.
Select your reason for requesting a refund by tapping the circle next to the reason, as shown in the picture below.
You can also upload any pictures you took to back up your refund claim, and can upload them by tapping here.
After choosing the refund reason and uploading any pictures you want to, you can submit the refund request form by clicking on Submit as shown in the picture below.
You will then need to arrange your own delivery of the item to the seller's address. Go down to your local post office or an international courier service such as Fedex to send the item back to the seller.
This is the easiest scenario to refund an item, as the delivery courier that sent the item to the shipping warehouse will send the item back to the seller on its own. You do not have to resend the item back to the seller, but you need to request a refund on your end.
To initiate a refund, you need to go through the following steps :
Open the Taobao app, in your phone, and navigate to the My Accounts screen by tapping on the button as shown in the picture below.
Select your item to refund by selecting your unconfirmed orders, as shown in the picture below.
Before you can get a refund, you first need to get some information about the item you are refunding, and contact the seller of the item to inform the seller of the refund of the items. Tap on the item you want to refund, as shown in the picture below.
Get your item's Taobao order number by selecting on the button here, as shown in the picture below. This will copy the Taobao order number. You will need this number to tell the seller which order is yours.
Tap on the Contact Seller button to contact the seller to request for a refund, as shown in the picture below.
You can chat with the seller in the interface similar to the picture below. You can type in your enquiries or requests by tapping on the box circled in the picture below. You need to inform the seller that the shipping warehouse has rejected the item, and you would like a refund. Click here for some examples lines to use when talking to a seller where you can copy some sample lines to chat with the seller to request a refund.
Now that you have the seller's agreement to refund the item while the delivery courier delivers the item back to them, you can request a refund. Tap on the back key if you are on an Android, or on the arrow in the top left hand corner if you are on an Apple device to get out of the chat window. Then, tap on the Refund button as shown in the picture below.
There are two options you can choose in the following screen, whether to just refund or send the item back to the seller. When the item is delivered back to the seller, a refund will be given to you. In this scenario, since the item is being sent back to the seller by the courier company, choose the Only Refund option, as shown in the picture below.
On the next screen, you need to fill in the status of the item. Tap to select the status of the item, as shown below.
Select Not Received Items options by tapping on the circle as shown below.
You will need to fill in the reason for refunding the item. Tap to select your reason for refunding by tapping here, on the picture shown below.
Below is a possible list of reasons for refunding you might see for the item.
Scroll down the list of reasons and select Others for the reason for requesting a refund by tapping the circle next to Others option, as shown in the picture below.
You need to fill in the reason for refund by tapping here. The reason for refund is due to the shipping warehouse rejecting the item, which in chinese is 集运仓库拒签.
You can also upload any pictures you took to back up your refund claim, and can upload them by tapping here. Since in this scenario, the shipping warehouse rejected the item, you can take a screenshot of the notice that the shipping warehouse rejected the item and upload it here.
After choosing the refund reason and uploading any pictures you want to, you can submit the refund request form by clicking on Submit as shown in the picture below.
