TikTok Shop LIVE: how to sell on a live stream

How TikTok Shop LIVE works

TikTok Shop LIVE is a live stream with a shopping bag attached. You talk about products on camera, pin the one you are showing, and viewers tap the pinned card to buy it inside the TikTok app.

Selling on a stream depends on how your shop is set up. Without a linked TikTok account, a shop is limited to the Shop Tab, with no selling through videos and livestreams. So the first job is to link an official account, then meet TikTok's own rules for going LIVE. The table lists each requirement and where it comes from.

How to go live on TikTok Shop

These steps follow TikTok Shop Academy's LIVE shopping lesson for US sellers. They assume your shop is approved and has products listed.

1. Link an official account

   In Seller Center, link the TikTok account that will host your streams as the shop's official account. A shop can have 1 official account, and the account must pass identity verification. After linking it is automatically upgraded to a Business Account.

2. Add products to the LIVE Showcase

   Products must sit in the LIVE Showcase window before you can feature them. In the app, tap the plus button, choose LIVE, then tap Products on the pre-LIVE screen to add them.

3. Schedule the stream

   A LIVE event created on mobile must be scheduled at least 2 hours in advance. On desktop, LIVE Manager lets you go LIVE straight away or schedule an event, with a length of 30 minutes minimum and maximum 13 hours.

4. Post a teaser video

   TikTok suggests posting a teaser one day before, promoted two hours before going LIVE. Keep it less than 30 seconds and tag the products you plan to sell.

5. Go LIVE and pin products

   Start the stream from the app or from LIVE Manager. Once you are live, open the shopping bag and pin the product you are showing.

How to pin products during a TikTok Shop live stream

During the stream, tap the shopping bag icon in the bottom-left corner to open the Shop LIVE list, then tap Pin next to the product you are talking about. The pinned card shows on screen so viewers can tap through to buy.

You can pin one product at a time: product A will be unpinned if you pin product B. TikTok Shop Academy advises re-pinning every 30 seconds, because the card disappears otherwise and fewer people click it.

A moderator can pin products for you from a second phone. Moderators can mute or block users, manage comments, and add, pin, delete and reorder products, but a moderator cannot add affiliate products.

TikTok live selling tools for sellers

TikTok gives sellers a set of tools for running a shopping stream. Most are in the TikTok app; LIVE Manager adds a desktop console for the same jobs.

LIVE Manager also shows GMV, viewers and enter-room rate while you stream, and lists orders as they come in. Desktop events can hold multiple LIVEs within one event, so you can pause and resume.

Content rules for a TikTok Shop live stream

TikTok Shop asks sellers and creators to keep LIVEs dynamic and interactive. Content that relies on still frames may be subject to enforcement actions that impact your account health, so check the rules before your first stream.

• Show your face and speak to viewers in real time. Under TikTok Shop rules, AI-generated voices, audio recordings or radio are prohibited.
• Do not use still frame content that covers more than 50% of the screen.
• Product page images during a LIVE are not allowed.
• Show the product from several angles and explain how it is used.
• To step away, use Pause LIVE instead of leaving a static screen.

What TikTok Shop charges on live shopping orders

Orders placed during a stream pay the standard referral fee of 6% per order in most categories, calculated as Referral Fee Rate % *(Customer Payment + Platform Discount - Tax). TikTok Shop's fee policy describes the referral fee as covering all TikTok Shop fees except shipping and tax, and it does not list a separate charge for going LIVE.

LIVE auctions have a reduced rate for a limited period, October 1, 2026 - December 31, 2026 (PT). Qualifying auction orders from new auction sellers pay a 4% referral fee, and qualifying high-value orders from existing auction sellers pay a 3% referral fee. Regular LIVE orders are not part of that promotion. The TikTok Shop fees guide works through every fee on one order.

How LIVE GMV Max supports a stream

LIVE GMV Max is an automated Shop Ads campaign that optimizes liveroom traffic for the highest gross revenue during a LIVE event. You create the campaign in Seller Center and set a budget and an ROI target, where LIVE ROI is total liveroom GMV divided by total ad spend.

The campaign uses two kinds of traffic. Video-to-LIVE uses videos from your TikTok account to attract viewers to your liveroom. LIVE-to-LIVE promotes your ongoing livestream to bring more viewers into the same livestream. TikTok decides how to split spend between them.

While the shop's primary ad account runs a LIVE GMV Max campaign, existing LIVE Shopping Ads for the shop's official account are paused automatically. When the campaign ends, paused ads don't restart automatically and can be restarted manually in TikTok Ads Manager.

• Run the campaign over a minimum of three days; it does not need to run without breaks.
• Follow the suggested budget, or set two to three times your historical LIVE ads budget. the budget is not fully used unless the campaign can roughly meet the ROI target.
• If spend is slow after the first day, consider lowering the ROI target.
• Use a profile with strong LIVE sales. TikTok calls about $1000 gross revenue in the last 7 days strong.
• Stream for 3 hours or more per session, and keep timing and duration consistent across campaign days.
• Keep at least 50-70 videos each time, or 5-10 new videos daily for Video-to-LIVE, and choose up to 10 preferred videos for each stream.

Where Nation fits

Questions about TikTok Shop LIVE