TikTok Shop moves product faster than any marketplace in the US right now — and quietly stacks four different costs between your list price and your bank account. This page breaks down every 2026 fee, walks through the profit-per-unit math the calculator runs, and shows how much creator commission your margin can actually afford.
TikTok Shop fees in 2026: what sellers actually pay
Four costs come out of every sale:
- Referral fee — 6% of the customer-paid price for most categories. This is TikTok Shop's marketplace fee, and unlike most marketplaces it already includes payment processing. A small set of categories runs lower (select fine-jewelry segments at 5%), and new sellers get a reduced promotional rate for their first 90 days.
- Creator commission — set by you, typically 10–20%. The affiliate rate you offer creators in the Shop's affiliate program. Beauty and supplement sellers commonly run 15–30% to win creator attention; it's the single biggest lever in the whole cost stack, which is why the calculator gives it a dedicated sensitivity table.
- Fulfillment — from about $3.58 per unit with Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT), dropping toward ~$2.86 at multi-unit volumes, or your own 3PL/self-fulfillment cost if you ship yourself.
- Refund handling — an administration fee of 20% of the referral fee on refunded orders, capped at $5 per SKU, plus the margin you lose on the return itself.
Rates checked July 2026 against TikTok Shop US seller documentation. Category exceptions exist — always confirm your exact category rate in Seller Center before finalizing pricing.
How to calculate TikTok Shop profit per unit
The calculator runs this chain on every keystroke:
− COGS
− fulfillment
− price × referral %
− price × creator commission %
− price × other variable %
Two habits keep this number honest. First, percentage fees apply to the customer-paid price — if you discount, the fees shrink with the price but your fixed costs don't. Second, treat returns as a variable percentage rather than ignoring them; even a modest return rate moves net margin by full points in most categories.
Where each $100 of GMV goes
At the calculator's default scenario — a $29.99 product with $7.50 COGS, FBT fulfillment, 6% referral and 15% creator commission — every $100 of GMV splits roughly like this:
| Destination | Share of $100 GMV |
|---|---|
| Product cost (COGS) | $25.00 |
| Fulfillment | $11.90 |
| TikTok Shop referral fee | $6.00 |
| Creator commission | $15.00 |
| Left for you (before fixed costs & ads) | $42.10 |
That last line is your contribution margin — the money available to pay for ads, creator flat fees, overhead, and eventually profit. Everything you spend on growth has to fit inside it.
Creator commission: how much can you afford?
Commission is the growth throttle on TikTok Shop: set it too low and creators skip your product for one paying 20%; set it too high and every viral video loses you money at scale. The calculator computes your maximum affordable commission — the rate at which profit per unit hits zero — and shows profit across the 0–30% range so you can pick a rate with your eyes open.
Worked example
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $29.99 |
| COGS | $7.50 |
| Fulfillment (FBT) | $3.58 |
| Referral fee | 6% |
| Creator commission | 15% |
| Output | Value |
|---|---|
| Profit per unit | $12.61 |
| Net margin | 42.1% |
| Break-even creator commission | 57.1% |
A 42% contribution margin is a strong position: it funds aggressive creator commissions and paid amplification of winning videos. The danger zone starts when stacked discounts, higher fulfillment tiers, and commission creep quietly push that figure under 25% — at which point advertising math gets unforgiving.
From profit per unit to campaign math
Profit per unit tells you whether the product works; it doesn't yet tell you what a campaign must return. Convert your contribution margin into the exact ROAS line every campaign has to clear with the Break-Even ROAS Calculator, then pressure-test a full campaign scenario — views, clicks, orders, net — in the Influencer Marketing ROI Calculator. If you're also paying creators flat fees on top of commission, price those quotes per 1,000 views first with the Influencer CPM Calculator.