TikTok Shop: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the online marketplace TikTok Shop. Here you can find information on how to request a TikTok Shop account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, and what the specific requirements are.

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Marketplace features

Settings and configuration

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

• Setup
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Promotions
• Listed products

Additional information

FAQs

Commercial information

How to request an account

To start selling on TikTok Shop, go to the TikTok Shop welcome page and create a seller account.

To register for seller accounts in specific countries, use the below links:

• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Spain
• United States

After you sign up and your account is approved, your account undergoes a probationary period, which places limits on the number of daily orders that you can receive and how many products you can upload to the TikTok platform. To learn more about TikTok Shop's probationary period for new sellers, check out TikTok Shop Academy: Shop probation program. 

Associated costs

TikTok Shop does not charge a setup or monthly fee. However, it does charge a commission fee of 5%.

Marketplace features

1. To match your offers with existing content on TikTok Shop, ensure that the parent and child product SKUs exactly match the SKUs listed on the marketplace. This is a requirement on TikTok Shop. For guidance, check out the section Product variations below.
2. Each order line has a quantity of 1. Therefore, split orders enable you to ship a single item in a separate shipment. Split orders are supported on both orders made directly via the store page and orders made via 'creators'.
3. A marketplace that supports sales channels allows merchants to list and sell products across multiple markets (e.g.: countries, regions, and states), all from the same connection. 
4. On TikTok US and UK, a partial cancelation of a single item is only possible when an item is out of stock.

Settings and configuration

Setting up each channel on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every channel includes the steps listed below.

1. Go through the Setup.
2. Create a Product selection.
3. Complete the Categorization.
4. Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
5. Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
6. Fill in the Stock settings.
7. Finish the Activation.
8. Check the Listed products overview.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

This section describes exceptions to the standard settings and configuration steps for this channel.

Setup

On TikTok Shop Seller Center

1. Go to Shipping, Shipping options, and disable the Express shipping and Standard shipping settings.
2. Enable the Shipped from seller setting. If you fail to enable this setting, all customer information that is attached to incoming orders is anonymized. Note that customers’ email addresses are always anonymized.

On ChannelEngine

Settings

• Only use FBT - if you only use Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) for fulfillment in the given TikTok region, select Yes. If you use Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) for fulfillment, select No. If you select Yes, also enable Use fulfillment service in Setup, Advanced settings. 

Plugin-specific settings

• Warehouse IDs - the pick-up warehouse IDs that you create on TikTok Seller Center appear here. 
• Recover the deleted TikTok products from that last date - enter a value in the number of days during which ChannelEngine retroactively recovers deleted products. If the value of this setting is greater than 0, ChannelEngine first fetches the products from TikTok that were deleted during the specified number of days before today. If these deleted products are still in the CREATE or UPDATE status on ChannelEngine, they are recovered and reactivated on TikTok's backend.

Advanced settings

• Use fulfillment service - if you use Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT), you must enable this option to import fulfillment stock directly from the channel. For more details on FBT, check out the Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) section below.
• Enable buyer cancelations (Note: request rejection is not possible) - on TikTok, buyers can cancel their orders up to one hour after placing the order. 
  • When this setting is enabled to Yes, buyer cancelations are imported to ChannelEngine. 
    • If an order's status is NEW, a buyer's cancelation request is automatically accepted, changing the order status to CANCELLED. 
    • To reject a buyer cancelation request, you must manually manage the request rejection directly on the TikTok backend with image proof. 
  • When this setting is disabled with No, buyer cancelations are not imported to ChannelEngine. Instead, ChannelEngine sends you a notification to alert you that you should not ship the given canceled order. To receive the notification, you must opt in to the New order cancelation request notification. For guidance on enabling notifications, check out ChannelEngine: how to configure notifications.
• Check cache first for product search - configure this setting based on trading off performance for quick product search results. 
• New order import delay (minutes) - because the buyer's cancelation window is one hour, prevent shipping canceled orders by delaying import of new orders. The default is 60 minutes. 

