电商平台“仅退款”规则的变迁与法律审视

The Evolution and Legal Examination of the “Refund-Only” Rule on E-Commerce Platforms

摘要: “仅退款”规则自2021年由拼多多率先推出，规则设计之初兼顾降低消费者维权成本与商家物流成本，且可通过极致的售后体验帮助平台在存量竞争中取得优势地位，故至2024年，该规则一度成为电商行业的售后标配。但由于“规则滥用者”的出现，规则逐渐异化，商家利益严重受损，电商生态陷入“劣币驱逐良币”的恶性循环。电商平台在监管部门的指导下纷纷对“仅退款”规则进行调整完善，以保障商家的经营自主权。“仅退款”规则作为平台制定的第三方格式条款，应当符合《中华人民共和国民法典》中有关格式条款的规定。“仅退款”规则异化后，该规则明显与公平原则不符，平台亟需完善规则以恢复交易双方的利益平衡；商家亦可根据《中华人民共和国民法典》相关规定通过主张格式条款无效等法律途径保护自身合法权益。

Abstract: The “refund-only” rule was first introduced by Pinduoduo in 2021. Initially designed to reduce consumer rights enforcement costs and merchant logistics costs, and to help the platform gain a competitive advantage in the saturated market through an extreme after-sales experience, this rule had become a standard after-sales practice in the e-commerce industry by 2024. However, due to the emergence of “policy abusers”, the rule gradually became distorted, causing significant harm to merchant interests and leading the e-commerce ecosystem into a vicious cycle of “bad money driving out good.” Under the guidance of regulatory authorities, e-commerce platforms have successively adjusted and refined the “refund-only” rule to protect merchants’ operational autonomy. As a third-party standard term contract clause formulated by the platform, the “refund-only” rule must comply with the provisions concerning standard terms in the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China. Following its distortion, the rule clearly conflicted with the principle of fairness, necessitating urgent improvements by platforms to restore the balance of interests between transacting parties. Furthermore, merchants can protect their legitimate rights and interests through legal avenues, such as arguing for the invalidity of standard terms, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China.