To start off, we will introduce what Free Samples are and the benefits they provide to you as a Seller.

What are Free Samples?

Free Samples are products you can provide to Creators to boost their content's effectiveness in selling your products.

Open Collaboration Free Samples

For Creators to be able to request Free Samples, the Seller must first add their products to an Open Collaboration on Affiliate Marketplace in Seller Center.
Once you've added your desired products to the new Open Collaboration, you will see a column that indicates Free Sample.

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Adding the Free Sample Option for your Open Collaboration Products

1. New Products added in the Open Collaboration will show as "Not Created", click on the button and it will redirect you to the Free Sample Rule page below:

After you create your Open Collaboration, Creators can now start to request Free Samples of your Products for their Short Videos or LIVE Sessions. You can check these out under Sample Request in Affiliate Marketing.

2. Click on the edit button beside "Not Created" will prompt a pop-up on the right-hand side. The pop-up will allow you to turn on the Offer free samples option for your product.

3. Turning the Offer free samples option will open up the settings to apply to your Free Sample offer.

• Sample quantity: Amount of products a Seller is willing to provide to Creators as a Free Sample
• Request period:
  • Indefinite: Creators can request the Free Sample as long as there is still sample quantity
  • Terminable: Creators can also request the Free Sample within the dates set by the Seller
• Threshold: Set a limit on which Creators can request for your product's Free Sample Offer. These limits are explained below:
  • Product category: This filter targets Creators who have generated revenue or promoted products in your chosen category in the last 30 days. Additionally, it can filter Creators who have added a product to their showcase in the last 90 days.

• Fans number: A Creator's total number of Followers
• 30-day sales volume: Filters the GMV produced by each Creator in the past 30 days
• Average views per video: Filters the average views of all the Creator's videos

4. After applying the Free Sample offer for your product, each of the Products' info will reflect the current status of their Free Sample offer.

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Managing and Approving Free Sample Requests in Open Collaboration

Approve sample requests on Affiliate Marketing > Sample Request. In the 'To review' tab, you can process creators' requests either individually or in batches. You have 7 days to review free samples to avoid automatic cancellation by the platform.
Once the chosen Free Sample requests are approved by the system, the requests will change it's status to "Ready to Ship".

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Filtering Sample Requests in Open Collaboration

Under Sample Requests, you can filter all the Sample Requests you have received for your Products under Open Collaboration.
Once you click on Filter, you can see the different ways you can pinpoint the perfect list of Creators that can receive your samples. We'll start with Creators.
Under Creators, you have the option to filter them out using:

• Product category: This filter targets Creators who have generated revenue or promoted products in your chosen category in the last 30 days. Additionally, it can filter Creators who have added a product to their showcase in the last 90 days.

• Follower count: Filter your requests according to the size of each Creator's followers
• Content type: This option chooses Creators who used Videos, LIVE or both to promote products in the past 30 days
• Creator agency: Filter your Creators if they are managed by an Agency or if they work indepently
• Past collaborations: You have the option to filter the Creators who have worked with

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The second filter option is for Followers:

• Follower Age: Filter your Creators using Age ranges. Once applied, the filter will put the Creators with the most followers on top of the list

• Follower Gender: Filter your Creators based on the gender of their Followers. You can set a ratio of each gender.

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For Performance, you can filter how well the Creator is doing in terms of revenue they bring in, video views and viewers per LIVE:

• GMV: Filters the GMV produced by each Creator in the past 30 days
• Average views per video: Filter the average number of views each video the Creator releases, you have the option to only track the videos they create for Affiliate
• Average viewers per LIVE: Filter the average number of viewers each LIVE session the Creator releases. You have the option to only track the LIVE sessions they create for Affiliate

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Lastly, the Sample requests option allows you to filter the requests you received based on their expiry date and if the sample requests will be automatically rejected if left unchecked for 30 days.

• From reliable Creators: This option provides you with the top 20% of Creators based on their ratio of received samples and posted content.

Feel free to explore all the available filtering options to get all the best requests for your products!

Target Collaboration Free Samples

Sellers can now provide Free Samples for their Invited Creators in Target Collaboration. The added benefit of the Target Invitation can increase the amount of Creators that will approve the partnership.
For new Sellers, a pop-up guide will provide a brief overview of what the Free Sample adds to your Target Invitation:

• To go through the process of Target Collaboration, read the feature guide here. For this guide, we will focus on the Free Sample step.

