Before we begin, I want to give you a pointer that will completely help you avoid being taken by surprise when such a situation arises: Before you decide to order from a particular seller,
- Check whether the AliExpress seller offers return and refund on the product
- If the need to raise a dispute arises, communicate with the seller before raising it to claim a refund or return. Chances are, it will go more smoothly.
- Remember to unleash the ability to screenshot every step of the way. Gathering evidence is the best way to get claims against your dispute.
In the end, you’ll find a special section for all those buyers from Spain who are looking for a solution. Let’s get started.
Aliexpress Open Disputes
Down to Basics: How to buy on AliExpress?
As I mentioned before, one of the first steps in deciding the product you want to buy is to check whether the seller is reliable, has scope for changes and go through the review section. If they check off every item on that list, you can contact the seller in case you have more questions.
As you place your AliExpress order and make your payments through your preferred means, you’ll receive an order tracking number that will tell you what the status of your order is.
What is the buyer protection offered by AliExpress?
As far as possible, AliExpress has taken measures to enjoy the privacy and protection of the buyers. With that in mind, the e-commerce platform has put in place several buyer protection policies to help the buyers.
- For your privacy: Introducing online payment means you wouldn’t have to divulge any of your information to any public platform.
- For payment protection: AliExpress has a policy of holding the payment to the seller until you receive your product and are satisfied with it. You’d have to ‘confirm receipt of your order’, only then will the payment be released to the AliExpress sellers.
- For safe deliveries: The AliExpress standard for delivery is within 60 days, whether you’ve ordered from uS or European countries like Russia or Spain. If your order takes more than 60 days to arrive, you’ll receive a full refund unless it is a natural disaster or some exceptional circumstances that you’ll be informed of.
- In terms of authenticity: Earlier, you could find fake and replicas of branded products on AliExpress. With active effort, the brand has made all the products on the website authentic. In case you receive a fake product, you can raise a dispute and claim a full refund for this.
- Refunds: The dispute process on AliExpress is extensive. If you feel cheated or dissatisfied, opening a dispute opens doors to claim refunds and return the product.
How do you make a claim on AliExpress?
This is the gist of what your disputes page will look like. All you need to do is enter your order number, enter the name of your seller and choose what your claim is. I strongly recommend contacting the seller first in order to avoid unnecessary complications. You are entitled to make a claim and file a dispute if there is an issue in the transit of your AliExpress package, if there is a difference in size, color and other minuscule details of what you ordered vs what you received, and if the order status shows delivered but you haven’t received it at all!
If you’ve contacted the seller, they’re likely to come up with their own solution, that benefits both parties. If you don’t like the resolution they arrived at, you can go ahead and file a dispute. Always add screenshots and proof so that you have more evidence to make your claims.
How to File a Dispute on Aliexpress
One of the things you need to know is what are the grounds for you to be able to open a dispute:
- If your AliExpress package hasn’t arrived yet
- The product you received doesn’t match the description on AlExpress
- Bad quality of the product or that it is fake or damaged
- The delivery method you asked for doesn’t match the one you opted
- The wrong quantity of the products received in the order
- The AliExpress order was placed by mistake
- The same exact product was found on AliExpress (or elsewhere) at a lower price
- The AliExpress user doesn’t need the product since the time the order was placed.
Here are some steps you can follow to file dispute:
1. View the details of your order. Tis screen will open up.
2. Upon clicking “Open Dispute”, you can fill in the details and provide the reason why you’re filing this dispute.
3. If the problem is with the quality and quantity of goods received, add an attachment that has a photo.
If your order appears as delivered, but it hasn’t been, you don’t need to have attachments.
How to deal with complicated disputes?
When you’re personally contacting the seller to resolve the dispute, don’t make any arrangements about refunds. The only way you can get a refund for your order is by filing a dispute.
Another piece of advice about your orders on ALiExpress is to keep checking at least once a week what the order status is. Say, it shows delivered but it hasn’t arrived to you, you need to be able to file a dispute within a few days of the order update otherwise the order is closed and the dispute you file will be invalid.
Claims
Once you file a dispute, it has to be resolved within 15 days. If there is no response and no action taken, the case is automatically handed to the case management team and it turns into a claim.
Under the open dispute bar, you’ll start seeing a “File claim” button, which will pop this dialog box up:
It then directs you to the complaint centre where you navigate and finish your claim. To begin the mediation, you’d need to be attentive and responsive as the Case Management Team reviews your complaint, and you need to ‘respond’ in order to finish your dispute.
In case the mediation process has begun, but you have come to an agreement with the seller, you need to cancel the claim and dispute.
Refunds
You don’t always need to open a dispute on AliExpress. There may be times that you cancelled the order the request has immediately gotten approved by the seller. In such cases, the order can be resolved. Another way where a dispute is unnecessary is when the order hasn’t been shipped within the preparation time specified.
Only if the cancellation is approved do you need to ignore the dispute. Remember that you might cancel the order immediately, but you’ll still be charged first. The refund will make its way back to you in the same mode you aid with, but it might take a few days.
Whether you need to get a refund because you have been sent the wrong order, or because you cancelled your order, or because there are damaged goods, they will all be handled the same way. The same payment mode that you used to make the purchase will be credited with the refund amount.
Under the payments section if you scroll down, you’ll see a tracker that details out the status of your refund. The first one indicated that you are waiting for your refund, the second indicates that the refund is being processed and the third indicates that the refund has been made and you can finally close this chapter.
Returning Products on Aliexpress
There are a few things you deserve as a buyer: To not bear the cost of shipping when returning especially when the order sent to you was wrong or damaged or not what was described in the product description.WHile opening a dispute, you can mention that you seek a full refund for the order.
Another way of getting free returns is if you send back the product you ordered within 15 days of delivery. The conditions are that it has to be new and unused. Make sure you check before you buy. Different products, even from the same seller, can have different rules. This feature is only allowed in some countries such as Spain, the uS, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Israel, Canada, UAE and Germany.
All that said, there are still sellers on AliExpress that will charge you for the return and you will have to assume the shopping cost. Now it is up to you, whether the refund is worth the price of the shipping. Some sellers publish an ad saying ‘Natural returns for free for 15 days”.
How to claim a refund from AliExpress is you’re from Spain
I have received a few questions about what the return system would be if a buyer wanted to return the product from Spain. The process is the same, but to make it easy for our buyers in Spain, here are some screenshots:
I really hope this guide helped you understand the nitty gritty of claims, disputes and refund on AliExpress.
