TikTok Shop halts plan to end independent shipping for U.S. sellers after backlash
TikTok’s e-commerce arm, Shop, has reversed course on its plan to end seller-fulfilled shipping in the U.S., telling merchants that previously announced deadlines will no longer go into effect.
In an email sent to sellers Tuesday evening and reviewed by Modern Retail, TikTok Shop said, “At this time, Seller Shipping remains unchanged, and previously shared deadlines are not going into effect.” The company told merchants to continue operating as usual while it provides further details.
The decision halts a policy that would have required most U.S. sellers to route orders through TikTok-controlled logistics services, including Fulfilled by TikTok, or approved shipping tools fully integrated with TikTok’s systems.
The reversal comes after Modern Retail reported last month that some brands were pulling back from TikTok Shop in response to the proposed changes. Merchants and agency executives said the shift would raise fulfillment costs, squeeze margins and make it harder to offer the steep discounts TikTok shoppers expect. Several brands said they were planning to narrow product assortments, reduce promotions or exit the platform altogether if the mandate moved forward.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It remains unclear whether TikTok Shop will introduce a revised version of the shipping policy or maintain the status quo in the longer term. In its latest communication to sellers, the company did not provide additional details on next steps.
Under the original policy, TikTok Shop had said it would phase out independent shipping beginning in late February, with a full transition expected by the end of March. Sellers who did not migrate to TikTok-managed logistics risked losing access to the platform’s estimated 170 million U.S. users.
At the time, brands cited both operational and financial concerns. Some said TikTok’s in-house fulfillment services were still experiencing growing pains, including shipping delays and inventory errors. Others said being required send inventory into TikTok warehouses would force them to forecast TikTok-specific demand in advance, a challenge on a platform known for unpredictable viral spikes.
“One of our hottest products comes over by boat from China, and it basically takes five to six months to get here. If we carve out inventory just to send to the TikTok warehouse and it sells out immediately, we’re adding even more time,” Jerry Wu, CMO of Grande Cosmetics, previously told Modern Retail. “It’s just another step in the process, and I’m not going to be happy with that.”
Agency executives also warned that the policy could complicate TikTok’s broader push to recruit larger, more established brands. TikTok has spent the past year courting enterprise sellers and rolling out initiatives to expand the variety and price range of products on its marketplace. Consultants told Modern Retail that removing seller-controlled fulfillment would make it harder to onboard brands that rely on centralized inventory systems or existing third-party logistics partnerships.
“For big brands that have complicated and very well‑established setups, trying to integrate something new is going to be complicated,” Travis Johnson, the global CEO of Amazon marketing agency Podean, said in a prior conversation. “It’s going to hurt the profit margins one way or another.”
TikTok’s decision also comes amid broader instability in the platform’s U.S. operations. As Modern Retail previously reported, TikTok’s new joint venture ownership structure got off to a rocky start earlier this year after a prolonged outage disrupted Shop sales, advertising performance and creator activity, with some brands reporting steep drops in revenue during the downtime. The technical issues, combined with policy shifts around fulfillment, had already prompted some merchants to question how much they could rely on the platform as it seeks to stabilize under new ownership.
“Trust in TikTok in general is so low,” said Nadya Okamoto, founder of period care brand August. “This isn’t a platform where we’re like, ‘OK, this is our big opportunity, let’s jump on this transition.’ Our mentality is more, ‘Let’s evaluate what the margin implications will be, explore different options and then decide.’”