Pinduoduo

Nine dimensions merchants should review before joining:

Merchant snapshot

Suited to ultra-low-price supply-chain merchants (white-label / agricultural / industrial-cluster): 900M+ down-market buyers and low traffic costs, but the refund-only and penalty rules are controversial and margins get squeezed.

Entry requirements

Individuals, individual business owners and enterprises can all open stores; personal stores have a low threshold, free onboarding and an online process. Enterprise stores need a business license and category qualifications. Agricultural and industrial-cluster merchants get support channels. Overseas view: cross-border goes through the Temu channel (fully managed / semi-managed models — merchants supply goods, platform sets pricing and fulfillment); in 2025 US tariff pressure weighed on growth and profitability (GMV estimated at $35–50B+, with conflicting definitions). Language is primarily Chinese.

Fee structure

The basic technical service fee is about 1% for most categories (0.6% for some, per the official fee schedule). For Billion-Dollar Subsidies (百亿补贴) listings, the technical service fee for some categories rose from 1.9% to 4.4% starting September 2025 (e.g. water flossers; hair masks and similar rose from 1.9% to 3.4%) [Yibang Power]. Monetization relies on online marketing services (Duoduo Search / Duoduo Scene / full-site promotion) plus transaction service fees. The hidden cost is the penalty/compensation rules (merchants complain penalties start at RMB 3 with no cap, and appeals are effectively useless).

Getting traffic

Organic traffic is strongly correlated with price — low price plus sales weight decide search ranking. Billion-Dollar Subsidies is a platform-level traffic gateway; group buying and social viral sharing bring low-cost customer acquisition. Ads run on the Duoduo promotion system (search / scene / full-site). 900M+ annual active buyers; Double 11 '25 DAU of 414 million ranked No.2.

Fulfilment & logistics

Merchant self-fulfillment dominates, with strict platform checks on shipping timeliness and tracking; agricultural products ship directly from origin; remote areas have free-shipping policies. The platform has no self-built warehousing/delivery, so fulfillment costs fall on merchants.

Payments & settlement

WeChat Pay / Alipay / Duoduo Pay, settled in RMB. Payments settle per the billing cycle after order confirmation (per platform rules); credit-payment options such as 'buy now, pay later' (先用后付) are supported.

Compliance

A business license and category qualifications are required; domestic e-commerce must pay taxes. The refund-only / refund-without-return (退款不退货) rules are strict and have already been singled out by regulators (risk of tightening). 2025 rules strengthened merchant after-sales obligations (e.g. 24-hour handling of exchanges). Categories such as 3C require mandatory certification.

Key risks

(1) The refund-only plus penalty rules triggered systematic merchant backlash (the 'five-times penalty' controversy, the siege of Temu's headquarters, the 'Ten Crimes of Pinduoduo' campaign); (2) malicious 'refund-without-return' abuse erodes trust in the merchant ecosystem, and if regulators tighten the refund-only rule it becomes a compliance risk; (3) low-price competition squeezes margins — Billion-Dollar Subsidies is now fully matched by JD.com/Taobao/Douyin, thinning the moat; (4) revenue grows but profit doesn't — Q4'25 revenue +12% but adjusted net profit -12%, and fee policies may be shifted further onto merchants.

Best-fit sellers

Best suited to extreme-cost supply-chain sellers: white-label, agricultural, daily-consumer FMCG and industrial-cluster factory sellers. Not suited to merchants focused on brand premium and higher margins (hard to survive under price wars and penalty rules).

Sources

1. ebrun.com
2. m.ebrun.com
3. sohu.com
4. m.toutiao.com
5. m.thepaper.cn