How to sell on TikTok Shop

Your store is live and a few orders came in, mostly from people you know, and you keep hearing that small brands sell on TikTok Shop now. Here is how to sell on TikTok Shop: check what each order leaves you, open the shop and list your products today, then post 2 shoppable videos and invite 100 creators every day for 4 weeks. Most new sellers open a shop, post a few videos, send samples to anyone who asks, and decide after a quiet month that TikTok Shop only works for big brands, when they did too little to find out.

Do these three things

About 4 hours a day, every day, for 4 weeks, plus free products and postage for the creators who say yes. Judge it after 56 of your own videos and 2,800 invitations, not after the first quiet week.

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1. 1Today: work out what one order leaves you after TikTok's fee and a creator's cut. Then open your TikTok Shop, link your store, and list your products with a white-background photo and a plain title.
2. 2Every day: post 2 shoppable videos with a product link, and send 100 personal invitations to creators who post about products like yours. AI drafts the scripts and invitations; you film the product and add one true line about each creator.
3. 3Every Sunday: count orders by where they came from: your videos, creators' videos or the Shop tab. Give next week's hours to what brought orders.

Get help doing these

ChatGPT or Claude reads this guide and works through it with you.

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1. Work out what one order leaves you after TikTok Shop fees

Before you list anything, work out the money one TikTok Shop order leaves you after TikTok's referral fee, a creator's commission, the shipping label and the product. Creators sell most new brands' products on TikTok Shop, and they take a cut of every sale. If that cut leaves you nothing, every sale loses money.

Start from the cost sheet in how to price a product. Then add the two TikTok lines. The money left is what pays for getting each customer.

• The referral fee. TikTok's public fee table, last updated in May 2026, lists 6% for haircare, skincare and most other categories. Several seller news sites reported that most non-food categories went up to 8% from 4 August 2026. The rate Seller Center shows for your category is the one that counts. Do your sums at 8%, so a higher fee does not wipe out your money left.
• The creator's cut. You set it, anywhere from 1% to 80%. Start at 15% for creators who find you on their own, and 20% for creators you invite. Work the sheet at 20%.

Product | Price on TikTok Shop | Referral fee (price × 0.08) | Creator's cut (price × 0.20) | Shipping label | Product and box | 5% for samples and returns | Money left | Money left ÷ price

Decide with one rule: at least 20% of the price is left after every line. That share also sets your break-even ROAS if you ever run ads.

• It passes: keep the price and list it.
• A single product fails, but your bundle passes: make the bundle the product you push in every video. Bigger orders carry the label and the fees better. More on this in raising your order value.
• Nothing passes: raise the price, or lower the creator's cut to 15% and test it. Do not sell at a loss or run a deep sale to get first orders. Those buyers then expect a price you cannot keep.

Ask ChatGPT or Claude to build the formulas. Type in your own invoice and label numbers.

• Tool: Google Sheets and your step 1 cost sheet from the pricing guide.
• Time: 45 minutes.
• You will have: the money left on each product and bundle, at an 8% fee and a 20% creator's cut, and the product you will push.
• It worked if: every product you list leaves at least 20% of its price, and you can say your creator commission without looking.
• Common mistake: setting a 30% commission because other shops do, then losing money on every creator sale. Choose carefully the first time: a change to your open commission takes 30 days to apply.

2. Set up your TikTok Shop in Seller Center and link your account

Open your shop in TikTok Shop Seller Center, or from the TikTok for Shopify app if your store runs on Shopify. Then link your brand's TikTok account to it as the shop's official account. You do not need any followers to do this.

Many top results say you need 1,000 followers. That is the rule for affiliate creators who sell other brands' products. TikTok's own policy says your shop's official account has no minimum follower count.

If your store is on Shopify, use the free TikTok for Shopify app. It syncs your active products, your stock and your orders, so you manage everything in one place.

1. In the Shopify App Store, search "TikTok for Shopify" and click Set up now on the TikTok Shop card.
2. Click Connect account and log in with the TikTok account your brand posts from, or make one.
3. Finish the business details and verification, then click Edit to set shipping and Add warehouse to add the address you ship from.