Authorization

1. Using the incognito mode of your browser, log in to ChannelEngine and open your TikTok Shop channel.
2. Go to Setup, Authorization.
3. Click Authorize. 
4. A pop-up opens, prompting you to select the account type. E.g.: Asia, Europe, etc.
5. Log in to TikTok Shop's Seller Central using your credentials.
6. Authorize ChannelEngine to connect with your TikTok Shop account.

Categorization

Categorization is mandatory if you want to create or update existing product information on TikTok Shop. Both categorizations and mappings only result in updates if the content connection is enabled and the relevant credentials have been entered in Setup.

Note that the categories change according to the sales channel you use. E.g.: the categories on the United Kingdom channel are different from the categories on the Vietnam channel.

Invite-only categories

Some categories on TikTok Shop are invite-only. You can only sell products in these categories if you have prior approval from TikTok Shop. For more information, see the TikTok Shop documentation on invite-only categories for the United States and the United Kingdom.

Categories requiring certifications

A "Certification Missing" error is caused by TikTok's category rules, not your ChannelEngine configuration. Certification requirements differ per category and are enforced by TikTok. If you think the error is incorrect, contact the ChannelEngine Support team to request a category import for your tenant, which pulls the latest category rules directly from TikTok. For more details on category-specific mappings, check out the next section on Mappings.

Mappings

If you sell on one of the sales channels in the EU, ensure that you map your economic operators correctly. For guidance, check out the section Economic operators below.

Content

You can copy Content mappings from one TikTok Shop country channel to another, which is useful if you manage the same catalog across multiple TikTok Shop country channels. To learn more about the copy mappings from another channel feature, check out TikTok Shop: copy content mappings.

All products (required)

• Brand - the product's brand, which you are only allowed to use if you are authorized to sell it. Make sure to spell the brand name correctly.
• Manufacturer IDs - comma-separated list of pre-registered manufacturer IDs associated with the product for compliance purposes, especially required under EU GPSR regulations.
• Package dimension unit - the packaged product’s dimension measurement unit.
• Package height - the package's height. Provide a whole number. 
• Package length - the package's length. Provide a whole number. 
• Package weight - the package's weight. 
• Package weight unit - the packaged product’s weight measurement unit. The options are kilograms and pounds, with the latter valid only in the US.
• Package width - the package's width. Provide a whole number.
• Product description - the product's description. HTML formatting is supported. The requirements are:
  • The maximum number of characters is 1,000.
  • Organize your selling points into separate paragraphs, each no longer than 250 characters.
• Product identifier - the product's GTIN, which must be unique per variation. 
• Product identifier type - the kind of unique code provided in the Product identifier attribute. E.g.: EAN, UPC, ISBN.
• Product image URL 1 - the parent product's image. The image requirements are:
  • Supported file formats - JPG, JPEG, or PNG.
  • Maximum file size - 5.2 MB.
  • Aspect ratio - 1:1.
• Product name - the product's title. The requirements are:
  • The maximum number of characters is 188.
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word except conjunctions, articles, and prepositions.
  • Format - [Product Brand] [Product Details] [Application Scope] [Product Type] [Main Features/Functions/Advantages].
• Responsible person IDs - the unique ID number from the Economic operators tab. Only required for non-food products sold in the EU under GPSR regulations. For guidance on obtaining this ID, check out the next section on Economic operators.

Category-specific (required)

Product variations

Ensure that you map attributes for child products within each product category. For guidance, check out the section Product variations below.

Regulatory compliance

For products that require certification, including cosmetics products, you only need to upload certification in one format — either a PDF file or an image, even if both certification attributes are marked as required. If both are marked as required, then you only need to map one of the certification attributes.

Example: cosmetics category

The following cosmetics attributes are displayed in Content mappings:

• Cosmetic labelling file URL 1-3 [required] - the product's detailed labelling information, e.g.: ingredients, usage instructions, safety warnings. The file formats supported are PDF and MP4. 
• Cosmetic labelling image URL 1-3 [required] - the image of the product's label that corresponds to each label file mapped. The requirements are the same as for Product image URL 1.

