Put in your price and your product cost. I'll tell you what commission and discount your category takes, what TikTok's cut is, and how much of the order is left.
Already filled in with the numbers we'd open a program at. Change the ones you know.
Your list price, before any discount.
Landed cost of one unit.
What you eat, not what you charge.
Per-order handling cost.
Prefilled with what we'd open a beauty program at. Change anything you already know.
Category runs 15%–25%.
What the buyer sees off the list price.
100% of a return is unsellable here.
GMV Max as a share of revenue. Ad-driven sales on affiliate content still pay the commission above.
Costs you unit cost + $4.50 shipping each.
Used to spread seeding across orders.
Profitable, with no slack in it. One bad return month or one commission bump and this goes flat.
Before this order goes negative
At your current commission
Already carries the commission paid on ad-driven sales
Contribution per month already carries the seeding cost. I show it separately because it's the check you write before any of it comes back.
Taken on the discounted price, not the list price.
Also taken on the discounted price.
100% of a returned unit can't be resold in this category.
When GMV Max boosts affiliate content, the creator still earns their commission on that sale. Both lines hit the same order.
150 units a month spread across 3,000 orders.
When GMV Max boosts an affiliate’s video and it converts, the creator still gets paid their commission on that sale. It’s set inside Shop, and it doesn’t pause because you paid for the traffic. At your settings that’s $1.45 of ad spend and $5.78 of commission landing on the same order. The math above already charges both — set your ROAS target knowing the ad is never the only cost on the sale.
Modeled at an 8% referral fee and a $0.30 transaction fee, current as of August 2026. TikTok has moved the referral rate before and will again, so check yours in Seller Center before you commit to a number.
Any one of them is the difference between a program that funds itself and one you quietly shut down in month four.
Commission, discount, referral fee and transaction fee all come off the same order. Each one looks affordable on its own. Together they routinely take 35% to 45% of the list price before you count a single product cost.
The referral fee and the affiliate commission are both calculated on what the buyer actually paid, not on your list price. That’s the one piece of good news in here. A discount slightly reduces what you pay out on the other lines.
A 15% return rate doesn’t cost you on 15% of orders. It costs you on all of them, because you have to price it in. Apparel is where this quietly decides the whole thing.
Opened supplements, food and most beauty can’t be resold. In those categories a return costs you the shipping, the handling and the entire unit.
Creators need product in hand before they’ll make anything. That inventory goes out with no order attached to it. Spread across the orders it eventually produces, it belongs in your unit math.
Buyers here expect free or near-free shipping, and sellers who charge for it convert worse. If your model assumes the customer pays freight, it’s modeling a different channel.
Knowing you keep $9.40 is useful. Knowing you’d still clear zero at 31% commission is what lets you answer a creator who asks for more, in the room, without calling anyone.
Where we'd open a program, and the band we'd stay inside. These are starting points. We adjust them once a shop has its own data.
| Category | Commission | Band | Discount | Return rate | Unsellable on return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty, skincare, personal care | 20% | 15–25% | 15% | 4% | 100% |
| Supplements, health, wellness | 20% | 15–25% | 15% | 3% | 100% |
| Home, kitchen, cleaning, gadgets | 15% | 10–20% | 15% | 6% | 40% |
| Food and beverage | 12% | 10–18% | 10% | 2% | 100% |
| Apparel, accessories, jewelry | 15% | 10–20% | 20% | 18% | 25% |
| Pet products | 15% | 12–20% | 15% | 5% | 60% |
| Electronics, tech, hardware | 8% | 5–12% | 10% | 8% | 50% |
| Something else physical | 15% | 10–20% | 15% | 5% | 50% |
Every order also carries an 8% platform referral fee and a $0.30 transaction fee, both taken after the discount. Current as of August 2026. Confirm your own rate in Seller Center.
Because the listed rate decides whether a creator with an audience picks you out of a catalog of thousands. Under-paying doesn’t save you money. It just means nobody takes the product. If the suggested rate doesn’t clear your floor, the fix is your price or your product cost, not the rate.
Usually yes, but not at full strength on both. The discount drives conversion on the product page. The commission drives whether creators promote you at all. If the stack is taking more than 40% of your list price, cut the discount first. Creators notice a commission drop faster than buyers notice a smaller coupon.
Then a public storefront discount is a pricing conversation with your wholesale partners before it’s a marketing decision. Brands in that spot usually run the storefront at full price and put the money into commission instead, where it doesn’t show up as a published price.
They're accurate as of August 2026. TikTok has changed the referral fee more than once and will again, and some seller accounts sit on different terms. Check yours in Seller Center before you commit to a number based on this.
Send me the numbers you put in and I'll tell you where they're optimistic. We run this math on every brand before we take them on, and sometimes the answer is that this channel isn't for you.