Full returns: the heaviest rung on the remedy ladder

Sending a find back is the remedy most people think of first and use least. It moves the item, needs the seller’s agreement, and costs postage unless the fault is the seller’s.

Full returns as the last remedy

A full return undoes the purchase: the item goes back to the seller and the price comes back to you. It sounds like the obvious answer to any fault, and for many buyers it is the first thing they ask for. On a catalog bought through an agent it is usually the last, for reasons that have little to do with the seller’s goodwill.

Every return moves the item. Inside China that means domestic postage and a few days; from abroad it means an international parcel, a customs form and a wait. A return also needs the seller to agree that the item can be sold again, which a worn, washed or unwrapped item usually cannot. And a return requested for a reason the seller does not accept as a fault is charged to you, postage included.

None of this makes a return wrong. For a fault that stops an item working, for the wrong product entirely, or for a find you no longer want while it is sitting in the warehouse, a return inside the window is a perfectly good rung. It simply sits at the top of the ladder, where each step costs more.

The 100buy return rule in our own words

Here is the whole rule, once, as the Return and exchange services page on 100buy’s site set it out at our reading of 19 October 2026. A return or exchange has to be requested within 120 hours, and the count begins at the first full hour after your item’s status turns to Stocked in. The seller has to be one who offers guaranteed returns, the item has to be in a state the seller can sell again, and the decision belongs to the seller, not to 100buy.

On cost, each account gets its first return or exchange in a calendar month without the 5 RMB handling charge. Later requests add up three items. For a return: what it costs to post the item to the seller, what the seller paid to post it to the warehouse in the first place, and the 5 RMB. For an exchange: the same trip to the seller, both of the seller’s trips to the warehouse, and again the 5 RMB. If the listing came with free shipping, the first leg is still charged when you send it back.

The page adds a table of who is responsible for what, and that table is where the bill changes hands: a wrong product, a quality problem or damage on the way to the warehouse normally does not fall on you. The crop below shows the part of the page that sets the window and the charges.

Part of the 100buy return and exchange page: how to request within 120 hours of Stocked in, and the fees for returns and exchanges. — The Return and exchange services page at 100buy, request window and fee lines, captured 19 October 2026.

Remedies that cost postage, and remedies that do not

Postage is the hidden price of every remedy. The chart sorts the six rungs by whether anything moves and by who usually pays when it does.

The split that matters most comes from the responsibility table on 100buy’s return page and its FAQ: when an item has no quality problem, the shipping is yours; when it has one, the seller usually covers it. That is why the description you give a request (a quality fault, a wrong product, a change of mind) decides who pays far more than the remedy itself.

Sending a find back from abroad

Before sending an item back from abroad, obtain written acceptance, the correct return address, packaging requirements and shipping responsibility. Price the return with the carrier you would actually use. Do not post the item merely because a general return page exists; the seller must confirm the arrangement for this order.

Before authorising a full return, ask for the seller refund amount and each chargeable leg: return postage, applicable service fee and any amount that will not be credited. Confirm the currency and destination of the refund. The cost checklist distinguishes money recovered from the original purchase total.

That is why the realistic rungs once a parcel has arrived are a partial refund, a reship in a later parcel, or keeping the item. A full return from abroad makes sense for an expensive item with a clear fault, and even then it is worth asking 100buy first how the seller will treat it. Get the return address in writing before anything is posted: a parcel sent to the wrong place in China is usually lost to the claim.

Return or swap: choosing between the heavy rungs

With the item still in China and no light rung that will do, the choice is between giving the item back and getting a better one. The question to ask is whether you still want this item.

If you still want it and the fault is the unit (a seam, a print, a zipper), ask for an exchange and ask whether the seller has checked the next one.
If you still want it but the fault is the design (a cut that runs small, a fabric that pills), an exchange brings the same thing again; a return is the honest rung.
If you no longer want it at all, return it while the window is open and expect to pay the postage and, after the first of the month, the handling charge.

Either way, make the request early in the window. The window keeps running whether or not you have looked at the photos.