Kakobuy Spreadsheet Seller CheckThe return promise belongs to the seller
Most buyers read the five-day return guarantee as an agent feature. The official terms describe it differently, and the difference is the whole of round four. In the help centre's own words, the guarantee is a special after-sales service offered by sellers on third-party platforms. The agent relays your request and negotiates on your behalf, but the final result is subject to the seller's decision.
So the guarantee is a property of the shop, not of your account. Two listings with identical photos can carry completely different after-sales positions: one shows a promised-returns badge whose terms you can check; the other shows nothing, and every problem turns into a negotiation with no rulebook behind it.
Between two shops that survived the first three rounds, this is the tiebreaker, and it usually is not close.
The clock
A hundred and twenty hours from check-in
The window is precise. Requests are possible within five days after the order status changes to stocked in, counted from the next hour after the change, which comes to a hundred and twenty hours. The terms note that some products carry seven to ten days and that the final refund period depends on the order. The clock starts at the warehouse, not when you happen to look.
Two seller-choice consequences follow. First, a slow dispatcher does not cost you return time, because the clock waits for check-in; but a slow QC review on your side does, so open the photos the day they land. Second, the guarantee only helps if you can act on it, which means the QC photos and your saved buyer photos need to be ready for comparison the moment the window opens.
| Situation | Who pays the return legs |
|---|---|
| Wrong item sent, visible damage at check-in, courier damage | The published terms treat these as non-customer causes; have the cause and applicable costs confirmed for the actual case |
| Change of mind, listing had free shipping to the warehouse | You pay the shipping back to the seller |
| Change of mind, no free shipping offer | You pay both legs: the seller's original shipment and the return |
| Monthly service fee on top | First return or exchange each calendar month free; then tiered fees in yuan rising with frequency |
The fee schedule lives in the official terms and is dated there; the tiers have been in force since September 2018, and Prime members are excluded from the first-free rule. We list the structure rather than every number, because the structure is what affects seller choice.
Exclusions
Products the promise never covers
The terms carry an ineligible list, and it decides more seller choices than buyers expect: custom-made goods, items with tags removed, second-hand goods, products from outside mainland China, undergarments, adult products, food, books and newspapers, and opened products in the special-standards group. The listed guarantee does not cover those cases; ask what other remedy, if any, the seller offers for the exact item.
Read against the five-shop tie, the exclusions shift weight. If you are buying in an excluded category, round four cannot rescue a bad shop, so rounds one to three have to carry the decision alone. If you are buying in a covered category, the badge becomes the single most valuable thing a listing can show, because it gives an eligible request a published procedure, without guaranteeing the outcome.
The terms also say what eligibility requires: the seller offers guaranteed returns, and the item stays in a resaleable condition as the seller defines it. Keep packaging and tags intact until the window closes.
Before you pay
Cancellation is a seller question too
The official cancellation article walks the stages one by one, and the wording shifts as the order moves: the agent cancels for you, then the agent negotiates for you, then the seller decides. That drift in verbs is the clearest summary of why seller choice belongs before payment.
The return promise has an earlier cousin: cancellation. The official cancellation rules run by order stage. A paid order can be cancelled through support; at processing, a cancelled order refunds to your agent balance; once mailed, the outcome depends on the seller and return freight may be deducted; once in the warehouse, the return and exchange rules above take over, again subject to the seller.
Notice how quickly the decision leaves your hands. After the seller ships, every path runs through the seller's willingness. This is why the four rounds happen before payment: they are the only stage where you choose who you will be negotiating with later. The manual lane, Fill & Buy, has no cancellation after payment at all, which is one more reason to prefer a seller on a platform the agent reads automatically.
Put it into practice
Confirm the remedy before purchase
Ask whether the exact variant is eligible, which costs you would pay, what evidence is required and when the request window starts. Customisation, sealed goods and seller-specific exclusions can change the result even if a badge appears.
Eight-step ordering guide →A seller reply contradicts the return badge
Ask which condition applies to the exact item and variant: for example, whether the selected colour is made to order even though the main listing displays a return badge. Save the relevant listing terms and the written reply together. A generic badge and a specific exclusion should not be averaged into a reassuring score.
If the reply remains unclear, keep the listing unresolved in the comparison. Choose another eligible shop or postpone the purchase if a return option is essential to you. After arrival, describe the actual mismatch with the commodity order number and relevant photo; a return request is still a request until the seller or agent confirms the next step.