Returning Things in China: 退货, Refunds, and What to Say

Every expat has a drawer of useless purchases from a shop that “doesn’t do returns”. The good news: Chinese consumer law is actually buyer-friendly online. Since the 2014 revision of the Consumer Protection Law, goods bought over the internet or by phone carry a seven-day no-reason return right — 七天无理由退货 (qī tiān wú lǐyóu tuìhuò). The catch: the same law gives you no automatic no-reason right in physical stores. So the real skill isn’t legal knowledge — it’s knowing the lines, and knowing that 发票 is the key that opens the whole process.

The Words You Need

Four Sentences That Cover 90% of Returns

• 我想退货。 wǒ xiǎng tuìhuò — “I’d like to return this.” (open with this, not a story)
• 这个坏了。 zhège huài le — “This is broken.” (for damaged goods)
• 能换一个新的吗？ néng huàn yí gè xīn de ma? — “Can I exchange it for a new one?”
• 能退款吗？ néng tuìkuǎn ma? — “Can I get a refund?”

Notice the skeleton: 能…吗？ (néng … ma?, “can you …?”). It’s the polite-request formula that carries half of Chinese service encounters — 能打折吗？ 能便宜点吗？ 能换一个吗？ Same frame, endless uses.

Why 发票 Is the Key

In China, 发票 is not a receipt — it’s a tax invoice tied to the shop’s official books. That’s why asking for one carries weight: a shop that writes it is on the record. My first month in Shanghai I bought a 200-kuai shirt, lost the 发票, and the cheerful “no problem, you can return it” turned into “sorry, no 发票, no return”. Now I photograph every 发票 the moment I pay — before the bag leaves the counter. Online, big platforms email a 电子发票 (diànzǐ fāpiào, e-invoice) you can search in your inbox, which for online returns is often all you need.

In-Store Dialogue That Works

You: 你好，我昨天买的这个，想退货。
(níhǎo, wǒ zuótiān mǎi de zhège, xiǎng tuìhuò.)
Cashier: 有发票吗？
(yǒu fāpiào ma?)
You: 有，在这里。
(yǒu, zài zhèlǐ.)
Cashier: 为什么要退？
(wèishénme yào tuì?)
You: 大小不合适。
(dàxiǎo bù héshì.)
Cashier: 行，退给你。
(xíng, tuì gěi nǐ.)

[De 的 after a verb marks the past description — 我昨天买的这个 literally “this that I bought yesterday”. 合适 (héshì, “fitting/suitable”) is the standard polite reason: size, color, fit — one word, no debate.]

Returns Online: The Four-Step Flow

Online returns now run entirely inside the platform — Tmall, Taobao, and JD each have a built-in return flow, no phone calls needed. The standard sequence: 申请退款 (shēnqǐng tuìkuǎn, “apply for a refund”) → 卖家同意 (màijiā tóngyì, “the seller approves”) → you ship it back to the 退货地址 (tuìhuò dìzhǐ, “return address”) → the money lands in one to three days. If the seller stalls, one calmly delivered sentence accelerates everything: 那我给差评 (nà wǒ gěi chàpíng, “then I’ll leave a negative review”). I don’t love it as a weapon, but for a learner it’s the single highest-value e-commerce phrase in the language — say it once, and the response time drops from two days to ten minutes.

A Buyer’s Checklist

• Ask 有发票吗？ at the counter — every time, until it’s a reflex.
• Photograph the receipt before leaving the store (thermal paper fades to blank in about a month).
• Online, check the listing for 七天无理由退货 (the legal default) vs 不支持七天无理由 (seller overrides on some items — custom goods, food, and the like).
• Count the seven days from delivery — 收货 (shōuhuò, “receiving the goods”) — not from the order date.

The Bottom Line

Returns in China aren’t scary — they’re a script. Know 我想退货, produce the 发票, and match your tone to the channel: firm online (the law is on your side), polite in stores (the manager is the boss). Most of all: take the photo. For the buying side of the same habit — carts, coupons, and the biggest sale of the year — our Singles’ Day shopping guide has the festival vocabulary.