Glossary

The complete TikTok Shop glossary.

Every term you’ll encounter on TikTok Shop — defined in plain English. Maintained by MediaLabs, an official TikTok Partner agency.

Agency types & partner programs

TSP — TikTok Shop Partner
An officially recognized agency authorized to operate brands’ TikTok Shop Seller Center accounts. TSPs run store setup, catalog optimization, GMV Max ads, LIVE shopping, and compliance. See: TSP vs CAP vs TAP.
CAP — Creator Affiliate Partner
An officially recognized agency that recruits and manages content creators for brands’ TikTok Shop affiliate programs. CAPs handle creator matching, briefing, sample logistics, and commission optimization.
TAP — Talent Affiliate Partner
An officially recognized agency that manages a roster of higher-tier creators and matches them with brands for hero campaigns. Overlaps with CAP but emphasizes managed talent relationships.
MCN — Multi-Channel Network
A legacy creator management category, less common on TikTok Shop. Functions similarly to a CAP/TAP but predates the formal partner program.
Full-stack agency
An agency that holds all three designations (TSP + CAP + TAP) and operates them as one integrated team. Brands get shop ops, creator program, and affiliate management under one contract. MediaLabs is full-stack.

Ads

GMV Max
TikTok’s flagship automated bidding system. You set a target ROI; the platform spends to hit that ROI by amplifying existing creator content. Spend scales with available content, not fixed daily budget.
VSA — Video Shopping Ads
Ad format that shows products inside organic-feeling TikTok videos. Drives directly to TikTok Shop checkout. Uses creator UGC as creative.
Spark Ads
Boost an existing creator video as an ad (with the creator’s permission). Preserves engagement metrics from the original post — often the highest-converting format because the ad doesn’t look like an ad.
LIVE Shopping Ads
Promote a TikTok LIVE shopping session through paid distribution. Boosts viewership during the event.
Product Shopping Ads
Catalog-driven ad units that auto-generate from your TikTok Shop SKUs.
Smart Promotion — SP
A 3.5% additional platform fee charged on top of the 6% referral fee. Required to be eligible for TikTok Shop ad campaigns (GMV Max, VSA, etc.).
Target ROI
The minimum return-on-spend you’re willing to accept. GMV Max bids to hit this threshold — spend only scales if the marginal ad delivers above your target.
ROAS — Return On Ad Spend
Revenue divided by ad spend. The platform uses the term Target ROI; the broader industry uses ROAS interchangeably.

Creators & affiliate program

Open Plan
The self-serve side of the TikTok Shop affiliate program. Any approved creator can apply to promote your products at the commission rate you set. Volume play.
Target Plan — Targeted Collab
Direct creator outreach with custom commission rates and sample logistics handled brand-side. Used for managed creator programs.
Open Collab Flywheel
The compounding scale-up of open-plan creators — starts small, grows as the algorithm recognizes the product is converting. Most TikTok Shop scale comes from this flywheel.
Managed Creator
A creator on retainer with an agency, briefed 1:1 for specific brand campaigns. Posts predictably — typically 75% post rate at 12–20 videos/month.
Affiliate / Affiliate Creator
A creator who promotes a brand’s products in exchange for a commission on attributed sales. The default model on TikTok Shop.
Creator brief
A short document the brand or agency provides creators with positioning, hooks, claims to avoid, and CTAs. Quality of brief is the single biggest input to creator-content CVR.
Sample logistics
The process of shipping products to creators for content. Standard practice on TikTok Shop — samples cost = (new creators) × COGS.
TAP commission
The commission rate paid to creators on attributed sales. Category norms: beauty 18–22%, supplements 20–23%, apparel 15%, tools 10%, dental 15%.
UGC — User-Generated Content
Authentic-feeling video content produced by real creators (vs studio-shot brand creative). UGC is the dominant content format on TikTok Shop.

Fulfillment & logistics

FBT — Fulfilled by TikTok
TikTok’s in-house fulfillment program. Inventory ships to TikTok’s warehouses; orders ship to customers in 1–2 days. Free shipping for customers. Boosts CVR by ~15% over 3PL for sub-$50 ASP products.
3PL — Third-Party Logistics
You ship from your own warehouse or a partner fulfillment center. More control, slower delivery, no automatic CVR boost. Standard for high-ASP / heavy products.
Weight-class fee
FBT’s pricing model: fees scale with product weight band. Under-1lb is the cheapest tier, then 1–2lb, 2–5lb, etc.
Settlement lag
The time between an order shipping and TikTok paying out to the seller. Typically 14 days. Important for cash-flow modeling.
Return rate
The percentage of orders returned or refunded. Category norms: beauty 6%, supplements 5%, apparel 20%, shoes 25%.

Operations & platform

Seller Center
The back-end interface where TikTok Shop sellers manage their catalog, orders, ads, reports, and compliance. Equivalent to Amazon Seller Central.
Catalog optimization
The discipline of structuring product listings (titles, descriptions, images, variants, bundles) for TikTok Shop’s search and recommendation algorithms.
Listing SEO
The TikTok Shop equivalent of Amazon listing SEO — keywords in titles, structured attributes, and on-page conversion design.
SPS — Seller Performance Score
TikTok Shop’s seller-quality metric. Low scores trigger reach throttling; high scores unlock priority placement. Driven by fulfillment speed, return rate, customer reviews.
LIVE Shopping
Live-stream commerce on TikTok. Creators or brands host scheduled shopping events with products available to buy in real time. The highest-converting format on the platform.
Compliance / Violations
TikTok Shop’s rule system around prohibited claims, products, and content. Violations can result in listing takedowns, ad bans, or account suspension.

Economics & finance

GMV — Gross Merchandise Value
Total sales volume before fees, returns, and refunds. The headline metric on TikTok Shop.
Net GMV / Net Revenue
GMV minus returns and refunds. What actually settles to your bank account before platform fees.
Platform Referral Fee
TikTok’s base commission on all sales. 6% for most categories.
Effective Platform Fee
Referral fee + Smart Promotion fee = 9.5% (when SP is enabled, which is required for ad campaigns).
COGS — Cost of Goods Sold
What it costs you to make and ship in a unit. Manufacturing + freight + duties + packaging. Drives your gross margin ceiling.
AOV — Average Order Value
The average revenue per order. Drives ad efficiency and per-unit profitability.
CVR — Conversion Rate
The percentage of viewers who convert to buyers. TikTok Shop baseline ~0.05% (view-to-purchase).
Cohort growth
The compounding effect of returning customers and brand momentum month-over-month. Driver of TikTok Shop scaling beyond the base creator-content model.
Halo / Halo Effect
The lift in non-TikTok-Shop revenue (D2C site, Amazon, retail) driven by TikTok visibility. Typically 5–10% of TikTok Shop GMV.
Extra Media Value
The equivalent value of organic creator views, calculated at standard TikTok CPM (~$30). Effectively: the ad spend you didn’t have to pay because creators amplified your product.
Break-even GMV
The monthly GMV required to cover all fixed costs (creator budget, agency fee, ad spend) given your variable cost rate (COGS + commission + platform fee).

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