Only the store owner can do this, the warehouse must be a real US address (no P.O. box), and one Shopify store can link to one TikTok Shop.

If you do not use Shopify, sign up at TikTok Shop Seller Center (US) with a phone number or email that no other shop has used. Then:

1. Choose your business type. A company needs its registration documents and EIN. An individual or sole owner needs ID and proof of address. Type every detail exactly as it is on your documents. TikTok says business and personal details cannot be changed after you submit them.
2. Fill in the W-9 tax form. Your products stay hidden until TikTok has checked it and your documents.
3. Add your ship-from address and the US bank account your payouts go to.
4. Link your TikTok account as the official account. You can change the official account only 3 times, so link the brand account, not a personal one.

Shipping. Buy every label in Seller Center with TikTok Shipping: in Manage Orders, select the orders and click Create Shipping Labels. TikTok takes the label cost from your payout after delivery. Ship every order within 2 business days. Late orders above 10% bring penalties, such as limits on your orders and slower payouts.

• Tool: TikTok for Shopify (free) or TikTok Shop Seller Center (free to open).
• Time: 1 hour to fill in, then a few days for TikTok to check your documents.
• You will have: a TikTok Shop with a ship-from address, shipping labels and your brand account linked.
• It worked if: Seller Center shows your shop as active, and your TikTok profile shows a Shop tab.
• Common mistake: waiting to "build followers first". You can open and link the shop today. The other mistake is a typo in your business details, which you cannot fix later.

3. List your products so they pass review and show up in search

List each product with a plain title in your buyers' words, a main photo on a pure white background, and a description of at least 30 words. TikTok checks every listing before it goes live, and shoppers also find products by searching the Shop tab.

If you use the Shopify app, your products are already there. Open each one in Seller Center and fix it to these rules. If not, go to Products › Add Products › Add new product.

• Title: 25 to 200 characters. Brand, what it is, the key detail, then size or count, with each main word capitalised. Use the words buyers type: type your product into the TikTok search bar and write down the suggestions.
• Photos: up to 9. The main photo shows the front of the product on a pure white background, at least 600 × 600 pixels, with no added text, logo, border or graphics. Use the other 8 for the product in use, the label and the size in a hand.
• Description: at least 30 words, with 3 to 5 short points: what it does, in your value proposition's words, who it is for, how to use it, what is in it, the size. Write it from what buyers ask you, and keep each point under 250 characters. The rules are the same as for a good product description on your store.
• The bundle: list it as its own product, with its own title and main photo, so creators can link it.
• Claims: no "cure", "100% effective", "guaranteed results" or anything you cannot prove. TikTok removes listings and videos with false or exaggerated claims, and this is checked hard for beauty and health products.

Click Submit for review. Fix anything TikTok sends back the same day.

• Tool: Seller Center, your product photos, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft titles and descriptions from your notes.
• Time: about 30 minutes a product.
• You will have: every product and your bundle live on TikTok Shop.
• It worked if: every listing passes review the first time, and searching your product's main words in the Shop tab brings up your listing within a week.
• Common mistake: reusing a store photo with text or a badge on it as the main image. It breaks TikTok's listing rule and slows your review.

4. Post 2 shoppable videos a day with a product link

Post 2 short videos a day from your brand account, each one showing one product being used, with the product linked through Add link. A linked video shows a yellow cart, so people can buy without leaving TikTok.

Why 2 and not more. TikTok may put a newly linked account in an early-stage program that allows up to 3 shoppable videos a day. You leave it after 30 days linked, 1,000 followers and TikTok's checks. 2 a day stays inside that limit with room for a remake. If your shop is registered as a business and a second founder wants to post too, they can link their own account to the shop as a marketing account and post 2 more a day. That is how to add volume without breaking the limit.

Write and film in batches. Twice a week, give ChatGPT or Claude the questions buyers ask you and your listing, and ask for 7 scripts of 20 to 60 seconds. TikTok's Video Assistant in Seller Center can also draft scripts from your reviews. Pick the ones that sound like you, then film all 7 in one sitting on your phone, in portrait (9:16). The full method for filming and editing is in making short-form videos, and a content calendar keeps the week in order.

