TikTok Shop wants to ensure the safety of its users, so they audit all products prior to them being activated on your TikTok Shop!
Overview
You may have noticed that your TikTok Shop items upload from SKU IQ directly into a Suspended/Reviewing status. Don't worry! This is normal behavior for TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop strives to keep all users (both merchants and consumers) safe by auditing all products prior to them becoming active on your shop. These audits can happen periodically on your products as well as when you change item information from Shopify (e.g. changing the title, description, pictures, etc.). SKU IQ will automatically sync any changes you make from Shopify over to TikTok Shop.
Why Does TikTok Shop Do This?
TikTok Shop's #1 priority is to keep their users safe. While they have very strict guidelines for what you can and cannot sell on TikTok Shop, they also will audit your shop periodically to make sure you are still within their guidelines. Changes to your products (outside of price or quantity updates) can also trigger a new review process.
💡Not Sure What TikTok Shop's Product Guidelines Are? Check Out These Resources:
- TikTok Shop Policy Center - Product Listing & Sharing*
- TikTok Shop Restricted, "Invite-Only", and Prohibited Categories
- What Kind of Documentation Do I Need to Provide TikTok Shop for Restricted Category Items?
* These links require you to be logged into your TikTok Shop Seller Center Account
How Long Do Reviews Take?
Reviews are conducted by both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human beings. Depending on the category you have chosen, either AI or a human will review the item. Items that have product certifications involved are usually reviewed by humans. The process itself can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 business days.
What Happens if My Product Fails?
You'll know if your product passes review as the item will show as Active status on TikTok Shop Seller Center - and will also be displayed on your TikTok Shop on the TikTok Mobile App. An item that has failed review, however, will be shown under Suspended and then under Failed. You can see the reason(s) why an item failed review by clicking on edit next to the particular product. A list of reasons why your product failed will appear on the right hand side of the product detail page. These failure reasons can range from having redirecting links in your descriptions, being unauthorized to sell in a particular brand, pictures being too risqué, and many other reasons. If you are unsure where the failure reason is, you may contact TikTok Shop Seller Support with any questions you may have.
If you do not fix the failure, the item will continue to fail review if you try to update it. You will commonly see error message 12052901 when trying to send updates to those items or re-push them from SKU IQ. Please be careful about re-trying review for failed products as failures can affect your TikTok Shop's health score negatively due to policy violations.
Common Failure Reasons
- Redirects in descriptions and/or pictures - if you link out to a different website than TikTok (even if it is your own Shopify) in your product's description or pictures, this will cause a fail on your item. This includes having your Instagram or Facebook on your images
- Pictures are too risqué - this often happens for swimwear and underwear items that appear on models. You can fix this by only using images of the clothing items on a mannequin or laid out on a flat surface
- Required qualifications not present - some items require additional information to be uploaded to TikTok Shop (e.g. safety warnings, food labels, or user manuals). See this article on additional documentation TikTok Shop may require
- Prohibited content - this often happens to merchants that are selling items that can be used in conjunction with alcohol or tobacco products. As these types of products are explicitly prohibited by TikTok Shop, adjacent products like whiskey flasks, cigarette lighters, and items of that nature may be flagged. You may need to upload these products without those descriptors in them.
There are many other reasons why a product would fail. If you have any questions in regard to why your product failed, we recommend reaching out to TikTok Shop Seller Support directly. We, at SKU IQ, can give you some guidance on how to resolve a failure, but TikTok Shop knows their product and policies the best!
