How Much Do You Keep From a TikTok Shop Sale?

Someone just bought your product. Great. But before you celebrate, remember TikTok Shop doesn't hand over the sticker price. Here's the real number you keep — and why it matters more on cheap items than expensive ones.

The math in plain terms

Take your sale price, subtract the referral fee (about 6% for most categories, 5% for electronics and books), then subtract 2.9% plus $0.30 for processing. What's left is yours before shipping and product cost. That's it — no listing fee, no monthly seller fee.

How much you keep at common price points

Here's the net at the standard 6% rate (before shipping and product cost):

Why cheap items are the trap

Watch the percentages. On a $120 electronics item you keep about 92%. On a $12 item the fixed $0.30 processing plus shipping eats a bigger slice, so you might keep only 88% — and if your product cost is high, the margin disappears fast. The classic mistake is pricing a low-ticket item with a markup that looks fine until you subtract the flat fee.

Price backward instead

Pick your target profit first, add the ~6% referral, 2.9% + $0.30, and shipping, then back into a price. Skip the guesswork and let the TikTok Shop Fee Calculator do it — change the price until the “you keep” number hits your margin.