Short answer
To sell on TikTok Shop in the US, sign up at TikTok Shop Seller Center as an individual or a business (you must be 18 or older and live in the US, with ID and an SSN, ITIN or EIN), list your products, and ship each order within TikTok's deadlines. TikTok charges a 6% referral fee on most categories and no listing or monthly fee; creator commission, if you use affiliates, comes on top. New shops are paid 31 days after delivery.
What is TikTok Shop, and who pays whom?
TikTok Shop is a store built into the TikTok app: products appear in videos, LIVEs and a Shop tab, and the buyer pays without leaving TikTok. One order can involve three parties besides the buyer: the seller who lists and ships the product, the creator (an affiliate) whose video sold it, and TikTok, which takes the payment and pays the other two after delivery.
| Who | What they get | When |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer | Pays: the price plus any shipping and tax, inside TikTok | At checkout |
| TikTok Shop | A referral fee: 6% of what the buyer pays (shipping included, tax excluded) on most categories | Taken from the seller's settlement |
| Creator (affiliate) | The commission rate the seller set, on the price minus the seller's discount | Typically 15 days after delivery |
| Seller | The rest, minus the fee and commission | 1 to 31 days after delivery, by settlement tier |
You can sell your own product without ever filming yourself: creators find it in the affiliate marketplace and post it for a commission. The creator side (requirements, commission, payouts) is in our guide to the affiliate program, and how buyers are protected is in our TikTok Shop safety checklist.
Who can sell on TikTok Shop in the US?
Anyone 18 or older who lives in the US, as an individual (sole proprietor) or a registered business. You don't need followers or an LLC to sell; the follower minimums you read about apply to creators who promote other people's products.
- US ID: a passport or passport card, driver's license, state ID or permanent resident card, as a full image of the document. TikTok says it rejects every other type.
- Tax number: individuals give the last four digits of their SSN or ITIN; businesses add an EIN, and TikTok asks for a W-9. You can list products before sending tax documents, but you have to send them to keep selling and get paid once you've earned $2,000.
- Proof of address if asked: a utility bill, bank or credit card statement, or insurance policy, showing the same address you typed in.
- A phone number and email address that haven't been used to open another shop.
How do you get TikTok Shop and set up a seller account?
- Open the TikTok Shop sign-up page
Sign up with your TikTok account, or with an email address or phone number, and enter the verification code TikTok sends.
- Pick individual or business
Individual is for a sole proprietor using an SSN or ITIN. Choose business if you have an EIN and a registered company.
- Add the owner's details and documents
Name, ID, the last four digits of the SSN or ITIN (or the EIN and W-9 for a business), and your address.
- Set your shop preferences and submit
Shop name, warehouse and return address, then submit for verification. TikTok's page doesn't state a review time.
- List your first product
Every listing needs a title, description, brand, images and variations where they apply, and everything must describe the product accurately. Some categories need approval in the Qualification Center first.
- Choose how you'll ship
Ship it yourself with valid tracking, or apply for Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT), which stores, packs and ships for you, with 60 days of free storage per inbound shipment.
- Set up an affiliate plan
Open collaboration for all creators, target collaboration for the ones you invite (see below).
What can't you sell on TikTok Shop?
TikTok's US list of prohibited products includes alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes; firearms, ammunition and weapons; drugs; medicines, medical devices and medicinal supplements; secondhand products outside the pre-owned program; and services and virtual products.
A second list is restricted: you can sell those only after qualifying in Seller Center's Qualification Center. Some categories, including dietary supplements, over-the-counter medicines and refurbished products, are invite-only. Check both lists before you buy stock.
How much does TikTok Shop take from each sale?
6% of the order on most US categories, by TikTok's own fee table (dated October 8, 2026). The fee is the rate times what the customer pays plus any platform discount, minus tax, so shipping the buyer pays is included. Two exceptions: fine jewelry (diamond, gold, jade, platinum, ruby, sapphire, emerald) and pre-owned items are 5%. And on collectibles and pre-owned items, the part of a single sale above $10,000 is charged 3%.
- No listing or monthly fee on TikTok's US fee pages, and the old payment transaction fee ended for orders placed after April 3, 2023.
- Refund administration fee: when an order is refunded, TikTok keeps 20% of the referral fee it returns, capped at $5 per SKU.
- Creator commission is a cost you choose: 1% to 80% of the price, paid only on orders a creator drove.