TikTok Shop requires only one certification file for regulatory compliance. Uploading the certification in two formats is not required. If you map one of the attributes above, you can leave the other unmapped. 

Hazardous materials compliance 

Some categories of products, such as electronics, tools, beauty, and automotive, may pose a risk to health or safety during shipping, storage, or handling. On TikTok Shop US and UK, you can identify whether certain products contain hazardous materials for regulatory compliance. 

Hazardous material (a.k.a.: hazmat) attributes are displayed as optional. However, if you map one hazmat attribute, you must map all of the available hazmat attributes to avoid validation errors.

• Battery types - select the battery type from the list, e.g.: alkaline, lithium ion. 
• How batteries are packed - select how the batteries are packed from the list, e.g.: built-in, battery only. 
• Number of batteries or cells - the number of batteries or cells.
• Battery or cell capacity in Wh - the amount of energy stored in the battery or cell, in watt-hours (Wh). Enter a whole number.
• Battery or cell capacity in grams - the weight of the active material in the battery or cell, in grams.
• Battery or cell weight in grams - the total weight of the whole cell or battery, in grams. Enter a whole number.
• Flammable liquid - indicates whether the product contains a flammable liquid.
• Flammable liquid volume in ml - the amount of flammable liquid the product contains, in ml. Enter a whole number.
• Aerosol - indicates whether the product is in aerosol form.
• Aerosol liquid volume in ml - the amount of liquid inside the aerosol container, in ml. Enter a whole number.

On TikTok Shop US and UK, you must map the following health and safety attribute within most product categories to stay in compliance with shipping regulations.

• Contains batteries or cells - whether the product contains batteries or cells. E.g.: AA/AAA cylindrical battery cells.

For more information on hazmat attributes, check out the following TikTok Shop documentation:

• US market: Mandatory hazmat attributes
• UK market: Mandatory hazmat attributes

Conditional category rules

In many categories, compliance documents are conditionally required based on the attributes you map. For example, on TikTok Shop Netherlands, if you map Bevestig alle wettelijk verplichte markeringen of labels (Attach all legally required markings or labels) to 'Ja' (Yes), then the certificate Image of packaging is required for the given product. 

All products (optional)

• Export content - select Yes to send product content with your data export to TikTok. Select No to only export product offers with the data export to TikTok. 
• Product image URL 2-9 - the product's additional images. The requirements are the same as for Product image URL 1.
• SKU - the product's SKU. The maximum number of characters is 50.
• SKU Image URL - the child product's image URL.
• Video URL - the link to the product's introduction or promotion video. The requirements are:
  • Maximum file size - 100 MB.
  • Supported formats - MP4, MOV, MKV, WMV, WEBM, AVI, 3GP, FLV, and MPEG.
  • Aspect ratio - 1:1.
  • Resolution - at least HD 720p.
  • Duration - between 20 and 60 sec.
  • The link must point directly to the actual video file, and the URL should include the file extension. E.g.: https://website-name.file.mp4.
• Warranty period - the product's warranty period. Select a value from the dropdown menu. E.g.: 1 week, 6 months, 5 years, etc. 
• Warranty policy - the product's warranty policy.

Offer

Required

• Original price - the product's price. If you use pricing v2, this attribute does not appear.
• Warehouse ID - the ID of the pick-up warehouse that is created on TikTok Seller Center. ChannelEngine retrieves the IDs from your TikTok Seller account. To view your warehouse IDs:
  1. On ChannelEngine, go to the Setup step of your TikTok Shop channel.
  2. Under Plugin-specific settings, find the Warehouse IDs setting.
  3. Copy the relevant ID and map it to this attribute.

Optional

• List price - the original or standard (non-discounted) price of the product before any promotions or discounts are applied. If you use pricing v2, this attribute does not appear.
• Manufacturer IDs - comma-separated list of pre-registered manufacturer IDs associated with the product for compliance purposes, especially required under EU GPSR regulations.
• Responsible person IDs - the unique ID number from the Economic operators tab. Only required for non-food products sold in the EU under GPSR regulations. For guidance on obtaining this ID, check out the next section on Economic operators.

