If you haven't paid yet, just trash it in the Billing Management console. Heads up on pay-as-you-go though: simply stopping an ECS instance doesn't halt billing. You have to manually "Release" the instance or disks keep ticking. Paid subscriptions require a support ticket, and refunds are strictly prorated against your account quota.

Don’t bother waiting for predictable sales. Alibaba Cloud mostly drops deep discounts around 11.11 Singles' Day. Checkout promo codes are basically useless, so your best move is grabbing the new-user $300 Free Trial credit. If you need basic VPS, bypass standard ECS and use their "Starter Package" page instead.

If you're after the Alibaba Cloud student rate, head straight to their Student Hub. Don't waste time hunting for coupon codes. You just need an active .edu address to verify and claim the discounted ECS instances. Heads up though: cancel before the term ends, because auto-renewal defaults back to regular commercial rates.

There’s no real loyalty program on Alibaba Cloud. Don't bother looking for promo codes at checkout either. Instead, just hit their Free Trial page; they usually give $300 in credits if you register an enterprise account. Students can grab coupons through GitHub's student pack. Otherwise, wait for their annual 11.11 sales.