When you do a refund from Taobao, you get a list of reasons to select from. If you are don't understand Chinese, it may be difficult to understand what these reasons are. As mentioned, it is not easy to ship damaged items back to the seller for a return and refund, especially if the shipping the item back to China costs more than the item itself. In this case, the most likely solution is to simply ask for a refund without sending the items back. Just be sure to communicate with your seller regarding this before sending a refund request.
The picture shows the refund reasons for a Taobao item. Note: These refund reasons list only appear when refunding while item is still in Mainland China.
Default option when rejecting item when refunding a damaged item while item is still in Mainland China. Usually not chosen if trying to ship the item overseas, as warehouse worker will accept the item in place of you.
Usually the default option to choose when requesting a refund, whether the item is still in China or when item has reached you. Sellers would usually ask you to choose this option as it would not incur any penalty points for them if item arrived at your place damaged.
Rarely chosen as warehouse worker will accept the item in place of you.
Chosen when seller does not send out item. May incur penalty points for seller
Chosen when seller claims to have send out item, but no tracking number is given. May incur penalty points for seller
Chosen when package contains no item, or when the amount of items received is less than amount of items bought, but no tracking number is given. May incur penalty points for seller, so most sellers ask their buyers not to choose this option when requesting a refund, and choose reason b instead.
Rarely chosen, only when reason is not in any of the 6 above reasons.