You can unsubscribe from only prepaid resources, such as subscription instances and resource plans. If you no longer use a resource, you can unsubscribe from the resource and request a refund for the resource. Then, Alibaba Cloud collects the resource based on unsubscription rules and refunds you for the resource. Pay-as-you-go resources do not support unsubscription. You can stop and release pay-as-you-go resources in the Alibaba Cloud Management Console after you back up the required data, and the billing for the resources immediately stops.
Can I unsubscribe from a resource?
Unsubscription conditions
Check whether the resource that you want to unsubscribe from is a prepaid resource. You can unsubscribe from prepaid resources, including subscription resources and resource plans. Pay-as-you-go resources do not support unsubscription. You can stop and release pay-as-you-go resources, and the billing for the resources immediately stops.
Check your actual resource conditions against the unsubscription conditions.
The following table describes the unsubscription conditions.
Scenario | Condition | |
Full refund | Full refund for unused resources within five days of purchase | The resource is newly purchased within five days and is not used. |
Automatic refund due to resource creation or change failures | The resource fails to be created or changed. | |
Partial refund | The resource is newly purchased within five days and is used. | |
The order for the resource is a renewal order and is pending. | ||
The resource is a subscription resource whose configuration is downgraded. | ||
Refund after changing the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go | The billing method of the resource is changed from subscription to pay-as-you-go. | |
Scenarios in which unsubscription is not supported
The resource is a pay-as-you-go resource.
The resource is purchased in a promotion that does not support refunds.
The refundable amount of the resource is zero.
The resource is associated with a paid image in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace.
Your unsubscription quota for Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances is exhausted
The settlement currency used in your purchase order is different from the current one of your account.
Your instance has unpaid orders.
Your instance has security risks.
Unsubscription rules and refund calculation
Full refund for unused resources within five days of purchase
Rules
If a resource is eligible for a full refund for unused resources within five days of purchase and remains unused after purchase, you can request a full refund within five days after the resource is purchased.
If a resource plan is used within five days after purchase, a full refund is unavailable.
The following table describes the eligible resources.
Product
Commodity name
Storage
Object Storage Service (OSS) resource plan (subscription)
Apsara File Storage NAS resource plan
Refund calculation
The following formula is used: Refundable amount = Paid amount. In the calculation, the paid amount is the money that you paid and excludes the amount that is offset by coupons or vouchers.
Partial refund
Rules
If a prepaid resource supports unsubscription but is not eligible for a full refund for unused resources within five days of purchase, you can request a partial refund.
If an account has questionable behavior, no refund is supported. For example, multiple accounts of the same owner are used to unsubscribe from resources whose filing is approved by regulators within 30 days of the approval.
If the calculated refundable amount is greater than the residual cash value of the original order, the refund is returned based on the residual cash value. The residual cash value is calculated by using the formula: Residual cash value = (Remaining subscription duration/Total subscription duration) × Paid amount.
The following table describes the eligible resources.
Product
Commodity name
Elastic computing
Simple Application Server
If you purchased a resource during a promotional event and the unsubscription rules of the promotional event conflict with general unsubscription rules, the unsubscription rules of the promotional event take precedence. Some promotional events do not support unsubscription.
If cloud disks are attached to the ECS instances from which you want to unsubscribe, go to the ECS console and check whether you need to release the cloud disks to reduce costs.
Refund calculation
The following formula is used: Refundable amount = Paid amount - Fee for consumed resources.
The paid amount is the money that you paid and excludes the amount that is offset by coupons or vouchers.
