Since October 15, Douyin’s after-sales reserve prices warranty orders by each store’s refund record. Our reading of the revised scope includes Global Purchase stores. Without enough data, Douyin uses a category average or a fixed rate capped at 1.5%. The warranty reserve holds up to RMB 50,000 or RMB 100,000 per store.
Douyin Global Purchase (抖音全球购) is the cross-border store a foreign brand opens on Douyin from an overseas company. The after-sales reserve (售后预留金) is money Douyin freezes out of a store’s settled payouts to cover refunds and repairs it may owe buyers later. We read the revised rule on October 19.
Douyin’s revised after-sales reserve rule applies to domestic stores and to Douyin Global Purchase stores. It was revised and took effect on October 15, 2026. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), October 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJSwoqTMykft
What Douyin’s after-sales reserve holds back
The change is in the warranty section. It covers goods in Douyin’s three-guarantee categories (三包: repair, replacement, or refund), and warranties a store promises on a product page or in a livestream.
The warranty reserve covers settled, unrefunded orders still inside their 三包 period or the warranty the merchant promised. Douyin sets the rate by the store’s refund-and-compensation rate in each 三包 category and releases the money as warranties expire. A store without enough refund data is held at the category average or a fixed rate of no more than 1.5%. Floors are RMB 200, 500, or 1,000 per leaf category, by risk tier, and the cap is RMB 50,000 or 100,000 per store. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), October 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJSwoqTMykft
Douyin’s June 2026 draft froze warranty orders at fixed rates by category for domestic stores, such as 0.1% on hair dryers, within a band of RMB 500 to 50,000. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), June 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/articlev0/aJmDKphJWTr9
The October text drops that wording, and its scope line names Global Purchase stores. Read together, a Global Purchase store that promises a one-year warranty now falls under the warranty reserve (that’s our reading of the text; the store’s back end shows what Douyin actually holds).
Take a foreign hair-care appliance brand on Douyin Global Purchase. Assume RMB 1 million in settled, unrefunded sales each month and a 12-month warranty. For this illustration, Douyin uses the fixed fallback at 1.5%. The category-average alternative could differ; check the assigned rate.
Each month of sales stays in the pool for a year. The reserve grows until it hits the cap.
| Months of sales under warranty | Order value under warranty (RMB) | Reserve at 1.5% (RMB) | Held if the cap is 50,000 (RMB) | Held if the cap is 100,000 (RMB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,000,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
| 3 | 3,000,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 |
| 6 | 6,000,000 | 90,000 | 50,000 | 90,000 |
| 12 | 12,000,000 | 180,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
The table is our arithmetic on that fixed rate and the warranty caps. Once the store has a refund record, its own refund rate sets the rate instead. The rule prints no ceiling for that rate, only the cap, and it applies different rates to different stretches of the warranty.
For scale, our Douyin calculator puts the technical service fee for beauty and personal-care devices at 4.5%, or RMB 45,000 a month at that sales level (TheChinaPath calculator data, October 2026). A full RMB 100,000 hold is more than two months of those fees.
Stores with high refund rates will hold more and stores with low refund rates less, and stable stores with few refunds will see their holds fall. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), October 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJrPUuzZcDft
The special-category reserve for Global Purchase stores did not move.
Douyin Global Purchase stores keep a separate reserve of 1% on sunscreen orders within 60 days of receipt and 6% on dietary supplements within 15 days, each capped at RMB 100,000. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), October 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJSwoqTMykft
Which budget line moves
Working capital.
Douyin freezes the reserve from settled funds, reducing the cash available to withdraw. Warranties expiring reduce the hold, while new covered orders can replenish it. Money used to meet refunds is no longer available for release to the store.
Douyin Global Purchase payout rules let the platform freeze a refund reserve out of settled payouts, based on the store’s recent refunds. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), January 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aHyMoi13Bhx5
When a store meets two or more reserve rules, Douyin freezes the higher amount or adds them together. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), October 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJSwoqTMykft
Track the frozen balance separately from fees and actual refunds.
What to do, and by when
During the week of October 19, open 账户中心 > 售后预留金 > 预留规则 (account center, after-sales reserve, reserve rules) and check whether a warranty line shows.
Before the next Double 11 session, read the product pages and livestream script for warranty promises. A two-year promise brings the orders it covers into the warranty pool for that period. In the fixed-rate example, the lower cap binds in the fourth month and the higher one in the seventh.
From this month, track the store’s refund-and-compensation rate in each warranty category as its own line. It now sets the reserve rate. If a Douyin Partner runs the store, ask for the reserve balance on the monthly statement, next to the payout.
Our Douyin cost calculator prices a Douyin Global Purchase store’s fees. The reserve isn’t among them, so add it to the cash plan by hand.
Updated October 19, 2026
Working on China? Let's grab a coffee.
Tell us where you are now and where you want to get to.
