In cross-border e-commerce, common disputes include delayed delivery, out-of-stock, mismatched goods, damaged goods and quality issues. When encountering these disputes, cross-border customer service personnel need to communicate with customers in a timely manner and strive to resolve the problem through negotiation. If the two parties cannot reach an agreement through negotiation, they can apply for arbitration to the platform, and the cross-border e-commerce platform will make a ruling after investigating the evidence of both parties.
1. Out-of-stock
The number of goods received by the customer is less than the number indicated on the order.
If such disputes need to be escalated to the cross-border e-commerce platform for a ruling, the seller needs to provide the shipping receipt and weight description within 3 days from the date when AliExpress notifies the seller to provide evidence, including photos of the weight of a single item, photos of the weight of the entire item plus the package, the shipping receipt and the parcel weight certificate issued by the logistics.
In such disputes, the seller needs to bear the risk: if the seller fails to provide proof of no shortage of goods within the deadline, the share of the undelivered goods in the total amount of the order will be refunded to the customer, that is, the amount corresponding to the number of short goods in the order will be refunded.
2. Inconsistent Goods
Inconsistent Goods means that the goods received by the customer are inconsistent with the description of the corresponding product details page on the seller’s platform, which generally involves one or more of the following situations.
(1) Color mismatch: refers to the color of the received goods not matching the product description (picture, text description).
(2) Size mismatch: refers to the size of the received goods not completely matching the product description.
(3) Product packaging mismatch: refers to the inner packaging of the received goods not matching the description (no packaging, inconsistent packaging, damaged packaging and stains). Product packaging refers to all packaging of the product itself (excluding the outer packaging used by the post office or the seller).
(4) Brand mismatch: refers to the brand of the received goods not matching the brand described, or the brand of the product is missing.
(5) Model/style mismatch: refers to the model/style (performance, specifications and size of the product) of the received goods not matching the product description (picture, text description).
If such disputes need to be escalated to the cross-border e-commerce platform for arbitration, the following are what the seller needs to do in the face of such disputes: the description of the product displayed by the seller on the platform shall prevail. The seller needs to ensure that the description information of the product (including the product title, product details page description, etc.) is consistent. If there is any information contradiction or misleading tendency, the platform reserves the final right to adjudicate the dispute; if the seller has clearly reminded the customer that the product may have color deviation or certain errors before the customer places an order, and clearly stated the size of the error, the seller must provide the communication record of the relevant reminder as proof within 3 days from the date of AliExpress’s notification.
In such disputes, the risks that the seller needs to bear are as follows.
(1) If the seller’s product title, picture, and description clearly state the product model, it is assumed that the product has all the functions of the model. If the customer complains that a certain function is missing, the seller will bear full responsibility.
(2) According to the proof provided by the customer and the seller, if the goods do not match the seller’s description, it is the seller’s responsibility. The customer has the final choice of the handling method. The customer can choose a refund plan or a return plan.
(3) If the product page has multiple models and colors, but the customer cannot choose the model and color when placing an order, and indicates in the order message that he needs to choose one of them, but the wrong color is sent later, the seller will bear all responsibility.
It should be noted here that if the customer and the seller reach an agreement on return and refund before the dispute is settled, the platform will support the agreement between the two parties and require the customer to return the goods. In cases where the goods are indeed not the same as the ones shown, it is recommended that the seller bear the return shipping costs.