- Shipping is yours unless you charge the buyer for it, and charged shipping adds to the fee base.
What does one sale actually leave you?
We ran a typical own-brand product through our commission calculator's seller mode: a $24.99 home product that costs you $7 to make, sent with free shipping that costs you $4.50, $0.75 packaging, 5% of orders returned, over 100 orders, at the 6% referral fee.
| Creator commission | Profit per order | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| No affiliates | $10.40 | 43.8% |
| 15%, on 60% of orders | $8.26 | 34.8% |
| 15%, on every order | $6.84 | 28.8% |
| 20%, on every order | $5.65 | 23.8% |
TikTok's own cut stays the same in every row: $1.42 an order. What moves the result is the commission. At 20% on every order, profit falls from $10.40 to $5.65 an order, because the creator earns $4.75 on each sale ($3.56 at 15%), more than three times TikTok's fee. Cost of goods and shipping ($11.50 together) are still the biggest lines.
Our pick: before you list, check the price still leaves a profit at 20% commission on every order. Basis: a target collaboration's rate overrides your open rate, so the highest rate you'll offer a good creator is the one your price has to survive, and on this product it still leaves $5.65 an order. If it goes negative, raise the price or cut the shipping cost before you go looking for creators.
How do you get creators to sell your product?
Through an affiliate plan in Seller Center. An open collaboration shows your product to every TikTok Shop creator at one commission rate. A target collaboration invites chosen creators at their own rate, which always overrides the open one. Rates run from 1% to 80%; a change takes 5 days to apply on a target plan and 30 days on an open plan, so creators aren't cut mid-campaign.
Keep an eye on your Shop Performance Score. TikTok lists affiliate marketing and campaigns as a 3.5-and-up benefit and ends them below 3.0. The score (0 to 5) only appears after 30 delivered orders in 90 days, and it's built from product satisfaction, fulfillment and customer service. TikTok's score page doesn't say what applies before a new shop has a score, so open the Affiliate section of Seller Center on day one and see whether it lets you create a plan; if it doesn't, your first 30 orders have to come from your own videos. The UGC examples break down the demo and problem-and-solution formats beat by beat, and the hook generator drafts opening lines to test.
Free samples are how most sellers get those first videos. You pay for the product, shipping and tax. Only creators with sales in the last 120 days can request one; you have 7 days to approve a request and 7 more to ship it, and the creator has 14 days after delivery to post. Ten samples of our example product cost $115.00 before tax, which 17 creator-driven orders at 15% commission pay back at $6.84 profit each.
If you'd rather not give stock away, refundable samples let a creator buy at full price and get the money back once their content hits sales thresholds you set; only sales to other shoppers count.
When do TikTok Shop sellers get paid?
After delivery, on a settlement tier set by your Shop Performance Score. The clock starts when the order is delivered, not when it's placed.
| Tier | Paid after delivery | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Introductory | 31 days | New or probationary sellers |
| Standard | 8 days | The default for established sellers |
| Accelerated | 5 days | Shop Performance Score 3.5 or higher |
| Express | 1 day | Shop Performance Score 4.0 or higher |
TikTok can also hold part of each delivered order's earnings in a reserve for 30 days. Plan cash for it: on the introductory tier, stock you sell in your first week is paid for about five weeks later, and samples go out of pocket before that.
What limits does a new shop have?
New US shops start in a probation program with order and product caps. They rise as you finish the tasks on Seller Center's graduation checklist and as the shop shows reliable shipping, accurate listings and quick replies to buyers.
| Status | Orders per day | Products you can list |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 50 | 100 |
| Standard | 100 | 200 |
| Premium | 200 | 1,000 |
| Pro | No probation cap | No probation cap |
- Ship in 2 business days: orders must be scanned In Transit within 2 business days and Delivered within 6, and unshipped orders auto-cancel at 5 business days.
- Keep late dispatch under 10%: above that, TikTok may take enforcement action.
- Valid tracking on every order within the dispatch window.
A shop that goes viral at Beginner status can only take 50 orders a day, so have stock and packing time ready before you send samples out in bulk.
What didn't we check?
We didn't open a shop ourselves, so we can't say how long verification takes; TikTok's page doesn't say either. We left out shipping label rates, FBT's fees and the new-seller fee promotion, because the pages we needed didn't open or don't list prices. Everything here is the US: other markets have their own fees and rules. Sales tax handling, and whether you need a business license where you live, are outside this page.
