What Are TikTok Shop Fees and Creator Commissions in 2026?

The referral fee, the creator's cut, samples and shipping: what each one costs

Brands getting ready to sell on TikTok Shop in the US ask us the same two questions:

"What commission should we offer creators?"

"Who pays for free samples?"

The short answer: the 6% referral fee on TikTok's official table is rarely the cost that decides your margin. Creator commission, samples and how you ship decide what you keep. Joining TikTok's platform campaigns adds costs of its own. If your shop is not open yet, start with how to open a TikTok Shop US account. This post covers what comes out of each sale once it is.

1. TikTok Shop fees start with a 6% referral fee for beauty and food

The referral fee is the cut TikTok takes from every completed order. On TikTok's official referral fee table, dated October 8, 2026, every beauty and personal care subcategory and every food subcategory is 6%.

How it is calculated: per the same page, the fee is the rate × (customer payment + platform discount - tax). Shipping the customer pays is part of that base.
What it covers: TikTok's 2024 referral fee policy says the referral fee includes all TikTok Shop fees except shipping and tax.
Refunds: under the same policy, from May 15, 2025, TikTok keeps 20% of the referral fee on a refunded order as a refund administration fee, capped at $5 per SKU.

That second point matters more than it looks. Several third-party fee calculators add a separate payment processing fee on top of the referral fee. TikTok's own policy text does not support that. On TikTok Shop, one referral fee covers every platform charge except shipping and tax. If your numbers include a card processing line, compare them with your settlement statement before you build a price on them.

2. Creator commission: you set it anywhere from 1% to 80%

Creator commission, also called affiliate commission, is the share of each sale you pay the creator who drove it. TikTok's guide to setting up affiliate collaborations (July 16, 2026) lets you set it from 1% to 80%, for both collaboration types.

Open collaboration: an offer every creator can see. You can require approval before a creator joins.
Target collaboration: an offer for creators you invite. For that creator, the target rate always replaces the open rate, and TikTok pays only one rate per product.
Timing: a target rate change takes effect about 5 days after you edit it, and an open rate change after 30 days. An FAQ on the same page says target edits apply the next day, so check Affiliate Center before a launch date depends on it.

What do other brands pay? The industry numbers vary by source, and none of them is official:

Beauty: MediaLabs, a TikTok Shop agency, puts the beauty open plan norm at 20%, within a 15% to 25% range. GMVize, a UK seller guide, puts typical open rates at 12% to 15% and targeted rates at 18% to 22%.
Food and drink: GMVize puts typical open rates at 10% to 15% and competitive offers at 18% to 20%. We found no US-specific food benchmark.

Treat these as a starting range, not a target. Work your creator commission out backward from your margin, not forward from a benchmark. Take the price, subtract the referral fee, fulfillment and landed cost, and what is left is the most you can share. Paying creators a flat fee for UGC videos is a separate budget line; we covered it in how much UGC creators charge.

3. TikTok Shop free samples: who pays for them?

Sellers pay for TikTok Shop free samples: the product, shipping and tax. The creator pays nothing, per TikTok's guide to setting up and managing samples (July 16, 2026).

Who can ask: a creator needs at least one sale in the last 120 days, and you approve each request. A creator can request one sample of a given product from a given seller.
What they owe you: per TikTok's guide to free and refundable samples (September 24, 2026), the creator posts within 14 days of receiving the sample.

Refundable samples flip the order. Per the same guide, the creator buys the product first. Once they hit the sales goal you set, usually 1 to 3 orders, TikTok refunds the product, shipping and tax. The guide gives a 120-day window, while the setup page says the sample becomes a regular purchase after 90 days. Check the program terms in Seller Center.

A free sample is a marketing cost you pay up front, not a giveaway TikTok covers. Budget for it per unit sold, the same way you budget for ads.

4. Fulfilled by TikTok: who pays for shipping?

Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) is TikTok's own fulfillment service: it stores your stock, then picks, packs and ships each order. Per the FBT rate card and FAQ (July 13, 2026), every FBT unit ships free to the shopper, with no minimum order.

Opting out: if you opt out of free shipping, shoppers pay $5.99 on orders under $30. You still pay the normal FBT fee, and you get $0.75 per unit only when the shopper pays for shipping.
Storage: the first 60 days are free.
Returns: the same page says per-unit return fees replaced a flat $3 per order from June 1, 2026, while an FAQ further down still says $3 per order. Confirm in Seller Center.

