Inspection: what the warehouse checks, and where the photos go
The free check is narrower than the word QC suggests, and its outputs live inside your account. Scope, exclusions, and the paid extras.
Scope
The published scope, read precisely
The inspection rules commit to an appearance check: model, style and size. Packages are opened for that purpose only when the item is one of garments, bags, suitcases and shoes. Sealed retail packaging and sealing-strip packs stay closed, and for electronics the rules exclude authenticity, function and quality checks in so many words.
Read that as a wrong-item filter, not a lab. It can help reveal a colour or labelled-size mismatch, such as a red hoodie ordered in blue; review the actual photos rather than assuming every issue will be caught. It structurally cannot catch a dead battery, a fake chip, or stitching that fails in month two. An inspection’s published scope matters more than whether it is labelled free.
Flow
The warehouse flow around the check
Arrival, inspection, weighing, stocking: the operator's own diagram puts the check between the courier and the shelf. The stored status matters to two separate policies: normal storage and an eligible seller-remedy request. The dated five-day guarantee measures its 120-hour period from stocked in, subject to the item and seller; waiting to open the photos does not restart it.
Method
How to check QC photos properly
Photos attach to the item row in your account's warehouse view. Open them at full size, not as thumbnails, and read them against the listing: colourway, size tag, logo placement, included accessories. Lighting and screens can affect colour comparisons. Compare several relevant views with the saved listing and ask for clarification if a difference remains uncertain.
When the free angles are not enough, the personalised photo service buys specifics: 2 yuan per picture, shot to your written instruction, described in the dated article as delivered by internal message within 24 hours. Ask for the measurement or the close-up you actually doubt, name the product ID, and keep the request concrete. A free three-photo parcel option also exists at submission time for the assembled box.
Photos are also your evidence layer. Save them off-platform while the order is live; they are the record any later claim stands on.
A third photo service covers the box rather than the items: tick the parcel photo option when submitting and the warehouse shoots three free pictures of the assembled parcel before it ships, the only visual record of the packing job itself. For fragile hauls, pairing that with the paid reinforcement option is the difference between arguing about damage and documenting it.
The window the photos feed
The point of checking photos promptly is the clock behind them: help 51 describes 120 hours from stocked in for an eligible return or exchange request. Help 87 separately describes 14 days for a warehouse exchange; ask which provision applies to your item instead of assuming either is universal. The first eligible return or exchange in a calendar month waives the service fee for non-Prime users in the dated policy; return freight and other costs may remain; later ones in the same month price on a ladder. Items with removed tags, custom-made goods and a list of excluded classes fall outside the guarantee entirely.
If the eligible request window closes, a seller remedy may no longer be available. Resolve the question before choosing to ship. The FAQ covers the second, later window that applies after international delivery.
Two sibling clocks run beside the return window and are easy to conflate. Normal items hold 100 free storage days counted from the in-storage status; abnormal items, the ones flagged at inspection, hold 60 days counted from the signed-for status instead, a shorter window on an earlier clock. And losses have their own ledger entirely: damage inside the warehouse is compensated under one published standard, parcels lost or damaged in international transit under another, with optional insurance sitting on top at submission time. Knowing which regime a problem falls under is half of writing a claim that lands.
The number of free photos per item is not published anywhere on the operator's site. This guide does not invent one; review the views actually provided, and request a specific missing view when it can answer your question.