In Mappings, Offer mappings, the following offer attribute may appear on this channel, if this channel uses pricing v2:

• Allow promotion below min price - set it to ‘true’ to allow the promotion price to drop below your product's minimum price. 

In Mappings, Fee group mappings, map the marketplace fee group ID of the product.

Economic operators

Economic operators are entities required by the Digital Services Act (DSA), e.g.: manufacturers, distributors, or importers of the product. If you sell your products in the EU via TikTok, you must assign an economic operator ID to each product that you offer in the EU. For products sold outside of the EU, skip this step and continue with offer and carrier mappings.

To retrieve your economic operators from the TikTok platform:

1. Go to Mappings, Economic operators. 
2. Click Schedule sync task. 
3. Your economic operator is synced to ChannelEngine and appears as a line item.
4. Copy the ID number from the ID field. 
5. Go to the Content mappings tab. 
6. Map the Responsible person IDs attribute to the copied ID.

For details on setting up, retrieving, mapping, and managing your economic operators on ChannelEngine, check out the article ChannelEngine: how to manage economic operators.

Carrier

Depending on the region in which you sell, the list of available carriers varies. If you use Seller Shipping (3PL) on TikTok Shop, you must ship with a TikTok-approved carrier. If you use a non-approved carrier, your shipment status updates do not sync to TikTok Shop. 

Map your carriers to the list of available carriers to prevent orders from appearing on TikTok Shop as unshipped past the required time. 

Pricing

Depending on the region in which you sell, the default currency varies. If you do not have pricing attributes in the default currency, you need to set up a currency conversion.

Promotions

ChannelEngine only sends one price value to TikTok Shop, List price. Therefore, you can create a temporary price reduction for List price via ChannelEngine, at Pricing, Promotions. However, you can set up promotions directly in the TikTok Seller Center to leverage more types of available promotional modes. 

If you set up a promotion in the TikTok Seller Center, do not set up a promotion at Pricing, Promotions, and vice versa. To learn more about creating promotions on TikTok Shop, check out TikTok Shop: set up discounts.

Stock

Map your stock locations to the channel stock locations to support multiple warehousing, if required. 

Listed products

Products that ChannelEngine has failed to export are shown as Invalid, e.g.: products with an empty GTIN or that do not yet exist on the marketplace.

If you see either of the following statuses:

• Product not found in inventory report
• Product not in offer file

Refer to the article ChannelEngine: why is my product listed as 'Product not found' in the inventory report?

Additional information

Product variations

Before mapping your variation attributes for each child product, ensure that you use parent products to group your child products on ChannelEngine. Check out ChannelEngine: parent-child relationships.

Child products on TikTok are defined by SKU attributes; these SKUs are the purchasable products on the marketplace. In addition, TikTok uses category-defined attributes to describe child products. Map the below SKU attributes per child product, which typically vary per category.

Required child attributes

• Seller SKU ID
• Variation attribute values - usually per category, e.g.: Black, XL, 128GB
• Price
• Stock quantity - managed on ChannelEngine
• GTIN - required in many categories and varies per region/category; some categories allow GTIN exemptions, but approval is category-specific.
• SKU image - Must match the variant, especially in color
• Weight and dimensions - required for shipping
• Fulfillment method - specify if the item is seller-fulfilled or TikTok-fulfilled.

Strongly recommended child attributes

• Variant-specific images - improves clarity for the buyer
• Short highlights and selling points - helps optimize conversion
• Material and composition - for apparel and home categories
• Care instructions - for apparel
• Size chart - strongly recommended for fashion categories
• Product certifications - required for regulated categories

Rules

• You can use one or multiple variation attributes, depending on the category.
• All SKUs must populate every relevant variation attribute.
• Select attribute values from TikTok’s predefined lists. Free text is not allowed.

Best practices

• Keep titles short and scroll-friendly. (TikTok truncates aggressively.)
• Always upload variant-specific images for colors/styles.
• Use size charts to reduce returns.
• Avoid creating excessive SKU counts. (Performance may drop.)
• Align product content with short-form video messaging.
• Ensure pricing consistency across SKUs to avoid product suppression on TikTok.