Free shipping under FBT is free for the shopper, not for you.

5. Campaign costs: Smart Promotion, GMV Max and Shop Ads

Joining TikTok's platform campaigns brings costs that sit outside the referral fee.

Smart Promotion: per the Smart Promotion FAQ (September 24, 2026), enrolled sellers pay 3.5% of store GMV (gross merchandise value, total sales) outside campaigns, and 1 to 2 points more during campaigns. TikTok commits to a platform discount at least equal to the fee. Enrollment is required to join platform campaigns. The page's AI summary says 4.5% for campaigns, so check Seller Center.
GMV Max: TikTok's campaign registration guide (May 13, 2026) makes GMV Max ads mandatory for eligible platform campaigns. Auto-created GMV Max ads are paid by the seller. TikTok says eligible campaigns reduce your standard commission, but it does not publish the rate.
Shop Ads commission: per TikTok's ads help center (March 2026), invited sellers can set a separate 1% to 80% commission for orders from ads that use creator posts. If you leave it unset, those orders earn the standard rate.

A budget built on the referral fee alone breaks the first time you join a campaign.

What is left of a $24.99 sale on TikTok Shop?

For example, say a $24.99 beauty product sells through a creator video. The landed cost (the cost of one unit delivered to a US warehouse) is $7, the same as in our post on what each channel leaves you. We assume no discount, FBT free shipping, a 15% creator commission and $2 in samples per unit sold. Fulfillment fees, ads, storage and returns are left out.

Line	At 6% (official table)
Sale price	$24.99
Referral fee	-$1.50
Creator commission (15%)	-$3.75
Samples (example)	-$2.00
Landed cost	-$7.00
Left for the brand	about $10.74

If you enroll in Smart Promotion, 3.5% of $24.99 ($0.87) comes off too, which leaves about $9.87 at 6%. If the order is refunded, TikTok keeps $0.30 of the $1.50 referral fee.

Our channel post showed about $4.70 for the same product on TikTok Shop because it also counted $6 to ship each order from a US 3PL; this example leaves fulfillment out.

The referral fee is the smallest line in this example; your shipping choice and creator rate move the result far more.

Four questions before you set your price

1. What referral rate does your Seller Center settlement statement actually show?

2. After the referral fee, is there still room for the creator commission you want to offer?

3. How many free samples will you send, and what does that cost per unit sold?

4. Will you ship through FBT or from your own US 3PL?

Wrap-up

A 6% referral fee looks small. Add creator commission, samples, fulfillment and campaign costs, and the same $24.99 can leave very different amounts.

LinkONE supports the full TikTok commerce pipeline for brands entering the US, from store setup and product listing to creator affiliate programs.

In the end, TikTok Shop fees are one calculation that has to include the referral fee, the creator, the samples and the shipping.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the TikTok Shop referral fee in the US?

As of October 2026, TikTok's official US fee table lists a 6% referral fee for beauty and food (TikTok Shop fee table). Check the rate on your Seller Center settlement statement.

Does TikTok Shop charge a separate payment processing fee?

Not according to TikTok's official policy. The 2024 referral fee policy says the referral fee includes all TikTok Shop fees except shipping and tax. Some third-party calculators add a payment fee anyway, so compare their numbers with your settlement statement.

What is a good TikTok Shop affiliate commission rate?

You can set any rate from 1% to 80% (TikTok Shop affiliate guide). For beauty, industry sources put open rates at 12% to 15% and targeted rates at 18% to 22% (GMVize), or an open plan norm of 15% to 25% (MediaLabs). The right rate depends on your category, product and creator tier, so work it out from your margin.

Who pays for TikTok Shop free samples?

The seller pays for the product, shipping and tax, and the creator pays nothing (TikTok sample setup guide). The creator needs a sale in the last 120 days and must post within 14 days of receiving the sample (TikTok sample guide). With refundable samples, the creator buys first and gets a refund after meeting your sales goal.

What happens to TikTok Shop fees when an order is refunded?

TikTok returns the referral fee on a refund, minus a refund administration fee of 20% of that referral fee, capped at $5 per SKU (2024 referral fee policy). The rule applies from May 15, 2025. On a $24.99 item at 6%, that is $0.30 of the $1.50 fee.

Sources

Fees and rules in this post are as of October 2026.

-LinkONE-