Every video follows the same three parts, and ends with a call to action:

0–2 seconds: [the product in use, or the result], with one line on screen: "[the problem, in your buyer's words]"
3–25 seconds: [hands showing how it works, close up], [one or two facts from your listing], [who it is for]
Last 5 seconds: "[What it is] is in the cart below." [Show the pack once more.]
Caption: [what it is] for [who], in the words people search. 3 to 5 hashtags that name the topic.

Post it with the link. In the TikTok app, upload the video, tap Add link, choose Product, pick it from your shop, and post. If you forgot, open TikTok Shop Creator Center, tap Link products, and add it. This works for videos from the last 30 days. Post at two different times a day.

Stay inside the rules. Say the same price as your listing. If you show a before and after, say "results may vary", and use no filter or edit that makes the result look better. TikTok removes videos that break this, and repeated breaks can take away your right to post shoppable videos. The Pre-check tool in Seller Center checks a video for problems before you post it.

Reply to every comment the same day. A question in the comments is the next video's script, and buyers read the answers as social proof.

• Tool: your phone, the TikTok app, and ChatGPT or Claude for scripts.
• Time: about 1 hour 30 minutes a day on average: two filming sessions of about 2 hours a week, plus 1 hour a day to post, link and reply.
• You will have: 56 shoppable videos in 4 weeks, each linked to a product.
• It worked if: by the end of week 2, at least 1 in 10 videos gets clicks on the product link. If none of your first 28 videos passes 300 views, change the first 2 seconds before anything else.
• Common mistake: a video that talks about the product without showing it being used, or a video posted with no product link. Both get views and no orders.

If you also post on Instagram: post the same file as a Reel, uploaded fresh, without TikTok's logo on it. The setup is in promoting your business on Instagram, and more ideas are in Instagram post ideas for D2C brands. One video can serve every app.

5. Invite 100 creators a day to sell your product for a commission

Open your shop to affiliate creators, and send 100 personal invitations a day to creators who post about products like yours. Creators earn your commission on every sale from their video, and you pay nothing until something sells, except the free samples. Their videos are also the user-generated content that shows strangers real people using your product.

This step is the short version. Choosing creators, writing the brief and checking their videos are in getting TikTok Shop affiliates to post.

1. Turn on open collaboration. In Seller Center, go to Affiliate Center › Collaboration › Open collaboration. Add your products at the commission from step 1 (15%). Any TikTok Shop creator can now find and link them.
2. Set your sample rules. Turn on Free sample available. On the Sample Settings page, set a minimum number of followers and average views, so only creators who really post can ask. Decide how many free products, plus postage, you can afford each week, and stop approving when you reach it.
3. Send 100 invitations a day. Go to Collaboration › Target collaboration, or use Find Creators. Pick small creators who posted about products like yours in the last 30 days. Offer 20% and a free sample. TikTok allows up to 1,000 invitations in 24 hours, so 100 a day is well inside the limit. AI drafts each message from the template; you watch one of their videos and add one true line about it. That takes about a minute each.
4. Answer every sample request within 2 days, and ship within 2 days. TikTok cancels requests you leave for 7 days, and you have 7 days after approval to ship. Creators who get a free sample must post within 14 days of getting it. Shipping fast matters for another reason too: creators under 5,000 followers are in TikTok's own starter program, and they can only take products from shops that score high on TikTok's Shop Performance Score. Late or cancelled orders lower that score.

Hi [first name], I loved your video on [their video, in a few words]. [One true line about it.]We make [product] for [who it is for]. I think it fits your [kind of video].We'd like to send you a free sample and pay you [20]% of every sale from your video. Everything is set up in TikTok Shop, so you just link it when you post.[Your name], [brand]

• Tool: TikTok Shop Seller Center (Affiliate Center), and ChatGPT or Claude to draft invitations.
• Time: about 2 hours a day: 1 hour 40 minutes for 100 invitations, and 20 minutes to approve and pack samples.
• You will have: 700 invitations a week and 2,800 in 4 weeks, with every sample you sent logged.
• It worked if: at least half the samples you approve turn into a posted video with your product linked, within 14 days of delivery. After 2,800 invitations, at least one creator's video has brought an order. If fewer than half post, raise the follower and view minimums in Sample Settings.
• Common mistake: approving every sample request on day one. One seller sent 50 samples and got 2 sales. Say yes to creators whose last 3 videos show products being used, up to your weekly cap, and turn the rest down.