Orders

Order extra data items

When an order is imported to ChannelEngine, ChannelEngine also fetches extra data items related to the order itself – or to order lines. This extra data is specific to this marketplace. An explanation of each can be found below: 

Order extra data

Order line extra data

* Conditional fields are only displayed if the marketplace provided a value.

Backorders

On TikTok Shop US, you have the option to sell a product on backorder. If the product is out of stock but expected to be restocked soon, a buyer can still place an order for it. To import orders to ChannelEngine with the status In backorder from TikTok US, contact ChannelEngine to enable the setting for you. 

Once the stock is replenished, ChannelEngine updates the status of the order to New, and you can proceed to fulfill the order. To learn more about how to enable and process backorders, check out TikTok Shop: backorders.

Shipments

Shipping requirements

• Packing slip - check directly with TikTok on the exact requirements for your packing slip. 
• Return label - to process returns, merchants must generate their own return labels; either provide the return label directly with the shipment or provide them to the customer upon at the point of their return request.

Split shipments

Each order line from TikTok Shop contains a quantity of one (1). Therefore, TikTok Shop supports item-level split shipping, allowing multiple tracking numbers per SKU when items are shipped in multiple packages. Split shipping is commonly used for large or bulky items shipped in parts (e.g.: furniture).

Item-level splits must be supported in the destination region.

Merchant-fulfilled shipments

When you use your own fleet to send shipments to your buyers, update your shipments with the delivery state to let TikTok know whether the shipment was delivered. For guidance, check out Merchant API: shipments.

Last-mile delivery and shipping labels

TikTok Shop offers a last-mile delivery service in all countries. To request shipping labels for last-mile delivery:

1. Create your shipment via POST /v2/shipments. Include MerchantShipmentNo, merchantOrderNo, items, weight, and dimensions.
2. ChannelEngine requests the shipping label for you.
3. Retrieve your shipping label as a PDF via GET /v2/orders/{merchantShipmentNo}/shippinglabel.

You can specify a desired pickup slot when creating a shipment via the API. To specify a desired pickup slot, use the pickup_slot_start_time and pickup_slot_end_time extra data fields, formatted as Unix timestamps. E.g.:

"ExtraData": 
{
 "pickup_slot_start_time": "1742552387",
 "pickup_slot_end_time": "1742573987"
}

For a high-level overview of handling orders and shipments with last-mile delivery, check out the article Merchant API: shipping labels (last-mile delivery).

Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT)

To manage FBT orders via ChannelEngine:

1. In Setup, Settings, enable Only use FBT. 
2. In Setup, Advanced settings, enable Use fulfillment service.

All FBT orders are imported into ChannelEngine with the status Shipped. If you use both FBM and FBT for fulfillment, TikTok decides based on your own stock levels and the FBT warehouse stock levels whether a given item is fulfilled via FBM or FBT.   

Returns

Both merchant and marketplace returns are supported. In order for ChannelEngine to trigger a refund, you must have received the return at your warehouse and marked the return as Received on ChannelEngine.

FAQs

I cannot see the buyer's address on Thai orders. What is wrong?
As in most other Southeast Asian sales channels, the full order details are hidden from merchants on TikTok Thailand. However, the carrier selected to fulfill each shipment does receive all required details to deliver the order.

What does the error 'Product status invalid' mean?
The 'Product status invalid' error indicates that TikTok Shop has frozen your product due to a potential violation of their policies. These policies differ per region.

To see if your product is indeed frozen, check its status in your TikTok Shop back-end. If your product has the status Freeze, you can appeal the decision through TikTok Shop's Seller Support.

How often does each task run on TikTok Shop?
Tasks run according to the following schedule on TikTok Shop:

Can I see when a package was delivered to the buyer by TikTok Shop?
Yes, once TikTok Shop has shipped the package, you can find the estimated delivery time in the Delivered at field under the shipment details on ChannelEngine.