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How to sell on TikTok Shop as a brand: your first 30 days

Your first month as a seller: who can register, what it costs, setup, affiliate plans, samples and a first LIVE.

Last reviewed
8 min read

Quick answer

To sell on TikTok Shop as a brand, register in Seller Center where it is open. For a local shop in the UK and the EU, TikTok asks for a local business or sole trader, stock stored in the country (with some EU exceptions) and domestic returns. Then list products, set up shipping, open affiliate plans and send creators samples.

How to sell on TikTok Shop depends on your market, so the UK and the EU come first, with a note on the Gulf. The steps fit a brand whose margin can carry TikTok’s referral fee and a creator commission; the cost section shows how to check.

Who can sell on TikTok Shop? Seller requirements in the UK, the EU and the Gulf

For a local shop in the UK and the EU, TikTok asks for a local business or sole trader, stock stored in the country (with some EU exceptions) and domestic returns. That makes you a local seller. TikTok’s registration policies set the details:

  • UK: sole traders must be 18 or older, and businesses must be registered in the UK, usually with a business representative who lives there.
  • EU: the policy covers Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, and asks for a bank account in the EU. It allows some exceptions, such as larger businesses that can ship from a warehouse in another EU country. Selling between the UK and the EU runs through separate schemes, covered in where TikTok Shop is open.
  • Gulf and Türkiye: TikTok Shop is not open locally in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Türkiye, and we found no launch in the other Gulf states. A brand based there usually needs a business registered in the UK or in one of the eight EU countries, with stock stored there (the EU policy allows some exceptions). Where it is open lists each market with its status.

In the UK and the EU, restricted products such as beauty products, electronics and toys need supporting documents that TikTok reviews before you can list them, so check your category first.

How much does it cost to sell on TikTok Shop? Seller fees in the UK and the EU

  • A referral fee to TikTok on each order. TikTok’s Seller University lists 9% (including VAT) as the standard UK rate, and its Ireland rate table shows 9% since 8 January 2026, with lower rates for some categories. What is TikTok Shop? covers the other EU markets and the US.
  • The commission you offer creators, paid only on sales they drive. TikTok’s UK fee page calculates it on the product price after your discount and any platform discount. How TikTok Shop commission is calculated shows the payout.
  • Shipping, returns, samples and any ads, depending on how you run the shop.

Example. A £30 order with no discounts, no shipping charge and a 10% creator commission: the referral fee at 9% is £2.70 and the creator earns £3. These are illustrative numbers, not typical earnings.

TikTok’s UK guide for new sellers, Your First 30 Days on TikTok Shop, offers a reduced referral fee to those who complete a set mission within 45 days of joining. It gives no rate and calls the fee a commission. Launchese reported in June 2026 a 3% fee for 30 days after a first sale.

Before you register, add up what comes off each sale. In the £30 example, the referral fee and the creator commission take £5.70, or 19% of the price, before the product, shipping, returns and the sample you send. If your margin cannot carry that, the fit is wrong before you spend anything. Set a sample budget first: each sample costs you the product, shipping and tax.

Week 1: how to sell on TikTok Shop, from sign-up to first listing

Week 1 checklist
  1. Register in Seller Center for your market, choose your seller type and verify your identity. TikTok’s UK registration guide gives no fixed approval time.
  2. Link your TikTok account as the shop’s official account, so your TikTok profile leads to your shop. TikTok’s UK guide, and its EU guide for Germany, Spain, France, Ireland and Italy, allow one official account per shop and up to four marketing accounts, which are extra TikTok accounts linked to the shop.
  3. Add your first products, with the documents any restricted category needs.
  4. Set up shipping. Ship by TikTok is TikTok’s shipping option: TikTok arranges the carrier and you still hand each parcel over within two working days of the order, in the UK and the EU. Whichever way you ship, TikTok cancels an order that has not reached the carrier within seven working days.
Shop probation and your Shop Performance Score

New shops start on probation in the first tier, Beginner. In the UK a Beginner shop can take up to 30 orders a day and list up to 100 products; in the EU, up to 50 orders a day. Completing TikTok’s tasks moves the shop up the tiers and raises the cap.

Delivery times, cancellations, returns, reviews and customer service count toward your Shop Performance Score, which runs from 0 to 5. TikTok gives you a score after 30 delivered orders in the past 60 days (UK) or 90 days (US).

Week 2: how do you set up your affiliate plans?

