5 Ways to Get Free Shipping on TikTok Shop Orders
Look for the blue free shipping badge. When viewing products on TikTok Shop, eligible products will have a blue badge that says ‘free shipping’ below the price. These products either include the shipping cost in the total price of the product, or the seller covers the shipping cost at no charge to you. Either way, you will not be charged for shipping when you order these products—only for the cost of the product.
Spend $30 or more on products from shops with Co-Funded Free Shipping. TikTok launched the Co-Funded Free Shipping program August 26, 2024, replacing their previous free shipping program. When you purchase from TikTok Shops participating in the program and spend $30 or more on a single order, your order qualifies for free shipping. Participating shops will have “Free shipping” badges on their product’s pages. However, this kind of free shipping will only apply with a minimum purchase of $30. If the seller is offering free shipping for seller-fulfilled items, they can set the purchase minimum to be higher or lower than $30—be sure to carefully read the shipping section at checkout before placing your order. You can combine purchases from multiple sellers who are enrolled in co-funded free shipping to reach the $30 purchase threshold and qualify for free shipping. If your order costs $30 or more but an automatic discount or flash deal puts your order total below $30 at the time of purchase, you will no longer qualify for co-funded free shipping. However, discounts from TikTok coupons and from coupons issued directly by the seller do not affect the $30 threshold if the purchase was $30 or higher before coupons were applied.
Select free economy shipping when possible. Some TikTok Shop sellers offer the free economy shipping option. The tradeoff is that this option takes the longest to ship at 11 business days——so it could take over two weeks to receive your order. If you don’t need the product soon, you can select free economy shipping at no charge to you (the seller pays for shipping). Not every TikTok Shop seller offers free economy shipping. The default shipping option is standard shipping, although you can upgrade to express shipping if you need a product sooner and are willing to pay more.
Look for sample coupons offered in the app. TikTok Shop offers sample coupons to TikTok Shop Creators to help them try new products they may want to promote. If you are a TikTok Shop Creator, look in the TikTok Shop Creator Center of the TikTok app for pop-ups and banners, and check your email and notifications for sample coupon offers. Some sample coupons offer free shipping, while others only offer discounts on the product sample’s price. If you use a TikTok Shop sample coupon, you are required to promote the product on LIVE or in a short video within 14 days of receiving the product.
Follow shops on social media to be notified of promotions. Sellers can choose to temporarily offer free shipping on specific products or on their whole shop. They will often advertise these promotions on their TikTok and other social media accounts. Turn on notifications to be alerted when a store is offering free shipping. Be sure to make your purchases during the window of time the seller specifies for the promotion! This only applies to inventory that is fulfilled by the seller themselves. It does not apply to products you order that are fulfilled by TikTok.
How to Offer Free Shipping on Your TikTok Shop
Enroll in the Co-Funded Free Shipping program. This is the easiest way to offer free shipping on orders $30 or more in value. When a buyer purchases $30 or more of products from participating sellers, they automatically receive free shipping and the seller is charged for the shipping. Upon delivery, the seller receives a partial reimbursement from TikTok. The reimbursement amount depends on whether the order is fulfilled by TikTok, through TikTok Shipping, or through seller shipping. Sellers whose Shop Performance Score is 2.5 or higher, as well as new sellers with no score, are automatically enrolled in the program. You can opt out of the program if you fulfill your own orders through TikTok Shipping or seller shipping. You are not eligible for the program if your Shop Performance Score is low because of poor customer feedback or overly long shipping times. Orders fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) are automatically eligible for free shipping at values of $30 or more. If you use this fulfillment method, you pay a fulfillment fee based on the FBT rate card for all orders, whether or not they qualify for free shipping. The rate is subsidized by TikTok Shop, so it can be cheaper than seller fulfillment depending on your order volume, location, and product type.
Set up a seller shipping fee discount. You can offer free shipping outside of TikTok’s co-funded free shipping program by creating a seller shipping fee discount—when it’s activated, you (the seller) cover the shipping costs and the buyer is offered free shipping at checkout. This option only applies to seller-fulfilled inventory, however. To create a seller shipping fee discount, go to the TikTok Shop seller center. Navigate to the “Promotional tools” section under “Promotions” or “Marketing.” Find the “Shipping Fee Discount” section on the “Promotional tools” page and select “Create.” Refer to TikTok’s guide for sellers to learn how to set it up for specific products, specific areas, and specific periods of time.
