In order to maintain the order of the platform and protect the rights and interests of sellers and buyers, the AliExpress platform has formulated a series of rules. The rules that sellers need to understand before registering a platform account mainly include basic rules, prohibition and restriction rules, and investment promotion rules. Because the basic rules, prohibition and restriction rules, and investment promotion rules involve a lot of specific content, only part of the content of these three rules is introduced here. Sellers can go to the official website of AliExpress to view the content of all rules in actual operation and promotion.
1. Basic rules
Among the basic rules of AliExpress, sellers need to focus on registration rules, certification rules, and store opening rules.
(1) Registration rules
Registration rules include but are not limited to the following.
①The email address used by the seller on AliExpress must not contain any information that violates national laws and regulations, is suspected of infringing on the rights of others, or interferes with the operation order of AliExpress. Otherwise, AliExpress has the right to require the seller to change the relevant information.
②The email address, contact information, etc. used by the seller to register on AliExpress must belong to the seller’s authorized representative. AliExpress has the right to verify the email address, otherwise AliExpress has the right to refuse to provide services.
③ The seller is obliged to properly keep the account’s access rights. All operations and business activities under the account (including but not limited to the sub-accounts opened by the seller under the account) shall be deemed as the seller’s behavior.
④ AliExpress has the right to terminate and recover accounts that have not passed identity authentication or have not logged into AliExpress or Trade Manager (Alibaba’s online instant messaging software) for 180 consecutive days.
⑤ If the seller’s account on AliExpress is closed due to serious violations, he or she shall not re-register an account; if it is found that the account has been re-registered, AliExpress has the right to immediately stop service and close the seller’s account.
⑥ The AliExpress member ID is automatically assigned by the system after the account is registered and cannot be modified.
(2) Authentication rules
① AliExpress platform accepts individual businesses or companies that are legally registered and in normal existence to open stores. It also has the right to verify and authenticate the seller’s subject status, including but not limited to entrusting Alipay to conduct real-name authentication. When sellers who have completed real-name authentication through Alipay bind their AliExpress accounts to their Alipay accounts, they shall provide the real and valid name, identity information, contact address, registered address, business license and other information of their legal representative.
② Sellers who have completed authentication shall not register or use buyer accounts on AliExpress. If AliExpress has reasonable grounds to suspect that a seller has registered a buyer account on AliExpress in any way, it shall have the right to immediately close the buyer’s membership account and conduct market management on the seller in accordance with these rules. For serious cases, AliExpress has the right to immediately stop providing services to the seller.
(3) Rules for opening a store
The rules for opening a store include but are not limited to the following.
① Sellers (whether individual business owners or companies) shall also set up a collection account in accordance with the law. They shall provide a deposit or pay a performance bond in accordance with the seller rules; sellers who have not completed the payment of funds shall not start online sales.
② Sellers agree to deposit funds in their designated Alipay account according to the category (business category) of each store they open, and Alipay shall freeze the funds as a performance bond in accordance with the platform rules. If the seller’s store is settled in multiple categories (business categories), and there are no other provisions in the seller’s rules, the seller of the store shall pay the highest deposit required in multiple categories (business categories). The deposit for each category is 10,000 to 50,000.
③ If the seller who has completed the certification and settlement operation voluntarily withdraws from the AliExpress platform and no longer operates, the platform will stop the category service permissions under the seller’s account (including but not limited to the function of retrieving in-site letters, leaving messages for completed orders, and the function of the store homepage, etc.), and stop store access support. If the seller stops operating on the platform for more than one year (regardless of whether the account is used or not), the platform has the right to close the account.
The AliExpress platform clearly stipulates some prohibited and restricted sales commodities, including but not limited to drugs, easily made-to-drug chemicals and drug tools, dangerous chemicals, firearms and ammunition, controlled instruments, military and police supplies, commodities that endanger national security, and commodities containing insulting information.
In the AliExpress rules, there are also clear provisions for other types of prohibited and restricted sales commodities, which will not be displayed here one by one.
3. Merchant Recruitment Rules
In the merchant recruitment rules, AliExpress clearly stipulates some rules for seller brands and stores. Among them, the most important thing for sellers to understand is the store sales plan of the AliExpress platform, which is similar to the store sales plan of the Amazon platform (professional sales account and personal sales account). AliExpress has two types of sales plans: standard sales plan and basic sales plan. A store can only choose one type of sales plan.