If you also send free products to creators for your own store: keep the two apart. TikTok Shop samples go through Seller Center, so the sale and the commission are tracked there. Creators who post on Instagram or YouTube get a discount code from your store instead, as in getting your first sales on Shopify.

6. Count orders by source every Sunday and move your hours

Every Sunday, write down how many orders came from your own videos, from creators' videos and from the Shop tab, and what each one left you. After 56 of your own videos and 2,800 invitations, move your hours to what brought orders.

Take the numbers from the analytics in Seller Center and from each video's stats in TikTok. Ask every buyer who messages you how they found you, too. Keep it all in one sheet:

Week | Your videos posted | Views | Product clicks | Orders from your videos | Invitations sent | Samples sent | Creator videos posted | Orders from creators | Orders from Shop tab search | Money left this week

After 56 of your own videos and 2,800 invitations (4 weeks), decide:

• Your videos get views but almost no product clicks: the product is not shown being used early enough. Remake your 3 best videos with the product in the first 2 seconds.

• Clicks but no orders: the listing or the price is the problem, and your conversion rate shows it. Check your main photo, title and price against the 5 best-selling products like yours on TikTok Shop, as in a quick competitor analysis. Read why no one is buying, and look at how a new store earns trust, because your first product reviews matter here too.

• Creators' videos bring more orders than yours: raise your weekly sample cap if your money left allows, and move an hour a day from filming to invitations.

• Your own videos bring more: keep 2 a day, and once the early-stage limit lifts, test 3 a day.

• 0 orders from everything: go back to step 1 and check that the product and price are right for TikTok Shop. Some products need people to search for them more than to see them. In that case another channel, like Amazon or Etsy, may fit better.

• Tool: Seller Center analytics, TikTok's video stats, and Google Sheets.

• Time: 30 minutes every Sunday.

• You will have: one row a week, and a source for every order.

• It worked if: you can say where every order this week came from and what it left you.

• Common mistake: judging by views, or after one slow week. A video with 5,000 views and 0 product clicks did less for you than one with 400 views and 2 orders.

When one source clearly brings orders, carry the same routine into marketing your D2C brand. Once a month, step back for a marketing review, and once buyers arrive, work on getting them to order again. If 4 hours a day feels impossible, find the hours in your week before you cut the numbers.

Where Scout7 helps

Scout7 speeds up step 4. Steps 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are yours.

Step 4. Scout7 makes portrait (9:16) videos with captions from a script. You choose the cast and voice, direct each scene, reshoot what misses and approve the cut. You download the finished video and post it in the TikTok app yourself, where you add the product link. Scout7 does not post to TikTok. It can schedule the same approved video to Instagram and Facebook.

Your TikTok Shop checklist for the next 4 weeks

0 of 12 done

Work through this list with an AI assistant

It drafts the work and keeps track of what is done.

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Step 1 · Work out what one order leaves you after TikTok Shop fees

• Fill in the money left on each product and bundle, and choose the product to push and your commission rates.

Step 2 · Set up your TikTok Shop in Seller Center and link your account

• Open your TikTok Shop through the TikTok for Shopify app or Seller Center, and set up shipping.
• Link your brand's TikTok account as the shop's official account.

Step 3 · List your products so they pass review and show up in search

• List every product and your bundle with a plain title, a white-background main photo and a 30-word description.

Step 4 · Post 2 shoppable videos a day with a product link

• Twice a weekWrite 7 scripts with AI and film them in one sitting.
• Every dayPost 2 shoppable videos with a product link.
• Every dayReply to every comment on your videos.

Step 5 · Invite 100 creators a day to sell your product for a commission

• Turn on open collaboration with free samples, and set your sample rules and weekly cap.
• Every daySend 100 personal target collaboration invitations.
• Every dayAnswer sample requests and ship approved samples within 2 days.

Step 6 · Count orders by source every Sunday and move your hours

• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet.
• After 2,800 invitationsDecide with the step 6 rules where next month's hours go.

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