The fee for consumed resources is calculated by using the formula: Fee for consumed resources = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Parameters used in calculations
Parameter | Description |
Usage duration | The usage duration refers to the actual consumption duration of the resources that you purchased in an order, which is calculated by using the following formula: Usage duration = Unsubscription time - Order start time. The usage duration is accurate to days, and a usage duration shorter than one day is rounded up to one day. Examples:
|
Discount for the usage duration | The system calculates the discount for the usage duration based on resource configuration and the actual usage duration at the time of unsubscription. |
Daily unit price |
|
Actual subscription duration of the order | Actual subscription duration of the order = Order end time - Order start time. The order duration is rounded down to the nearest integer in days. For example, at 12:00 on January 1, 2023, you purchased a simple application server for one month, and the order end time is 00:00 on February 2, 2023. The actual subscription duration of the order is 31 days. |
Fixed-amount resource plan | For a fixed-amount resource plan, the fee for consumed resources is calculated based on the following rules:
|
Examples
Example | Paid amount | Discount for the usage duration | Fee for consumed resources | Refundable amount |
A customer purchased a simple application server for a subscription duration of three years. The list price is USD 140 per month and USD 5,040 per year. The customer enjoyed a discount of 45% for 3-year subscription and paid USD 2,736. One year later, the customer unsubscribed from the simple application server. The discount for 1-year subscription is 15% | USD 2,736 | 15% off | Fee for consumed resources = Daily unit price of the subscription × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration = [USD 5,040/(365 days per year × 3 years)] × 365 days × 0.85 = USD 1,428 In the calculation,
| Refundable amount = Paid amount - Fee for consumed resources = USD 2,736 - USD 1,428 =USD 1,308 |
Refund for pending renewal orders
Rules
You can cancel a pending renewal order to unsubscribe from a resource. After a resource is provisioned and renewed, you can cancel the renewal orders that have not taken effect.
For more information about how to unsubscribe from a resource in an effective renewal order, see Unsubscription rules and refund calculation.
If you change a resource before its pending renewal order takes effect, you can only unsubscribe from the resource instead of canceling the pending renewal order.
You cannot cancel pending renewal orders of resource plans.
Refund calculation
The following formula is used: Refundable amount = Paid amount. The paid amount is the money that you paid and excludes the amount that is offset by coupons.
Automatic refund due to resource creation or change failures
Rules
If a product combination, such as combined services and plans for a solution, contains resources that fail to be provisioned, the system automatically unsubscribes from all resources in the combination. To view the provisioning status of resources in an order, go to the Orders page.
If an order contains resources that fail to be provisioned, the system automatically unsubscribes from the resources that fail to be provisioned.
Refund calculation
If the resources that you purchased fail to be created or changed, a full refund is issued. The coupon that you used for the order is also returned.
Refund for resource downgrades
If the configuration of your subscription instance exceeds your business requirements, you can use an authorized account to downgrade the instance configuration in real time. The following formula is used: Refundable amount for the downgrade = Online refundable amount × Price difference ratio between new and original orders. If multiple orders are generated, the sum of the refund for each order is calculated. For more information, see Refund rules for configuration downgrades.
Refund for changing the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go
After you create a subscription instance, you can change its billing method to pay-as-you-go to reduce costs and use resources on demand. When the billing method is changed, the fee of resources that are not consumed is refunded. The refund is calculated based on the following rules: For more information, see Refund rules for changing the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go.
Unsubscribe from a resource
For more information about how to unsubscribe from a resource, see Unsubscription guide.
Refund arrival time and destinations
Refunds are returned to the original payment account after you confirm the unsubscription. After you successfully unsubscribe from a resource, the refund is returned within 30 business days. To view the unsubscription history, follow the instructions provided in Refund destinations. For more information, see Refund destinations.
Impacts
If you successfully unsubscribe from a resource, you cannot roll back the unsubscription operation. To prevent accidental operations, you must double-check resource information before unsubscription.
After you unsubscribe from a resource plan, the fees of your resources can no longer be offset by using the resource plan and you are charged for these resources on a pay-as-you-go basis. Make sure that the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account is sufficient.
Before you unsubscribe from a resource, make sure that data is migrated or backed up. You can log on to the Alibaba Cloud Management Console to view the status of the instance.
If you purchased a resource during a promotional event and the unsubscription rules of the promotional event conflict with general unsubscription rules, the unsubscription rules of the promotional event take precedence. Some promotional events do not support unsubscription.
If cloud disks are attached to the ECS instances from which you want to unsubscribe, go to the ECS console and check whether you need to release the cloud disks to reduce costs.
If you place an order during a promotional event and then unsubscribed from the resource of the order, you are no longer eligible for the promotional event. After the unsubscription, the coupon that is used in the order is removed from your account.
FAQ
If you have any questions in the unsubscription process, carefully read information provided in FAQ about unsubscription. If the provided information does not help, contact customer service.