On January 22, Taobao and Tmall revealed their 2026 business environment optimization direction at a recent merchant service conference, announcing the gradual introduction of 10 new measures, focusing on after-sales management, improvement of return mechanisms, and platform rule optimization, aiming to address long-standing irregularities in after-sales processes and reduce the hidden operating costs for merchants.
Regarding the growing issue of using synthetic or altered product images to fraudulently obtain refunds in the e-commerce sector, Taobao and Tmall will launch a special governance initiative. The platform plans to introduce image authenticity identification capabilities, enabling merchants to perform one-click detection of suspected modified images with deliberate added damage or stain effects during communication via Wangwang. The relevant determination results will directly serve as important references for dispute resolution, refund review, and appeal processing.
Platform data shows that its account integrity system has intercepted a large number of abnormal refund behaviors, helping merchants recover economic losses exceeding 4 billion yuan; meanwhile, the platform continues to work with public security authorities to crack down on malicious "wool parties," solving 34 related fraud cases in 2025. In the logistics sector, by reducing compensation ratios and enhancing early warning mechanisms, the platform is expected to save merchants over 1 billion yuan in logistics compensation costs throughout the year.
In addition, Taobao and Tmall will further optimize the traffic allocation mechanism, tilting toward stores with higher service quality. Data shows that stores with a "Real Experience Score" above 4.8 have a sales growth rate twice that of ordinary merchants. To achieve this goal, the platform will refine dispute resolution rules for key industries and use the "Product Rectification Order" mechanism to shift governance forward, reducing after-sales disputes.
