AliExpress is one of the most popular online shopping platforms in the world, offering a wide range of products at affordable prices. To ensure the safety of the marketplace and other users, the platform has terms of use and a list of rules that must be followed by all parties involved in their interactions.
When a person creates an account, they sign a virtual contract «Terms of Use» with AliExpress and agree to comply with all the provisions of this document.
However, most buyers do not even think about or know the current AliExpress rules. This fact can lead to unexpected consequences if they are violated, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
The rules are written in legal style, which can be difficult to read. That is why we have independently and carefully studied the entire document, and are ready to share our analysis, the most important excerpts, and simpler formulations.
AliExpress Rules for Buyers
AliExpress reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to temporarily or permanently disable a buyer’s account, as well as all associated accounts.
In doing so, the marketplace does not assume any liability or reimburse any losses or damages arising as a result or in connection with such actions.
In fairness, it is worth noting that such conditions are contained in the rules of 99.99% of websites and companies on the Internet. This is how they protect themselves from possible lawsuits. In practice, the above-described restrictions on AliExpress are applied exclusively to those users who ignore the document.
1. Personal data
By registering an account, the buyer agrees that their contact information will be included in the AliExpress database, and the user authorizes AliExpress.com and its partners to share this information with other users or use it in accordance with the marketplace’s privacy policy.
AliExpress has the right to request additional identity documents to verify the information in the buyer’s account. Ignoring such a request from the marketplace administration can result in the loss of access to the account.
2. Making deals between buyer and seller
AliExpress.com provides an electronic web platform for the exchange of information and the conclusion of online transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services between buyers and sellers. The marketplace reserves the right to limit certain capabilities and features of the platform for certain of its participants.
Buyers and sellers are fully responsible for establishing and complying with the terms of transactions that are conducted on AliExpress. This includes, but is not limited to, the terms of payment for orders, returns, warranties, delivery, insurance, fees, taxes, property rights, licenses, penalties, permissions, processing, transportation, and storage.
3. Purchases from multiple accounts
Multi-accounting on AliExpress is the use of multiple buyer accounts by a single person in order to obtain various benefits or circumvent restrictions imposed by the platform.
AliExpress’ terms of service prohibit the creation and use of multiple accounts by a single user for the purpose of fraud or violation of the terms of use. The marketplace insists that each buyer have only one active account.
Multi-accounting can include creating multiple accounts to avoid restrictions or to obtain additional discounts and bonuses that may only be available to new users. It is also often used to circumvent the limit on the use of coupons and promo codes in orders.
Violation of this rule is punishable by cancellation of the buyer’s rating, temporary or permanent blocking of the account. One of the possible restrictions may also be the blocking of the ability to pay for new orders, and a sign of sanctions is an error – SC_1.
4. Buyer Protection Program
If a buyer has problems with the delivery or quality of an item they purchased on AliExpress, the buyer has the right to open a dispute and request a refund.
A request for a refund or partial refund must have grounds and evidence, and can be submitted during the Buyer Protection period (usually 90 days) and 15 days after its completion. If the buyer did not open a dispute and did not request a refund within the specified period, they no longer have the right or grounds to send such a request.
In addition, if the decision is made that the item needs to be returned to the seller, the buyer must send the order back, and only then can they claim a refund.
Forbidden
- Open a dispute to get revenge on the seller;
- Open a dispute when there are no real reasons for it;
- Open a dispute for the reason «Item not received», although in fact the package was received;
- Claim that the item does not match the description on the product page, although in fact the purchased item fully meets the stated characteristics;
- Open a dispute if the buyer has already received a refund or a chargeback through a bank or payment system;
- Blackmail the seller by opening a dispute in order to receive additional goods and components or a discount on subsequent orders;
- Initiate the opening of several disputes for the same reason.
5. Published content
AliExpress allows users to publish content through personal messages, reviews, questions and answers, and other methods. This includes photo, image, audio, video, and text content.
Forbidden
- Spam and advertising (cashback services, price comparison tools, etc.);
- Fraudulent or misleading information or fraudulent offers;
- Indecent, sexually explicit, or harmful to minors information;
- Information that is discriminatory or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age;
- Offers to buy or sell goods outside of the AliExpress system;
- Information that violates international and local laws;
- Threats, insults, profanity, or hate speech;
- Direct or indirect links to any websites that contain any content that may violate these rules.
6. Reviews
6.1. Extortion through order reviews
Buyers are prohibited from abusing the order review system. One form of such abuse is extortion and blackmail through reviews. This means that a buyer cannot threaten to leave a negative review if the seller does not fulfill requirements that were not part of the original purchase agreement.
Forbidden
- To threaten to leave a negative review for goods, components, or services that were not specified in the product description, or are not included in the cost of the purchased product configuration. (For example, when a buyer requires a case or headphones to be included with a mobile phone that are not included in the phone’s stated configuration).
- To demand a refund for a product, component, or service that is not listed in the description of the purchased product;
- To make other unlawful demands.
6.2. Manipulation of reviews for orders
The AliExpress system allows users to evaluate the practice of cooperation, which affects the rating of both the buyer and the seller. Therefore, manipulation of reviews to raise or lower the rating of the seller (store) is also considered abuse of the review system.
Forbidden
- To leave fake positive reviews in order to improve the rating and reputation of the seller, as well as to obtain privileges on the trading platform;
- To leave positive reviews about the product, while indicating in the rating (1-2 stars), in order to deliberately lower the rating of the seller. In addition, it is prohibited to reorder the product in order to harm the reputation of the seller by publishing negative reviews;
- To sell, buy, or exchange reviews for goods and services;
- To create multiple accounts in the system to inflate the seller’s rating with positive reviews;
- To ask and motivate other buyers to leave a false review about the seller;
If a buyer has any problems with their order, the first step to resolving the issue is to contact the seller.
Every buyer is required to comply with these rules, otherwise their review may be removed. In addition, as punishment, the account may be subject to a number of other disciplinary measures, including restrictions on your rights to purchase goods, as well as temporary or permanent blocking of the account.
Punishment for violating the rules
AliExpress reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary to prevent violations. The marketplace may send a warning letter to the participant if their violations are considered minor, and also prohibit access to the platform if the violations are considered serious. In addition, all incidents are recorded, and the AliExpress decision will be final and will not be subject to review.
AliExpress administration can punish a buyer for ignoring and violating the rules of the platform with the following disciplinary measures:
- Revocation of the buyer’s rating;
- Temporary account suspension or restrictions on the use of some functions;
- Permanent account suspension without the possibility of recovery.
In the event of a blocked account of the violator, the administration may impose sanctions on other accounts that contain the same delivery address, payment details, IP address, email address, and registration data. Punishment of linked accounts (different accounts within the same family) is applied at the discretion of the AliExpress administration.
Information from «AliShop»
The AliExpress buyer rules described above are copyrighted content. The copyrights to the content belong to the editorial team of AliShop.
Категорически запрещено использовать информацию из этой страницы без указания активной, заметной и индексируемой ссылки на первоисточник – https://en.ali-shop.net/aliexpress-rules.
Last change: 23.12.2023
Source: Terms of Use and other pages AliExpress.com