To switch Tmall Partners cleanly, move five things in one planned window: the store accounts, the data, the product content, the customer service history and the campaign plan. Keep the window clear of Double 11 and 618. Tell Tmall Global in writing 15 days before the new operator starts, and pay the outgoing partner until the handover is signed off.
Sources quoted here were checked November 10, 2026.
The risky days are the last ones. The new Tmall Partner (TP) is keen, the old one is leaving, and for a few days both teams can reach the same store. That overlap is where listings vanish and refunds go unanswered.
Doing it properly costs less than people expect. At the defaults in our Tmall Global calculator, a TP costs 35,000 RMB a month plus 10% of sales, or 770,000 RMB a year on 3.5 million RMB of sales. One month of paying both partners adds 35,000 RMB, about 4.5% of a year’s partner fees (TheChinaPath calculator data, November 2026). Losing a best-seller’s sales history costs far more, as a case in Qingdao shows below.
Print the Tmall Partner handover checklist and fill in the names and dates before you give notice.
What moves, from whom, and by when
Day 0 is the day the new TP takes over the store. Every row needs a named person on both sides and a check you can see with your own eyes.
| Item | Owner before | Owner after | Deadline | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent operator declared to Tmall Global | Outgoing TP named | New TP named | Day minus 15 | Written notice sent, reply filed |
| Product photos, videos and detail pages | Outgoing TP’s drives | Brand, shared with new TP | Day minus 30 | Source files received, rights assigned in writing |
| Business Advisor reports and ad history | Read by outgoing TP | Exported by brand | Day minus 7 | 24 months saved as files |
| Campaign calendar and pending registrations | Outgoing TP | New TP | Day minus 7 | List of every open sign-up, with dates |
| Open orders, refunds and after-sale cases | Outgoing TP’s service team | New TP’s service team | Day 0, 10:00 | Ticket list signed by both teams |
| Main account password and recovery phone | Shared with outgoing TP | Brand staff only | Day 0 | Changed by a brand employee, logged |
| Sub-accounts | Outgoing TP staff | New TP staff | Day 0 | Old ones disabled, operation log exported |
| Customer data held outside the platform | Outgoing TP | Returned or deleted | Day plus 15 | Written deletion confirmation |
| Final invoice | Brand owes outgoing TP | Paid | Day plus 30 | Paid after the handover is signed off |
The order matters. Content and reports come out first, while the outgoing team is still cooperating. Access changes last, on one day, in one sitting.
Before you switch Tmall Partners, pick the window
Give the outgoing partner notice as the contract requires, then count back from the big sales. Both of them now run for weeks.
Tmall’s 2026 Double 11 opened presale on October 15, with spot selling from October 20 to November 13. The dates were reported on September 22. Source: Beijing Business Today (北京商报), carried by NetEase, September 2026. https://www.163.com/dy/article/L7E4TETQ0519DFFO.html
Tmall’s 2026 618 started on May 21, and its second wave ran from May 31 to June 21. The rules were reported on April 29. Source: Ebrun (亿邦动力), carried by Sina Tech, April 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2026-04-29/doc-inhwefve6787805.shtml
Both sets of rules landed about three weeks before the sale opened. A TP that leaves in late September hands its successor a Double 11 that’s already priced and booked by someone else. Aim for a handover day at least six weeks before a presale opens, and after the last festival’s refunds have settled.
Tell Tmall Global 15 days ahead
The store belongs to your company. The TP appears on file as the agent operator, and the platform wants to know before that name changes.
Merchants must give Tmall Global the details of the parties operating the store, including the agent operator (代理运营商), and tell Tmall Global in writing 15 days before changing them. Source: Tmall Global (天猫国际), Merchant Acceptance Standards, in force March 2025. https://rule.tmall.hk/?type=detail&ruleId=11003210&cId=624#/rule/detail?ruleId=11003210&cId=624
If the store sits in the outgoing TP’s company name, this is a bigger job than a notice. Read who owns your Tmall store when a partner runs it before you set a date.
Change the locks on handover day
Tmall stores run on one main account, with sub-accounts for each person who works in the back end.
