TikTok Shop Set-Up Checklist: Everything You Need Before You Launch

Before you launch a TikTok Shop, you need a verified shop, working shipping and fulfilment settings, complete product information, accurate listings, a signed pricing policy, stock in place and an approved plan for creators. If any of those is missing on launch day, the first orders, the first creator videos and the first reviews all suffer, and those early signals are hard to rebuild.

This checklist follows the order Pear uses when setting up shops for UK brands. It is written for brands selling physical products, whether you are starting from nothing or moving an existing Shopify or Amazon range onto TikTok Shop.

1. Create and verify the shop

Register the shop in TikTok Shop Seller Center using your company details. Have these ready before you start, because missing documents are a common cause of delay:

• Company registration details and registered address
• Identity documents for the account owner
• VAT details, if you are VAT registered
• A UK business bank account for settlements
• A warehouse or return address

Some categories, such as food, supplements and cosmetics, need category approval before you can list. Check whether your products fall into a restricted category and apply early, with product documentation to hand. Approval can take longer than the rest of the set-up, so it should not be the last thing you look at.

Use a shared business email for the account rather than one person's inbox. You will be granting access to several people and tools, and the account should not depend on one member of staff.

2. Set up shipping and fulfilment

Set your delivery options, dispatch times, carriers and return policy in Seller Center. Be realistic about dispatch times. A late dispatch counts against your shop, and a promise you cannot keep in a busy week does more harm than a slightly longer delivery estimate.

You will also need to decide whether Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) suits your brand. TikTok holds your stock and handles dispatch, which can help with delivery speed, but it changes how you manage stock, returns and costs. It suits some brands and not others. Pear records this as a decision for each brand, with the reasons, rather than assuming either answer.

3. Connect Shopify, if you use it

If you sell through Shopify, you can connect it to TikTok Shop so products, stock and orders sync between the two. This is optional, but it saves a lot of manual work for brands with more than a handful of products.

Test the sync on one product before you push the full catalogue. Check that the title, images, variants, price and stock level arrive as expected, then place a test order and confirm it appears correctly in Shopify. Problems found on one product are quick to fix. Problems found across a whole range after launch are not.

4. Gather your product information

Before writing a single listing, collect the basic data for every product in one place:

• SKUs and variants, including pack sizes and bundles
• Unit costs, so you know your margin at every price point
• Current stock levels and lead times for restocking
• Dimensions and weights for shipping
• Ingredients, materials or specifications, where relevant

Unit costs matter more than most brands expect. Commission to creators, vouchers, platform promotions and ad spend all come out of the same margin, so you need the cost figures before you decide any of them.

5. Build a claims register

Every claim made about a product, in a listing or by a creator, needs evidence behind it. Pear records each claim in a claims register alongside the evidence that supports it, such as test results, certificates or regulatory approvals. Only claims in the approved register are used in listings and creator briefs.

This protects you in two ways. TikTok Shop reviews product claims and can remove listings or videos that break its rules. UK advertising rules also apply to what creators say about your products on your behalf. A register agreed before launch means nobody has to guess what they are allowed to say.

6. Write listings that convert

Listings on TikTok Shop are read on a phone, often in a few seconds after someone taps a product link in a video. Pear builds every listing to the same standard.

Titles

Use a consistent formula: brand, product, pack size, use, then the terms people search for. For example, a title might name the brand, describe the product plainly, state the size, say what it is for and include one or two search phrases customers actually use.

Images

Make the first image an infographic that shows the product and its main benefit clearly. Follow it with how-to-use images, then images of the variants or bundles. Customers who arrive from a video already know roughly what the product does; the images should answer their remaining questions.

Claims and wording

Use claims from the approved register only, and avoid "#1", "best" or other superlatives you cannot evidence. The most useful source of wording is your own customer reviews. Read them for the phrases customers use to describe the problem and the result, and use that language in the description.

7. Agree a pricing policy

A written, signed pricing policy sets out your normal price, the lowest price you will accept and how far discounts can stack. It needs to be agreed before launch, because on TikTok Shop several discounts can apply to the same order: your own promotion, a seller voucher, a creator voucher and a platform campaign.

Run a worst-case price check for each product. Add up every discount that could apply at once and confirm the final price still sits above your floor. If it does not, change the promotion settings before launch rather than finding out from a settlement report.

8. Prepare for the first orders

A new shop has no reviews and no sales history, which makes customers and creators cautious. A few steps help:

• Seed the first orders from your own audience, through your email list, social channels and website, so early buyers already know the brand.
• Use review vouchers only within TikTok Shop policy.
• Reply to customer messages within 24 hours, from the first day.
• Never delist a product because it is out of stock. Keep the listing and restock it, so the reviews and sales history stay with it.

Vita Bright is a useful example. The brand imported more than 200 existing reviews so it launched with a 4.6 shop score instead of none, and reached £43,160 in revenue in its first 60 days. You can read the full Vita Bright case study.

9. Approve the creator plan and brief

Creator videos are the main way Pear drives early sales for a new shop, so the creator plan should be ready before the shop goes live. That means deciding which products creators will promote first, what you will offer them, how samples will be approved and what the brief says. The brief should use only approved claims and show creators how the product is used.

The launch checklist

Pear calls this the foundation gate. A shop does not launch until every item is complete:

1. Full access granted to Seller Center, Affiliate Centre, Ads Manager, Partner Center and Shopify, where used
2. Product information complete: SKUs, unit costs and stock
3. Claims register approved, with evidence for every claim
4. Pricing policy signed, with a worst-case price check done for every product
5. Listings live and checked
6. Stock received and available to sell
7. Creator plan and brief approved

Checking every item before launch is slower than going live and fixing things afterwards, but it avoids the problems that are hardest to undo: removed listings, prices below cost and creators promoting products that are out of stock.

How Pear sets up TikTok Shops

Pear is a London TikTok Shop agency and registered TikTok Shop Partner, recognised by TikTok as a top five TikTok Shop Partner for FMCG. Co-founder Tom Stanley previously worked at TikTok and is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, which is one reason pricing, margins and the worst-case price check are part of every set-up. We work through the steps above with each brand, then run the shop, listings and creator programme after launch. You can see what that involves on our TikTok Shop management page.

FAQs

How long does it take to set up a TikTok Shop?

It depends mainly on verification and category approval, which TikTok controls, and on how quickly you can supply product information, claims evidence and stock. Brands that have these ready before registering move faster.

Do I need Shopify to sell on TikTok Shop?

No. You can list and manage products directly in Seller Center. Connecting Shopify is useful if you already sell there, because stock and orders sync, but test it on one product first.

Should I use Fulfilled by TikTok?

It depends on your products, stock levels and costs. FBT can help with delivery speed, but it changes how you manage stock and returns. Make the decision deliberately and record why.

If you would like help getting your shop ready to launch, book a free strategy session with Pear and we will go through your set-up with you.