MarginReady

TikTok Shop fee calculator: what you keep per order

TikTok Shop charges a 6% referral fee on most US orders. Once you add creator commissions, shipping, returns and ads, it’s often not the biggest cost on the order. Enter your numbers to see net profit per order, net margin, and how much of each sale goes to costs other than your product.

Fee facts checked against TikTok Seller Center, September 2026. The 6% default comes from TikTok’s referral fee page; confirm your category there. This estimator uses your inputs. It does not read your account.

Your numbers

$
%

US default 6%, 5% select jewelry — confirm your category in Seller Center.

$
%

10–30% typical if using creators.

$

Your FBT fee from the current rate card, or your own label + packing cost.

%

Share of revenue refunded.

$

Total across this batch of orders.

Net profit per unit sold

$32.00

Total $3,200Net margin 64.0%TikTok’s effective take 6.0% of revenue

Breakdown

Total revenue
$5,000.00
Total referral fee
−$300.00
Total affiliate commission
$0.00
Total fulfillment
$0.00
Total COGS
−$1,500.00
Estimated returns cost
$0.00
Ad spend
$0.00
Net profit
$3,200.00

What TikTok Shop charges, and what it doesn’t

TikTok itself charges one fee on every sale, the referral fee. In the US it’s 6% in most categories, with 5% for five jewelry subcategories (Diamond, Gold, Jade, Platinum/Carat Gold, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald). It’s calculated on the total amount the buyer pays. It also covers the services that let payment providers process the payment, so there is no separate processing fee from TikTok to add.

One exception: if your business is registered in Texas or West Virginia, TikTok has added sales tax to the referral fee on your seller invoice since November 1, 2025. In those states the fee is slightly higher than 6%.

Everything else in the calculator is a cost you choose or cause:

  • Affiliate / creator commission. A rate you set per product, paid only on sales creators drive. At a 20% commission it’s more than three times the referral fee on the same sale.
  • Fulfillment or shipping. Either your own label and packing cost, or Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT), which charges per unit by chargeable weight, plus storage and return handling. Use the FBT fee calculator to get that figure. TikTok planned to phase out independent seller shipping in 2026 but reversed the plan in February, so shipping yourself is still an option.
  • Returns. The calculator treats a returned order as lost revenue, assuming the product and shipping aren’t recovered. That’s the conservative case.
  • Ad spend. Enter the total for the same batch of orders; the calculator spreads it per unit.
  • Product cost (COGS). Use landed cost, not the supplier price. See how to calculate COGS for TikTok Shop.

Two products, same 6% fee, very different profit

The easy case (the calculator’s defaults): a $50 product with a $15 cost, no creators, no ads, shipping built into the price. TikTok takes $3.00 and you keep $32.00 per order, a 64% margin. The referral fee barely matters here.

The common case: a $20 product costing $8, sold through creators at a 20% commission, shipped at $4 a label, with 5% of revenue refunded. Per order:

  • Referral fee (6%): $1.20
  • Creator commission (20%): $4.00
  • Shipping: $4.00
  • Returns (5% of revenue): $1.00
  • Product cost: $8.00
  • You keep: $1.80, a 9% margin

The channel costs (referral, commission and shipping) take 46% of the price before the product is paid for. And the failure case: add $3 per order of ad spend and the same product loses $1.20 on every sale, with channel costs (now including ads) at 61% of revenue. Revenue looks the same in the TikTok dashboard in both cases.

If the answer is a loss, work backwards instead: the break-even price calculator finds the price that covers these costs, and the break-even ROAS calculator tells you how efficient your ads need to be.

Why the fee rates you read online disagree

Search for TikTok Shop fees and you’ll find guides quoting anything from 2% to 11%, per-category grids, and different “new” rates. None of the ones we checked in September 2026 linked to a TikTok source. Some mix up markets, and some describe old category tables or new-seller promos whose official pages no longer exist.

The only authoritative source is TikTok’s own referral fee page and your Seller Center. TikTok’s Seller Terms let it change the fee, with notice by email or in Seller Center. That’s why the rate is an editable input here and not built in: if yours differs, change it and the whole result updates.

Common questions

How much does TikTok Shop take per sale?

TikTok's own cut is the referral fee: 6% of what the buyer pays in most US categories, 5% in five jewelry subcategories. What the channel takes in total depends on your affiliate rate, shipping, returns and ads. A $20 product with a 20% creator commission and $4 shipping loses 46% of its revenue before product cost. Enter your numbers above to see your own figure.

What is the TikTok Shop referral fee in the US?

6% for most categories. Five jewelry subcategories (Diamond, Gold, Jade, Platinum/Carat Gold, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) pay 5%, and pre-owned categories have their own rates. TikTok can change the fee and says it will notify sellers by email or in Seller Center, so check your category's rate there.

Is there a separate payment processing fee on TikTok Shop?

Not from TikTok. Its Seller Terms describe the referral fee as covering the platform, including the services that let payment providers process payments for you. So don't add a separate card-processing percentage to your model the way you would on some other platforms.

Do I pay sales tax on the TikTok Shop referral fee?

Only if your business is registered in Texas or West Virginia. Since November 1, 2025, TikTok collects sales tax on the referral fee for sellers there and adds it to the referral fee on your seller invoice. Everywhere else, no.

What is the difference between fees and net profit on TikTok Shop?

Fees are what TikTok and your creators take: referral fee, affiliate commission, and FBT if you use it. Net profit is what's left after those and your own costs: product cost (COGS), shipping, returns and ads. A product can have normal fees and still lose money if COGS or ad spend is too high, so this calculator ends on net profit, not fees.

From estimate to real numbers

This calculator models the fees. Your settlement shows what TikTok actually deducted, and it rarely matches revenue. See why your payout is less than your sales and when TikTok Shop pays you, or browse all the free seller tools.

MarginReady connects to your TikTok Shop account and shows true profit per SKU from your settled payouts, using the fees TikTok actually charged instead of modeled ones.

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