Free Sample Guide for Creators

06/26/2025

This article will teach you everything you need to know about Free Samples. We will cover how to request Free Samples from Sellers and how to fulfill the requirements needed once you receive Free Samples from Sellers.

Before we dive into the process of applying for Free Samples, let's introduce Free Samples first!

What are Free Samples?

Free Samples are products that Creators can request from Sellers to use in their content, may it be for Short Videos or LIVE Sessions. These contents are aligned with the Seller's requirements and help you, as a Creator, receive more commission from your fulfilled content.

You get to market the product and showcase how useful or nice it is with your own creative spin! With this in mind, we want to show you the possible benefits from using Free Samples in your content:

Requesting Free Samples in Product Marketplace

Free Samples can be requested from the TikTok App, follow the steps below to request your first Free Sample:

Step 5: Once the free sample request is approved, the seller will send it to your address and you will need to create a short video or go LIVE using the free sample to promote the product. Don't forget to also add the product link to the sample accordingly within a certain time limit:

❗️Free Samples shipped by either TikTok Shop or Seller will both need 14 Days for Creators to fulfill the request.

❗️Starting September 20, 2023, Free Samples shipped by either TikTok Shop or Seller will both need 14 Days for Creators to fulfill the request.

Withdrawing your Free Sample Request

Getting Free Samples from Seller Invitations

If you have received an invite from a Seller to collaborate, they may include an added benefit of providing a free sample to help with your content. These free samples may possibly only be available to invited Creators like yourself.

Where to find your Collaboration Invites with Free Samples


From your account page, go to the Creator Center. Under the Toolkit, tap in Collab Invites.	You can check all your pending Collab invites here. If you want to look for invites with Free Samples, a tab shown above will indicate the added benefit.	Tapping on the invitation will redirect you to the invitation details. You can see here that free samples are available for this invitation.

Free Sample Approval from Sellers

Once you have accepted the invitation, you can freely choose any of the provided products for Free Sample request. Some invitations might have automatic approval and some will need confirmation from the Sellers to accept.

If the Invitation has Auto Approval:


Tap on any of the products and a pop-up will provide you with the option to Request free sample	Once requested, the Seller will need to process the request within 7 days	Tapping on view details will show the current status of your Free sample delivery. In this scenario, the first 2 steps are automatic.

If the Invitation has Manual Approval:


Tap on any of the products and a pop-up will provide you with the option to Request free sample	Once requested, the Seller will need to process the request within 7 days	Compared to auto-approval, the request will need to be approved by the seller before the delivery process can start.

Reapplying for Free Samples

Creators can opt to reapply a Free Sample request for the same product if the following conditions are met:

Creator's Free Sample Request expired
- Creators can reapply to the same product link after 30 days
Seller rejected the Creator's Free Sample request
- Creators can reapply to the same product link after 30 days
Creator has withdrawn their Free Sample request
- Creators can reapply instantly

In these cases, the system will allow the Creator to reset the Creator's free sample limit and provide the option to apply again.

Reapplying is not limited to the same product where the Creator got rejected or withdrew their request. Creators can freely choose another product for reapplication.


Requests that are not approved or rejected will receive a prompt that says Creators can reapply again	Once the Creator withdraws their Free Sample request, the reapply button will automatically show up	On the Manage Samples page, Creators can reapply directly for another request

How do I use Free Samples in my Content?

Requested Free Samples will need to be featured in either of these two types of Content. Depending on your talks with the Seller, you might be required to use the Free Sample as what the Seller instructed:

Short Videos

❗ You must make sure your video is public, and your video must be online for at least 3 days.

LIVE Sessions

❗ To complete the Free Sample post requirement for LIVE Sessions, the Creator must accomplish all of the requirements listed:

The total LIVE duration should be more than 10 minutes
The product link of the Free Sample must be pinned during the LIVE Session.

