TikTok Shop Sell Across EU: should UK sellers switch it on?

TikTok Shop has opened a door from a UK shop into twelve EU countries. The question for a UK brand isn’t whether the door is open, it’s whether an order through it makes money. This guide sets out what TikTok has published for UK sellers, the gaps it hasn’t filled yet, and one order to Germany costed line by line. For the UK fees on their own, read our TikTok Shop fees guide.

What TikTok has confirmed

TikTok Shop’s UK Seller Center page says “Sell Across EU enables UK sellers to sell to EU countries”: Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Hungary¹. Once approved, your EU shop is linked to your UK account, but payments, settlements and promotions are handled separately for each market¹.

Who can join. TikTok checks four things, automatically¹:

• you’re already an active seller in the UK;
• your account is in good standing, with no high-risk watchlist or probation;
• your shop has had sales in the last 30 days;
• you don’t have a significant negative balance.

“The outcome of this application does not affect the status of your existing account"¹, so applying costs you nothing in the UK.

Shipping. “Ship by Seller is the default option.” Your parcel can start from a warehouse in the UK, or from an EU country where you have a registered shop, and can only be delivered to an EU address. Ship by TikTok “may also be available to you, if you have an overseas warehouse"¹.

Time limits. You have 2 working days to confirm, pack and label an order, and 7 working days to hand it to the courier, or the order cancels itself¹.

Returns. You need an EU address for returns. Without one, returned items go to a TikTok return warehouse, and “you will be charged for the costs TikTok Shop incurs in processing that return"¹. TikTok doesn’t publish that charge on the page.

Which rules apply. TikTok’s UK registration policy says Sell Across Europe sellers must follow “all TikTok Shop EU Policies” and the EU seller terms². You can be paid into a UK or an EU bank account².

What TikTok hasn’t confirmed yet

Ask your TikTok account manager, or open a ticket in Seller Center, for the fee and VAT treatment in writing before you list.

The commission: plan on 9%

TikTok Shop’s EU commission is 9% “on settled orders”, and “this fee is inclusive of applicable taxes, including but not limited to Value Added Tax (VAT)”. Listed Electronics categories pay a reduced 7%³. That is the same 9% headline as the UK⁴, worked out the same way: on the order total including any shipping the customer pays, with refunds taken off³.

Because UK sellers’ EU shops follow TikTok Shop EU policies², 9% is the rate to plan on. That is our reading, not TikTok’s statement.

Don’t count on the new-seller discount. TikTok cuts EU commission to 4% or 2% for a new seller’s first 60 or 90 days, but only for a seller who hasn’t sold on TikTok Shop in the EU before and whose store “must operate using EU Local Shipping"³. A UK shop shipping from the UK doesn’t fit that.

Getting paid. On TikTok’s EU shops, payout comes “14 days after order completion, plus 1 day for payout (15 days)”, and “TikTok Shop covers the cost of payout transactions"⁵. Your bank may still charge to convert euros.

VAT, duty and product safety

EU VAT. Your EU prices must include VAT⁵. Who hands that VAT to the tax office depends on how the goods travel. Under EU rules, a marketplace is treated as the seller, and collects the VAT, on goods imported in parcels worth up to €150, and on goods sold inside the EU by a seller based outside it⁸. Parcels up to €150 can also go through the EU’s Import One-Stop Shop⁹. TikTok hasn’t said which applies to Sell Across EU orders. Either way, the VAT inside the shopper’s price isn’t yours to keep.

UK VAT. HMRC treats sales to EU consumers as exports, “following the same general rules as for business customers"¹¹: zero-rated, as long as you keep evidence the goods left the UK.

EU customs duty. “From 1 July 2026, the EU will apply a temporary €3 customs duty per item on low-value consignments” up to €150 imported from outside the EU¹⁰. We haven’t confirmed whether UK-made goods that qualify under the UK–EU trade deal avoid it, or exactly what counts as an “item”. Ask your courier or customs broker before you price.

Product safety. Under the EU’s General Product Safety Regulation, a product can’t be sold in the EU without an economic operator based there who is responsible for it. Online listings must show the manufacturer’s details and, where the manufacturer isn’t in the EU, “the name, postal and electronic address of the responsible person"⁷. TikTok’s UK page tells sellers to hold “the relevant regulatory certifications”, and lists GPSR, packaging and battery rules, dangerous goods and category rules¹.

One order to Germany, line by line

A UK brand sells a product for £20 in the UK and lists it at €24 in Germany, shipping each order from its UK warehouse. The figures marked invented are ours for illustration; the rates come from the pages above.

The same product sold in the UK, with the same invented costs and a £2.60 UK parcel, leaves about £5.57 per order: £20.00, less £3.33 VAT, £1.50 commission after reclaiming its VAT⁴, £2.60 shipping, £1.00 returns and £6.00 product.

The commission is the same 9% in both. What changes is the cost of getting a parcel to a German shopper: the postage, the duty and the returns are per order, so on a €24 product they take almost everything. Three things move the answer:

• A higher price. The parcel and the duty don’t grow with the price. A €60 product carries them far more easily.
• An EU warehouse. Stock held in the EU avoids a customs entry per parcel, and cuts postage and delivery time. It also brings EU VAT registration and storage costs, so work those out too.
• Returns. A product that is often returned gets dearer to sell abroad, because each return has to come back to an EU address.

If you can’t make the sum positive on your best-sellers, wait. You can apply later, and TikTok says a rejection doesn’t touch your UK shop¹.

Before you switch it on

1. Get the fee and VAT treatment in writing from TikTok for your account.
2. Price each product per country with VAT, commission, parcel, duty and returns included. Our TikTok Shop fee calculator works out the UK side; add the EU lines from the table above.
3. Appoint an EU responsible person and add the product safety details GPSR requires⁷.
4. Set up an EU returns address, or agree the cost of TikTok handling returns¹.
5. Check you can dispatch in 2 working days to every country you open¹.
6. Start with two or three products that have a high price, a low return rate and good reviews in the UK, in one or two countries, and read the first month’s settlement report before adding more.

To check the rest of your TikTok Shop costs, read our guides to TikTok Shop fees and selling on TikTok Shop in the UK.