How to Use Co-Funded Free Shipping as a Seller
For most sellers, you’re enrolled automatically. If you’re a seller with a Shop Performance Score over 2.5, you’re automatically enrolled in co-funded free shipping. If you’re a new seller with no score, you’re automatically enrolled, too—so long as when you do get a score, it’s over 2.5. Are your orders fulfilled by TikTok? Then you’re automatically enrolled in co-funded free shipping! You can’t opt out unless you change your fulfillment to fulfilled-by-seller. Improve your Shop Performance Score to be eligible to enroll if you aren’t already. You can do so by proactively monitoring and addressing negative reviews, shipping orders on time, sending out accurate orders, and being honest about your products in your product listings.
Fulfill order lead time requirements to be partially reimbursed by TikTok Shop. The order lead time requirements only apply to sellers using TikTok shipping or seller shipping. Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) sellers are not subject to these requirements because TikTok handles fulfillment and shipping for them. The requirements are that standard shipping orders to Zone 1-6 are delivered within six calendar days and to Zone 7/7+ within 7 calendar days. Express shipping orders must be delivered within 4 calendar days. These times are extended over holidays to account for delays from the high volume of shipping during these times. TikTok Shop’s shipping zones are based on the distance between the product’s origin and its shipping destination—the farther apart the two locations are, the higher the zone number is calculated to be. Free economy shipping orders aren’t eligible for reimbursement as the seller absorbs the whole cost themselves. Split shipments are only reimbursed once, when all the packages have been delivered to the buyer.
Cover the remaining shipping fee after reimbursement. This only applies for sellers who use TikTok shipping or seller shipping. Sellers whose orders are fulfilled by TikTok pay a fulfillment fee that’s already subsidized by TikTok, so they receive no reimbursement. Other sellers receive a reimbursement of maximum $2 per order in their settlement account after delivery (if order lead time requirements were met). The exact reimbursement amount depends on the total cost of shipping. For a limited time, TikTok is offering sellers who join the program to receive higher reimbursements (maximum $6 per order, or full cost if fulfilled by TikTok) on their first 500 qualified orders placed in 2024. For sellers whose orders are fulfilled by TikTok, TikTok is offering an additional 500 orders’ fulfillment fees fully paid for by TikTok Shop if they join the program.
Opt out if desired. You may not want to participate in the co-funded free shipping program. As long as your orders are not fulfilled by TikTok, you can opt out. Opting out lets you decide if and when to offer free shipping, which products are eligible, which shipping methods to offer, and what minimum threshold you’d like to set for an order to qualify for free shipping. To opt out, go to the TikTok Shop Seller Center. Navigate to the “Orders” section, then find “Co-Funded Free Shipping” on the page. Click “Unenroll” to opt out. If you opt out, you are responsible for shipping costs, either by charging them to the buyer, or covering them yourself by offering a seller shipping fee discount.
Why offer free shipping on TikTok Shop?
Attract new customers. TikTok Shop is a hub for savings and deals you wouldn’t find on other platforms—but high shipping costs can make those deals hard to justify buying. Offering free shipping will attract customers that want those savings, and are inclined to choose you over sellers that charge shipping.
Save on shipping costs through Co-Funded Free Shipping. Because TikTok offers a per-order reimbursement for qualifying orders, co-funded free shipping could be cheaper than seller-funded free shipping. You get to draw in buyers with free shipping, and you don’t have to bear the whole cost or raise your products’ prices to absorb the expense. For some sellers, the co-funded free shipping program may not be the cheapest option for them. Consider factors like order volume, product pricing, and third-party fulfillment/shipping costs when deciding which method is right for you.
Encourage higher-value orders through free-shipping minimums. By setting a free shipping threshold (for example, getting free shipping when spending $30 or more), you can incentivize customers to spend more than average on their order to qualify for free shipping. That way, your TikTok Shop could see an increase in the average value of an order, and the customers feel that they’re benefiting by not paying for shipping. The USPS has a guide to calculating whether the minimum order value for free shipping is fiscally viable for your business or not, based on your profit margin and average shipping costs. With TikTok Shop’s co-funded free shipping, you do not get to set the threshold, so it’s important to consider if the $30 minimum makes sense for your store—taking into account TikTok’s reimbursement.
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