Expenses and Costs:Downgrade refund rules

Refund rules

• You can downgrade the configuration of a subscription instance in real time using an authorized account.

• When you downgrade, the original order is canceled and a new order is generated. The usage duration and consumed resource fee from the new order are used to calculate the refund.

• If you purchased during a promotion, the refundable amount may be zero or negative. No refund is issued in this case.

Refund calculation

Refundable amount for downgrade = Online refundable amount × Price difference ratio between new and original orders. For multiple orders, each refund is calculated separately then summed.

• Online refundable amount = Paid amount - Fee for consumed resources

  • The paid amount is the cash paid, excluding coupon and voucher offsets.

  • The fee for consumed resources is calculated as follows.

    Type		Calculation rule
    Subscription Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance	The usage duration is less than 30 days.	Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration) × 1.5
    	The usage duration is equal to or greater than 30 days.	Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
    Other resources		Daily unit price × Usage duration × Applicable discount for the usage duration

• Price difference ratio = (Daily unit price of the original order - Daily unit price of the new order) / Price difference between daily unit prices of original orders

  • The price difference between daily unit prices of original orders is calculated as follows.

    Scenario	Calculation rule
    No upgrade before downgrade	Price difference = Daily unit price of the original order
    Upgrade before downgrade	Price difference = Daily unit price of the original order - Daily unit price of the order before the configuration upgrade.

  • Daily unit price = Original price of the order / Actual subscription duration of the order.

  Note

  If the price difference ratio exceeds 1, the system uses 1.

Parameters used in calculations

Q: Why is the refund amount lower than expected or zero when I downgrade or cancel an instance purchased with promotional discounts or vouchers?

When you purchase an instance using vouchers or through a promotional campaign (such as a limited-time or low-price offer), the fee for consumed resources is calculated using the official list price (the original undiscounted price), not the actual discounted price you paid. This means:

1. Even if your actual usage was short, the list-price-based consumed amount may already equal or exceed the total amount you paid (cash + vouchers), resulting in a refund of 0.

2. Under the new rules: if (remaining value of original configuration − purchase fee for new configuration) ≤ 0, no refund is issued. Under the old rules: if (online refundable amount × price difference ratio) ≤ 0, no refund is issued.

3. Before purchasing instances through low-price promotions or paying with vouchers, carefully evaluate the potential cost of subsequent downgrade or cancellation operations.

Q: Why does my refund go to my account balance instead of being returned to the original payment method?

Normally, refunds are returned through the original payment channel: cash is returned to the original bank card or Alipay account, and the voucher portion is returned to your voucher balance. However, in the following case, the refund is credited to your Alibaba Cloud account balance instead:

• The refund exceeds the invoiceable amount of your account: If the refund is greater than the current invoiceable amount, the system automatically credits the refund to your Alibaba Cloud account balance. This prevents tax compliance issues that arise when a refund exceeds the amount already invoiced.

If you have questions about where a refund was credited, view the refund order details in the Expenses and Costs console to confirm the refund amount and payment composition, or submit a ticket.

Q: What happens to vouchers, coupons, or other benefits I received as gifts after I cancel or downgrade?

When a refund is successfully processed:

1. Gifts associated with the original order — including vouchers, coupons, and extended service periods — are invalidated and forfeited.

2. Under the new rules, vouchers used to pay for the order can be refunded proportionally based on the payment composition. However, refunded vouchers may have usage restrictions (for example, they may not be applicable to purchasing the same product category as the original purchase).

3. The refund automatically reduces your invoiceable amount (the amount for which invoices can be issued).

Note: If you have questions about how gifts are handled, preview the refund details on the order details page before you initiate a downgrade, or submit a ticket.

Q: Why does the downgrade or cancellation page show a dash (—) or no price for the refund amount?

This may occur for one of the following reasons:

1. Downgrade not yet effective: If a previous downgrade has not yet taken effect, the system cannot preview the renewal price for the next downgrade. Wait for the current downgrade to take effect, then proceed.

2. Instance type restricted by sales policy or inventory: Certain instance types — such as burstable instances or savings plan packages — may be subject to sales policy restrictions or inventory limitations, which prevent a downgrade price from being displayed.

3. Region not supported: Certain regions may not support downgrading to a specific instance type.

Suggestions:

• Wait for the current downgrade to take effect, then revisit the downgrade page to view the renewal price.

• To view the real-time price of a specific instance type, select the target instance type on the ECS purchase page or the Change Instance Type page.

• If the instance type supports downgrades but the price still does not appear, submit a ticket for support.

Q: I accidentally placed an upgrade order. How can I get a refund through the downgrade feature?

Upgrade orders do not support direct self-service cancellation. However, you can trigger the refund process by downgrading the configuration: change the instance configuration back to the pre-upgrade level (or another target configuration) to receive a refund for the corresponding price difference.

Procedure:

1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Management Console and go to the Expenses and Costs console.

2. In the subscription instance list, find the instance that you want to modify.

3. In the Actions column, click Upgrade/Downgrade, then select Downgrade.

4. On the downgrade page, select the target configuration. Confirm the refund amount shown on the page, then click Submit Order.

Limits:

• The interval between two consecutive configuration change operations must be at least 5 minutes.

• The instance must not have any pending renewal-with-downgrade process in progress. Otherwise, you cannot initiate a new downgrade.

Note: The downgrade refund depends on the paid amount of the upgrade order, the usage duration, and the price difference ratio between the new and original configurations. The amount shown on the order details page is final. For the calculation logic, see the "Refund calculation" section in this topic.