'Refund Without Returns' Temu Ordered to Revise by Chinese Authorities

Controversy Over Policies Disadvantaging Sellers

Chinese authorities have ordered the Chinese shopping platform Temu to revise its refund policy, which had triggered protests by sellers.

According to a Bloomberg report on the 11th, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Commerce recently requested the management of Temu's parent company Pinduoduo (PDD Holdings) to amend the policy of issuing refunds without requiring returns. However, regulatory authorities reportedly did not specify concrete improvement measures or declare the policy illegal.

Pinduoduo had implemented a policy allowing customers to request refunds without returning products. It also maintained a policy that allowed payment holds if customers were dissatisfied due to delayed delivery or incorrect shipments. This became a burdensome disadvantage for small-scale sellers.

Thanks to its customer-first policy, Pinduoduo quickly surpassed established shopping platform giants Alibaba and JD.com. However, as the economic downturn deepened, criticism began to arise within China.

Hundreds of small sellers supplying goods to Temu held a protest in front of Temu's headquarters in Guangzhou in July. The sellers claimed that Pinduoduo was exploiting their profits to fund its capital-intensive global expansion business.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.