Four lines should stop a Tmall or Douyin agency proposal: guaranteed GMV, commission on gross sales, ad spend that runs through the agency’s own account, and a team you never meet. Each one moves risk from the agency to you. Ask instead for a forecast with its assumptions shown, commission on sales after returns, ad accounts in your company’s name and the names of the people running your store.
Proposals from Tmall Partners (TPs) and Douyin Partners (DPs), the agencies that run brand stores on Alibaba’s and ByteDance’s shopping platforms, tend to look alike. A deck, two case studies, a fee page and a sales curve that bends upward around month four. Brands read the fee page closely. The curve gets a nod.
Most of what goes wrong in year one is already printed there. Every rule cited below was checked against its source on October 14, 2026.
Tmall agency proposal red flags, line by line
| Line in the proposal | What it really means | What to ask for instead |
|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed GMV, or a sales target with a refund attached | A promise the platform itself won’t make. Tmall Global lists guaranteed-sales promises as a red line for its operating partners | A forecast built from traffic, conversion, basket size and ad budget, reviewed monthly, with an exit right if it is missed |
| Commission as a percentage of GMV | GMV counts orders before refunds and returns, sometimes with tax inside. At our Tmall Global calculator’s defaults that costs 17,500 to 31,850 RMB a year more than a net base | Commission on settled sales after refunds and returns, before tax and shipping, read from your own store backend |
| Media budget paid to the agency, which “handles the platforms” | Your ad money and the account’s history sit with the agency. On Douyin, an agency-held Qianchuan account loses pending cost-guarantee credits when you move it | Ad accounts opened in your company’s name and topped up by you, with the agency on an operator login |
| A senior team listed by title only | The people in the pitch may never touch your store | A named store manager, designer, ad operator and service lead, how many other stores each one carries, and a key-person clause |
| No early termination, no refund | A lock that pays the agency whether results come or not | Termination on notice, with a written handover of the store, its content, customer data and ad accounts |
Commission figures: TheChinaPath calculator data, October 2026.
Guaranteed GMV
The guarantee is usually the line that sells a proposal, and Tmall Global tells its own agencies not to write it.
Tmall Global’s 2026 rating rule for operating partners lists “violating promises” as a red line: service guarantees to merchants or shoppers that cannot be honored, such as 保销XX万 (guaranteed sales of a stated amount). Source: Tmall Global service market (天猫国际服务市场), 2026 star rating rule for service providers, March 2026. https://globaltp.tmall.com/import_tp/TP/informationDetail?id=815
An agency buys most of its traffic from the platform. The platform promises nothing.
Douyin’s Qianchuan ad tool bills oCPM plans by impression and makes no express or implied promise about results, sales, business performance or investment returns. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), Qianchuan standard cost guarantee rule (巨量千川标准投放成本保障规则), article 9, revised December 2025. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/articlev0/aHMNDfneBP7r
What is a guarantee worth, then? Chinese courts have read two kinds. A firm number with a refund attached got the merchant its money back, after a lawsuit.
A Xiamen court ordered an agency to return 90,000 RMB of fees and 12,000 RMB of promotion money after an online store it had guaranteed at no less than 2.3 million RMB in a year’s sales took 345 RMB, a ruling upheld on appeal. Source: People’s Court Daily (人民法院报), December 2021. https://www.bj148.org/dj/fxyj/202112/t20211203_1623327.html
A figure written as an estimate went the other way.
A seller whose Taobao store missed the sales estimate in its agency contract sued to end the deal and recover 50,000 RMB of fees. The Pudong court found product quality, price, awareness and competition behind the shortfall, dismissed the claim and ordered the seller to pay the agency’s commission. Source: Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court (上海浦东法院), platform-economy service contract white paper, case 6, October 2024, carried by IP Economy (知产财经). https://www.ipeconomy.cn/dianxing/8890.html
The third risk is harder to spot. An agency on the hook for a number has a reason to manufacture it.
An agency that arranged fake group-buy orders to lift merchants’ rankings was fined 100,000 RMB by a market regulator and lost its 50,000 RMB platform deposit. A Shanghai court dismissed its suit in September 2025. Source: Supreme People’s Court (最高人民法院), typical cases on platform operations, case 3, August 2026. https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/507691.html
Those orders sit in the store where they were placed, which is yours.
Unless Tmall is at fault, the merchant answers for everything done under its account, and acts completed through the account count as the merchant’s own or as fully authorized by it. Source: Tmall (天猫), Tmall Merchant Service Agreement (天猫商户服务协议), updated March 2026. https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/TD/TD201609271722_89275.html
Ask for a forecast that shows its inputs: visitors, conversion rate, average basket, ad budget and the return rate assumed. Review it monthly, and write in what happens if it misses two quarters in a row.
Commission on gross sales
GMV (gross merchandise value) counts an order the moment it’s placed. Refunds and returns stay inside it, and on Tmall Global the price a shopper pays can include the cross-border tax.
Run it through our Tmall Global calculator at its defaults: 3.5 million RMB of first-year sales, a 35,000 RMB monthly retainer and a 10% commission. On gross sales the commission comes to 350,000 RMB. Net of a 5% return rate it’s 332,500 RMB, so the gross base costs you 17,500 RMB a year. Make the base the tax-inclusive order value and it climbs to 381,850 RMB, another 31,850.
TheChinaPath calculator data, October 2026.