A seller can set up sub-accounts for staff, agents, consultants or third-party service providers, then enable, disable or restore them and query their operation records. Source: Taobao (淘宝), Sub-account Software License Agreement, revised October 2026. https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/suit_bu1_tmall/suit_bu1_tmall201802012028_72666.html
Disable every old sub-account, then change the main account password and its recovery phone. A brand employee does it, with the new TP watching. Anything done in the store before then counts as yours.
Acts done through a merchant’s Tmall Global account are treated as the merchant’s own. Source: Tmall Global (天猫国际), Merchant Service Agreement, updated May 2026. https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/b_platform_service_agreement/20231027155750546/20231027155750546.html
One forgotten login was enough in Qingdao.
A former employee kept the store’s admin login after leaving and deleted a listing with 4.38 million RMB of sales and 138,000 orders on the eve of Double 11. Its sales count and reviews could not be restored. A court gave him two years for damaging a computer system. Source: Procuratorial Daily (检察日报), carried by China National Radio, August 2024. https://law.cnr.cn/jcfc/20240829/t20240829_526876980.shtml
An agency team that keeps its logins after the contract ends can do the same damage.
Get the files and the rights first
Ask in the first days of the notice period, while the outgoing team still answers email. Export the store’s reports yourself. Business Advisor (生意参谋) holds the sales, traffic and conversion history, and the new TP will want two years of it to plan the first campaign.
Photos and videos take more work. The agency that shot them may own them.
Copyright in a commissioned work goes to whoever the contract names. Where the contract is silent, or there is no contract, it belongs to the party that made the work. Source: National People’s Congress, Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China, 2020 amendment, article 19, via the Central People’s Government (中国政府网), in force June 2021. https://www.gov.cn/guoqing/2021-10/29/content_5647633.htm
Ask for the source files and a signed assignment of rights in the same email. A detail page your new TP can’t legally reuse has to be shot again.
Customer records kept outside the platform, in spreadsheets or a CRM, have to come back or go.
When an entrusted processing contract ends, the processor must return the personal information or delete it, and may not keep it. Source: Cyberspace Administration of China (国家网信办), Personal Information Protection Law, article 21, in force November 2021. https://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-08/20/c_1631050028355286.htm
Get the deletion confirmed in writing.
Pay the old partner through the handover
An unpaid team has nothing to lose in its last week. So pay the retainer to the end of the notice period, and tie the final payment to a signed handover. In Chongqing, a brand held back fees after its agency deleted its best-sellers’ promotion links on the way out, and the court agreed.
An agency deleted the promotion links of three best-selling products on the last day of its contract. The court held that the links had value, upheld 20,000 RMB in damages and upheld the brand’s decision to withhold 80,763.10 RMB of promotion fees. Source: Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court (重庆市第五中级人民法院), 2023 commercial cases, carried by Tahota Law Firm, March 2024. https://www.tahota.com/CN/article.aspx?mdid=2dee3c858729caec&KeyID=34e7554e7e98bbf5
The clauses that make this enforceable (notice, data handover, rights to content, a ban on deleting links) belong in the contract you sign with the next partner. They’re set out in the Tmall Partner contract terms that decide your exit.
Questions brands ask about switching
How long does a Tmall Partner handover take?
Plan on about two months, from the first file request to the final invoice. Content and reports come out in the first two weeks. Tmall Global needs written notice 15 days before the new agent operator starts. Access changes on one day, and the outgoing partner gets paid around 30 days after that, once the handover list is signed.
Can the new TP start before the old contract ends?
Yes, for planning. Let the new team read the exported reports and draft the campaign calendar. Keep it out of the back end until handover day. When two teams can edit the same listings, prices and coupons change and nobody owns the change.
Do we lose our store rating or reviews when we switch?
Not from the switch itself. Ratings, reviews and sales history belong to the store and its listings, and the store is registered to your company. A new agent operator only changes the name on file. Deleting a listing is what wipes its history, which is why access changes on one day and the contract bans deleting links.
What if the outgoing TP refuses to hand over files?
Hold the final payment, if the contract ties it to the handover, and put the request in writing. Ask for photos, videos and reports by name. If the contract never assigned the rights to commissioned content, negotiate a written assignment, or budget to reshoot the hero product pages first.
When you’re ready to choose again, our guide to finding a Tmall Partner in China sets out what to check, and Compass holds the partners we have met in person.
Updated November 11, 2026
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