To pin a product link during your LIVE, simply go to your Product list and tap on "Pin"

Managing your Free Sample Requests

The Manage Samples page is your one-stop center for all your Free Sample requests. You can check the current progress of all your Free Sample tasks.

You can access the Manage Samples page by going to your account -> tap on the Showcase button -> tap on TikTok Shop -> Scroll down to the TikTok Shop toolkit on the TikTok Shop Creator Center.


From your account, go to the Showcase page and tap on TikTok Shop to access the TikTok Shop Creator Center	In the TikTok Shop Creator Center, scroll down and you can tap on Manage samples under the TikTok Shop toolkit	Tapping on Manage samples will provide you access to all your Sample requests. Check their current status if the sample was ordered, would need content or if they have been used for promotional content.

Order Center Access

Additionally, you can also access the Manage Samples page through the Order Center as shown below:


From your account, tap on Your orders to access the Order Center.	In the TikTok Shop Creator Center, scroll down and you can tap on Manage samples under the TikTok Shop toolkit	Tapping on Manage samples will provide you access to all your Sample requests. Check their current status if the sample was ordered, would need content or if they have been used for promotional content.

Rating of your Free Sample Contents

Sellers are allowed to rate and review the content you created for the sample they have provided. This transparency brings you several benefits:

Valuable Feedback: Understand what sellers appreciate and where you can improve.
Showcase Your Strengths: Your high ratings and positive reviews will highlight your reliability and quality.
Attract More Collaborations: Good feedback can lead to more opportunities with top sellers.
Improve Your Profile: Use insights to refine your approach and enhance your creator profile.

Sellers will be able to view this rating while they are discovering creators to collaborate with and reviewing sample requests. To ensure fairness and prevent bias, your ratings only become visible to you and other sellers once you've received three or more ratings from different sellers.

Sellers can review all sample requests coming from Open Collaboration or Target Collaboration with the following criteria:

Status	Content Type	Criteria
Completed	LIVE	Creators have pinned the sample in their LIVE shopping bag for more than 10 minutes
Completed	Video
Incomplete	LIVE and Video	The product has been successfully delivered for 14 days

Sellers will not be able to review sample requests that you cancelled or were incomplete due to issues in your shop such as product delisted, received violations, is out of stock or were not delivered. Collaborations that are campaign-funded or sponsored by TikTok Shop are also not eligible for seller ratings or reviews.

Your rating will be on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Sellers will evaluate your performance across specific areas:

Overall experience: This is a required rating and reflects their satisfaction with the entire collaboration.
Content quality: This is optional and is based on how well your content showcased their product.
Communication & professionalism: This is also optional and reflects how responsive, clear, and easy you were to work with.

Your average rating is calculated across all your eligible sample collaborations. Furthermore, all ratings are calculated using a rolling 90-day window, which means your recent performance carries the most weight, giving you the opportunity to improve it over time.

Just like ratings, reviews are tied to each sample application. Sellers can leave one review per sample collaboration.

Reviews are optional for sellers to leave.
Sellers have the option to post anonymously.
Reviews are permanent and remain linked to the specific sample application.
They can edit or delete a review for up to 30 days after the review window opens. After 30 days, the rating and review will be finalized and can no longer be edited.

To learn more about how a seller can review your sample content, check out this .

FAQ

What if I'm unable to create content for my free sample due to the product being suddenly unavailable?
- It depends on case to case. Please refer to this separate guide on different scenarios that may happen and how they can be resolved.
What will happen if I fail to create the content after receiving the free sample?
1. It will affect your sample fulfillment score and reduce your chances of receiving samples in the future. Sample fulfillment is one of creator's criteria that is shown to seller when searching for potential creators. Creator with high sample fulfillment rate would be categorized as "Top Collaborator" on Creator Ranking List, a feature for sellers to find high performing creators. Seller can also search for compliant creators using the reliable with sample filter on Creator Marketplace.

Next Voucher mẫu thử