On Douyin the sum is the same. At our Douyin calculator’s defaults (2 million RMB of sales, a 5% commission) a DP collects 100,000 RMB. If a fifth of orders come back, 20,000 RMB of that is commission on refunded goods.
Scope matters as much as the base. Douyin lets agencies take their share through the platform’s settlement split, and it comes down hard on those that blur what the split covers.
Douyin gives an operating service provider 120 violation points at once, the level that removes it, for telling a merchant the revenue share covers “designated links” when the agreement splits the whole store or all its livestreams, short videos or product cards. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), operating service provider management code (抖音电商运营类服务商管理规范), revised July 2026. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/articlev0/aJ5N3Pxir67C
So: commission on settled sales after refunds and returns, before tax and shipping, read from the store backend you own. Spell out the scope down to the link, then check each monthly statement against your own numbers.
Ad spend through the agency’s account
The media plan is often the biggest number in a proposal. Where it runs decides who controls it.
On Tmall the ad tools sit inside your store, and an agency works them through sub-accounts you create, limit and can switch off.
Taobao and Tmall sub-accounts let a merchant give employees, agents or third-party service providers access to the tools its store has opened, such as 直通车 (search ads), 钻石展位, 淘宝客 and 生意参谋 (Business Advisor), within set permissions. Operation logs can be queried and sub-accounts disabled. Source: Taobao (淘宝), sub-account software licence (子账号软件产品使用许可协议), revised June 2023. https://terms.alicdn.com/legal-agreement/terms/suit_bu1_tmall/suit_bu1_tmall201802012028_72666.html
Douyin’s Qianchuan ad accounts can be opened through an agency and hang under it. Douyin’s own rule shows what that costs when you leave.
When a Qianchuan account linked to an agency (a “non-direct” account) is moved to a different agency, cost-guarantee credits still being calculated or paid out for earlier spend are not paid. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), Qianchuan standard cost guarantee rule, article 16, revised December 2025. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/articlev0/aHMNDfneBP7r
The Xiamen merchant above had also sent 15,000 RMB of promotion money to a third party on the agency’s say-so. The court counted it as paid to the agency and gave 12,000 of it back.
Our Tmall Partner guide says as much: paid media runs through an ad account you fund directly. Open the accounts in your company’s name, top them up yourself and give the agency an operator login. And ask in writing whether the agency earns anything from the platform on spend it places for you.
A team you never meet
The people who pitch you win business for a living. Ask who will run the store.
Douyin asks too, before it admits an agency.
Douyin admits operating service providers by invitation after an on-site visit, on a file that includes a stamped org chart, a staff roster and proof of social insurance. The team must count at least 20 people, at least 12 of them on Douyin e-commerce operations. Source: Douyin E-commerce (抖音电商), operating service provider cooperation rules (抖音电商运营类服务商合作管理规则), July 2026 version. https://school.jinritemai.com/doudian/web/article/aJ2D2SbD5GWe
You can test a size claim from your desk.
A Chinese company’s annual report must publicly show its insured headcount (单位参保人数) and the types of insurance it pays. Source: Qiaokou District People’s Government, Wuhan (武汉市硚口区人民政府), on the notice 工商企监字〔2016〕226号, page updated July 2023. https://www.qiaokou.gov.cn/hdjl/cjwt/cjwt/201804/t20180427_147988.shtml
If the deck shows 30 specialists and the report shows eight insured staff, ask about the gap.
Get the store manager, designer, ad operator and customer-service lead by name, with the number of other stores each one carries. Meet them before you sign. A key-person clause stops a named lead from being swapped out without your consent. Our guide to finding a Douyin Partner lists the rest of the checks.
The clause that keeps you in
Some proposals pair the guarantee with a lock: no early termination, no refund. Courts haven’t been kind to it.
A Chengdu court ordered an agency to return 65% of a store-operation fee after it had told the owner turnover would be at least 40,000 RMB in three months. The judges’ note on the case said no-refund clauses of this kind generally cut the agency’s own liability unfairly and bind neither side. The appeal court upheld the ruling. Source: Chengdu Qingyang District People’s Court (成都市青羊区人民法院), official account on The Paper (澎湃), October 2024. https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29103453
It still took a lawsuit and an appeal. Write termination on notice into the first draft, with a handover duty that covers the store, its content, the customer data and the ad accounts. Our piece on the Tmall Partner contract covers those clauses.
Frequently asked questions
Is a guaranteed GMV ever worth accepting?
Treat it as part of the pitch. Tmall Global bars its own operating partners from guaranteed-sales promises, and no agency controls the traffic it buys. If an agency wants to back its forecast, offer a lower retainer with a higher commission on net sales. That shares the risk, and it pays for sales that stay sold.
What should a Tmall or Douyin agency’s commission be based on?
Settled sales after refunds and returns, before tax and shipping, read from your own store backend, with the scope written down to the link. At our Tmall Global calculator’s defaults, a gross base costs 17,500 RMB a year more than a net one.
Can the agency pay for ads and bill me afterward?
Only if you’re content for the account and its history to stay with the agency. Keep Tmall ad tools inside your own store and give the agency a sub-account. On Douyin, open the Qianchuan account in your company’s name: an agency-held account loses pending cost-guarantee credits when it moves.
Want proposals worth comparing? Compass puts Tmall and Douyin Partners that already run your category in front of you, and it takes no commission from them.
Updated October 15, 2026
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