New February Rules Take Effect Tomorrow: E-Commerce Platforms Barred from Forcing “Refund-Only” Policies and Mandatory Shipping Insurance for Sellers

Fast Technology reported on January 31 that tomorrow—February 1, 2026—a new round of regulations will officially take effect. Among the most closely watched is the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Trading Platform Rules, a policy that directly impacts how everyone shops online.

Built on the foundation of laws and regulations such as the E-Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, the new Measures respond to real-world challenges regulators are seeing in today’s online marketplace. They further refine and supplement how platforms create, revise, and enforce their rules, forming a stronger and more practical complement to the existing legal framework.

In recent years, some platforms have applied “refund-only” policies in a one-size-fits-all manner—rules that have reportedly been exploited by bad actors. Many merchants say they’ve been pushed into situations where they lose both the product and the payment, with little chance to defend themselves. As one seller put it: “A customer says they didn’t receive the item, and the platform issues a refund-only decision immediately. I don’t even get the opportunity to provide evidence.”

At the same time, even when shipping insurance wasn’t explicitly mandatory, some platforms allegedly deducted merchants’ funds to compensate return shipping costs—creating a “mandatory in practice” burden that drove up the cost of compliant operations.

The new Measures make the direction clear: platforms must not use platform rules to force merchants into “refund-only” outcomes, and they must not compel merchants to activate non-essential paid value-added services, such as shipping insurance, that increase operating costs.

Beyond that, the Measures also prohibit platforms from forcing merchants to join promotional or marketing campaigns, or requiring merchants to operate exclusively on a specific platform as a condition of doing business.

The Measures further address platform fee practices. Platforms are prohibited from using rules to charge unreasonable fees, including repeated charges, charging without providing services (or providing insufficient services), and shifting costs that should be borne by the platform onto merchants.

Experts also note that when platforms collect penalties or compensation based on platform rules, they must clearly explain the calculation basis and method—and they are not allowed to impose excessively high penalties or compensation amounts.

In addition, the Measures introduce stronger protections for consumers with membership benefits. During the period when consumers are entitled to those benefits, platforms may not unilaterally change rules to impose additional charges or reduce membership rights and benefits.