This topic provides important information about unsubscribing from cloud resources on Alibaba Cloud. Carefully read this topic to prevent adverse impacts on your business. Unsubscription is supported for Alibaba Cloud resources in the following scenarios: unsubscribe from in-use cloud resources, cancel a cloud resource renewal order that has not taken effect, automatically unsubscribe from cloud resources that fail to be created or updated, request a refund for the downgrade of cloud resource specifications, request a refund after the change of the billing method from subscription to pay-as-you-go, and request a refund for in-kind products. If you use cloud services provided by Alibaba Cloud partners, consult the partners about usage fees and refunds.
Unsubscription is supported only for subscription cloud resources, such as resource plans. If you want to terminate a cloud service, you must release the cloud resources in the cloud service based on unsubscription rules. Refunds are issued accordingly.
For pay-as-you-go cloud resources, you can release or delete them in the Alibaba Cloud Management Console. You cannot request refunds for used pay-as-you-go cloud resources.
For more information about how to unsubscribe from cloud resources, see Methods for unsubscribing resources.
Unsubscribe from in-use cloud resources
If you no longer require an in-use cloud resource or a cloud resource in a renewal order that has not taken effect, you can unsubscribe from the cloud resource.
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 an instance, 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.
Cloud services that support self-service unsubscription
Product | Service |
Elastic computing | Elastic Compute Service (ECS) that uses the subscription billing method Simple Application Server |
If you purchased a cloud service during a promotional event and the refund rules of the promotional event conflict with general refund rules, the refund rules of the promotional event take precedence. Some promotional events do not support refunds.
If cloud disks are attached to the ECS instances from which you want to unsubscribe, confirm in the ECS console whether you need to release the cloud disks to reduce costs.
Refundable amount calculation
Refundable amount = Paid amount - Consumed amount
The paid amount refers to the actual amount that you paid for an order, excluding the amount that is deducted by using coupons.
The consumed amount is calculated based on the following rules:
ECS (subscription)
For resources used for less than 30 days: Consumed amount = (Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration) × 1.5
For resources used for 30 days or longer: Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Other cloud services
Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Parameters
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 = Refund time - Order start time. The usage duration is accurate to days, and a duration shorter than one day is rounded up to one day. Examples:
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Discount for the usage duration | The system calculates the discount for the usage duration based on resource specifications and the actual usage duration at the time of refund. |
Daily unit price |
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Order duration | Order duration = Order end time - Order start time. The order duration is rounded down. For example, at 12:00 on January 1, 2023, you purchased an ECS instance for one month, and the order end time is 00:00 on February 2, 2023. The order duration is 31 days. |
Constant resource plan | The consumed amount of constant resource plans is calculated based on the following rules:
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Cancel a cloud resource renewal order that has not taken effect
You can cancel a cloud resource renewal order that has not taken effect. For more information about rules for unsubscribing from effective cloud resources, see the "Unsubscribe from in-use cloud resources" section of this topic.
If you change the resource specifications before the renewal order takes effect, you can only unsubscribe from the resources. In this case, you cannot cancel the resource renewal order.
You cannot cancel a renewal order that has not taken effect for resource plans.
Refundable amount calculation
Refundable amount = Paid amount
The paid amount refers to the actual amount that you paid for an order, excluding the amount that is deducted by using coupons.
Automatically unsubscribe from cloud resources that fail to be created or changed
If an order contains cloud resources that fail to be activated, the system automatically cancels the subscription to the resources that fail to be activated.
To view the activation status of resources in an order, go to the Orders page in the Expenses and Costs console.
If a package product, such as a solution package or plan, contains cloud resources that fail to be activated, the system cancels the subscription to all resources in the package.
Refundable amount calculation
You receive a full refund if the resources that you purchased fail to be created or updated. The refund includes the coupons that you used for the order.
Request a refund for the downgrade of cloud resource specifications
If the specifications of your subscription instance exceed your business requirements and you are granted the permissions to perform real-time specification downgrades, you can downgrade the instance specifications in real time. When you downgrade instance specifications, the system calculates the refundable amount based on the following rules:
When you downgrade the specifications of an instance, the original order is canceled and a new order with downgraded specifications is generated. In the subsequent refund request, the refundable amount is calculated based on this new order.
If you purchase a resource during a promotional event, the refundable amount may be smaller than zero. In this case, you cannot receive a refund.
The usage duration refers to the actual consumption duration of the resources that you purchased in an order. For example, if you purchase an instance for one year and request a refund after you use the instance for 10 days, the usage duration is 10 days. The usage duration is accurate to days, and a duration shorter than one day is rounded up to one day.
Refundable amount calculation
Refundable amount for the downgrade of resource specifications = Online refundable amount × Price difference ratio between new and original orders. If you request refunds for multiple orders, the refundable amount for each order is calculated and summed up.
Online refundable amount = Paid amount - Consumed amount
The paid amount refers to the actual amount that you paid for an order, excluding the amount that is deducted by using coupons.
The consumed amount is calculated based on the following rules:
ECS (subscription)
For resources used for less than 30 days: Consumed amount = (Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration) × 1.5
For resources used for 30 days or longer: Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Other cloud services
Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Price difference ratio between new and original orders = (Daily unit price of the original order - Daily unit price of the new order)/Daily unit price difference of the original order
Daily unit price difference of the original order:
If the instance specifications are not upgraded before the downgrade is performed, the daily unit price difference of the original order is equal to the daily unit price of the original order.
If the instance specifications are upgraded before the downgrade is performed, the daily unit price difference of the original order is equal to the daily unit price of the original order minus the daily unit price of the order before the upgrade.
Daily unit price = Order price/Order duration.
If the price difference ratio between new and original orders is greater than 1, the system automatically uses 1 as the ratio.
Parameters
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 = Downgrade time - Order start time. The usage duration is accurate to days, and a duration shorter than one day is rounded up to one day. Examples:
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Discount for the usage duration | The system calculates the discount for the usage duration based on resource specifications and the actual usage duration at the time of refund. |
Daily unit price |
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Request a refund after the change of 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 save costs and flexibly use the resources of the instance. When the billing method is changed, the fees of resources that are not consumed are refunded. The refundable amount is calculated based on the following rules:
The refundable amount is calculated based on the actual amount that you paid for an order, excluding the amount that is deducted by using coupons.
Refundable amount calculation
Refundable amount = Paid amount - Consumed amount
The paid amount refers to the actual amount that you paid for an order, excluding the amount that is deducted by using coupons.
The consumed amount is calculated based on the following rules:
ECS (subscription)
For resources used for less than 30 days: Consumed amount = (Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration) × 1.5
For resources used for 30 days or longer: Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Other cloud services
Consumed amount = Daily unit price × Usage duration × Discount for the usage duration
Parameters
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 = Change time - Order start time. The usage duration is accurate to days, and a 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 specifications and the actual usage duration at the time of refund. |
Daily unit price |
|
Request a refund for in-kind products
In-kind products are delivered offline. Before you request a refund, contact the after-sales service representatives and confirm that your product is refundable. Then, submit a ticket for manual processing.
Note
If the refund period of your product has expired, you cannot request a refund for your product.