Week 2 checklist

TikTok’s UK affiliate policy asks for a Shop Performance Score of at least 3.5. A new shop has no score until it has 30 delivered orders, and the TikTok pages we read do not say what applies in the meantime. Confirm in Seller Center before you plan this week around it. In the US, TikTok ends a shop’s active affiliate plans and campaigns when the score falls below 3.0.

  1. Once Seller Center confirms you can run affiliate plans, set up an open collaboration: one rate that any eligible creator can pick up. In an open collaboration you do not choose who promotes the product. A target collaboration (Week 3) lets you choose. One practitioner, Mike Begg, reports that products below about 10% struggle to attract creators. TikTok Shop affiliate plans compares open, target and match-up plans.
  2. If Seller Center offers you the Shop Ads rate and you plan to run ads with creators’ videos, set it now. TikTok Shop Ads commission rate explains the UK and US rules.

Week 3: how do you find creators and send samples?

Week 3 checklist
  1. Invite creators through a target collaboration, at a rate you set for them, with a short brief on what the product does. In the UK, sellers cannot see a creator’s level; in the US, they may. TikTok Shop creator badges and levels explains both.
  2. Offer free samples. In the UK, you have seven days to review a request before TikTok cancels it. Target collaborations let you approve requests automatically. A UK guide dated June 2026 describes optional auto-approval in open collaborations, against a target ROI you set: the sales in the 28 days after shipping, divided by the sample’s cost.
  3. Track every sample until the video goes live. TikTok’s UK guide gives creators 14 days from delivery to post. How TikTok Shop free samples work covers the creator’s side.

In the US, a weekly outreach quota limits how many new creators you can invite or message. It is based on your sales in the past 30 days, and a new seller with no sales gets a one-time pack of 1,000. TikTok’s UK and EU pages state no quota.

Week 4: how do you run a first LIVE and read the results?

Week 4 checklist

Go live from your official account, or support a creator who goes live with your products. How TikTok LIVE shopping works covers the setup and the product mix.

Then read your first month in Seller Center:

  • which creators posted, and which of their videos sold
  • which products came back as returns, and why
  • your Shop Performance Score, once you have one

What should you expect after 30 days?

Momentum Works found that more than half of US TikTok Shop stores recorded no sales at all in 2025. We found no comparable figure for the UK or the EU. Treat month one as a test. Set the Week 4 numbers in Seller Center against the margin check above: if the product still earns after the referral fee, the creator commission, shipping and returns, the test is working.

Can you do all of this without an agency?

Yes. You set up registration, affiliate plans and samples yourself in Seller Center. An agency you bring in works through seller authorization, which gives it access only to the parts of Seller Center you choose, and TikTok’s UK guide says you can revoke it at any time. Do you need a TikTok Shop agency? helps you decide.

Rules change. Seller requirements, fees and new seller offers differ by market and change over time.

Questions people ask

Do you need followers to sell on TikTok Shop?

No. TikTok’s UK and EU seller registration policies ask for identity, address, bank and business details, not a follower count. Sales can come from creators who promote your products through the affiliate program, as well as from your own videos and LIVEs. TikTok Shop affiliate plans explains how creators pick up your products.

How much does it cost to sell on TikTok Shop in the UK?

TikTok’s UK fee page lists no registration or listing fee. TikTok’s Seller University lists 9% (including VAT) as the standard UK referral fee on each order. On top come the commission you offer creators, shipping, returns and samples. TikTok’s UK guide for new sellers offers a reduced fee to those who complete a set mission within 45 days of joining. TikTok Shop affiliate plans explains how to set the creator commission.

Can you sell on TikTok Shop UK from outside the UK?

Yes. TikTok’s registration policies describe two ways: a business registered in the UK, which usually needs a business representative who lives there, or, with a shop in one of TikTok’s eight EU countries, a UK shop through Sell to UK. TikTok’s UK seller terms also cover cross-border sellers that TikTok invites to sell from abroad. A brand in the Gulf usually needs one of those businesses first. Where TikTok Shop is open covers each route.

How long does product approval take?

TikTok’s UK and EU seller pages we read give no fixed review time for standard products. For cosmetics, TikTok’s UK compliance guide says it usually reviews the qualification report within 24 hours. Restricted products such as beauty products, electronics and toys need supporting documents first, so check your category in Seller Center before you plan a launch date.

Sources

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