Dear Alibaba Cloud customer,
Starting at 10:00 (UTC+8) on August 19, 2025, Alibaba Cloud will gradually roll out an upgrade to the refund rules for public cloud resource packages. After the upgrade, refunds for unsubscribed resource packages will be calculated under the new policy.
Key updates
If you used a coupon when purchasing a resource package, the refund will now return both cash and coupon amounts proportionally, based on your original payment structure.
The unsubscription rules for resource plans on the Resource Unsubscription page in the Expenses and Costs console are as follows:
If you scheduled a resource package to start at a future date, you may cancel before the effective date for a full refund.
If the package has not been consumed and is canceled within 30 days of purchase, a full refund applies.
If the resource package has already been used, the refund amount is calculated as: Refund amount = Refundable value of the original order - Consumed amount. The consumed amount is based on actual usage and the discount tier applicable at the time of use:
Total usage resource plans: Consumed amount = Unit price × Used amount × Discount applicable to the used amount
Periodic usage resource plans: Consumed amount = Price per epoch × Number of used epochs × Discount applicable to the used duration (Includes the current period when cancelation is initiated; cancelation takes effect from the next period)
You can view the detailed refund breakdown and payment component allocation (cash, coupon, and so on) in the order details.
Example
Scenario
A customer purchases a Data Transfer Plan:
Pricing: The plan is valid for 1 year. The list price is USD 1/GB. A 20% discount applies to purchases of 500 GB. A 10% discount applies to purchases of 100 GB. No discount is available for purchases under 100 GB.
The customer purchases 500 GB, uses a USD 100 coupon, and makes a cash payment of USD 300. (Cash payment calculation: ( USD 1/GB × 500 GB × 0.8) - USD 100 coupon).
The customer requests a refund after using 150 GB.
Refund calculation
Refund amount = Refundable value of the original order - Consumed amount = ( USD 500 × 0.8) - ( USD 1/GB × 150 GB × 0.9) = USD 265.
The cash portion of the refund is 265 × (300 ÷ 400) = USD 198.75, and the coupon portion is 265 × (100 ÷ 400) = USD 66.25.
The original refundable value of USD 400 consisted of USD 300 in cash and a USD 100 coupon. Therefore, the refund is issued using the same ratio of payment components.
The 0.9 multiplier in the consumed amount calculation represents the discount applicable to the used amount. The pricing offers a 10% discount for 100 GB and a 20% discount for 500 GB. Because the customer used 150 GB, which does not meet the minimum threshold for the 20% discount, the 10% discount is applied.
Refund orders processed before August 19, 2025, 10:00 are not eligible for coupon refunds or detailed calculation breakdowns.
If after the upgrade you find the refund amount does not match the logic above, or a used coupon is not marked as refundable, your account may not yet be included in the rollout. In this case, submit a ticket to contact customer service and request early enablement of the new rules.