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Once you have added your Creators and Products for your Target Invitation, it is now time to set up your Free Samples. Click on the button beside Offer free samples to activate the option.
Activating the free sample option will automatically add it under the Benefits section of your Target Invitation (This is a preview of what your invited Creators will see on their end).
You have two options for Free Sample approvals:

• Manually review requests

As the name suggests, this option provides you with a more controlled release of your product. Once your Target Invitation is accepted by the Creator, they may request your products.
Check all the requests by going to any of your Collaborations and clicking on View sample requests.
Upon clicking on View sample requests, you will be redirected to the Sample Requests page. You can check all the pending requests of all your Creators.
Once you have approved the Creator's request for Free Samples, you will need to Ship the Free Samples. You can check out how to ship below or read the detailed guide here.

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• Auto approve requests
  • Choosing this option will automatically approve all Free Sample requests you will receive from your invited Creators. Before turning it on, you will receive a pop-up to confirm your switch to Auto-approval.

Editing Free Sample Details in Target Invitations

Even if the Target Invitation has been sent, you can still edit the settings of your invitations. Simply select any of your Target Invitations and click on edit free sample. It will redirect you to the editing page, same as the one you've seen upon making a new Target Invitation.
If you want to switch the approval system, the system will notify you of any pending manual requests.

Shipping Your Free Samples

1. After you have approved the sample requests, click on 'Arrange shipment.' The system will automatically direct you to Seller Center, where you can ship free samples just like regular orders.

For any requests under Ready to Ship tab, you will be able to see a guide that prompts you to print shipping documents on Seller Center, ensuring easier navigation.
❗️Important: Starting on October 9th 2023, you can now send free samples via Seller Center. The option to ship free samples through Affiliate Marketing will be discontinued.
If you have received any free sample requests before October 9th 2023, please remember to arrange shipments through the Affiliate Marketing page. These requests will be labeled as "Ship in Affiliate".

2. Within the Seller Center, you can arrange free sample shipments on the Manage Orders page. You can easily filter the order tags and select 'Free Sample from Seller.'

3. Prepare and arrange shipments as you would for regular orders. Print the packing list and shipping label, and hand them over to the logistics provider as usual. You can find detailed steps on how to ship an order in this feature guide.
4. Once you have completed the shipment arrangements, you can also track your shipments and view shipping information on Affiliate Marketing > Sample Request under 'Shipped' tab by clicking on 'View Shipping.'

Combine Sample Orders to Save on Shipping Costs

• Ship smart and save: No more managing tons of tiny sample orders. Combine sample requests from the same creator and warehouse to save on shipping.
• Unlock a simpler workflow: Forget about manual workarounds and complex third-party tools. Grouping sample requests can now happen inside TikTok Shop.
• Stay in control: You can still approve samples at the creator or sample level. Approved samples within a five-minute window get auto-combined, giving you the benefit of combined samples, while still giving you the flexibility to approve more samples in the future.

Note: Combine sample orders is currently available by invitation only, so some sellers may not have access to it yet.How It Works:

1. This feature will be default on for all sellers. If you want to change this, the toggle "Combine sample orders" is in the top right on the Sample Requests page.
2. Sample requests from the same creator that can be fulfilled from the same warehouse will be automatically combined.
3. You can choose to approve the creators' requests by checking the box next to the creator's name, or only approve specific samples for that creator.
4. If you approve a single sample, you have a 5-minute window to approve any other sample requests from the same creator. The system will hold onto these requests, getting ready to combine them for you.
   • In unique cases where a product may be out of stock or there are new creator violations, then the sample orders will not be combined and you will see the request again on the Sample request page. There will be an alert associated with it, and you can also use our filter options to identify these "failed" cases.
5. The system does the rest. Once the 5 minutes are up (or if you don’t have any other samples to approve for that creator), the system will automatically group all of the approved samples into a single order ID.
   • Tips: Keep an eye on the status. After you approve a request, you might see a "pending order" status. Don't worry, that just means the system is working its magic to combine the orders. The "Ship in Seller Center" button will be disabled during this short time, so you know exactly what’s happening.
6. Ship one combined order. Now, you can ship all the samples for that creator in a single package. This means you only need one tracking ID and you get to save on shipping costs!
   • One order to rule them all. Even though the system combines the samples into one order ID, each sample application will still show up as its own line item in the Sample Request page. This way, you can easily see every single item that’s part of the larger group.

FAQ

1. What happens if I approve one sample and then a few minutes later I approve another from the same creator?

When you approve the first sample, a 5-minute countdown begins. If you approve another sample from the same creator within that window, both samples will be automatically grouped into a single order.

2. What happens if an order fails to generate?

If a sample request fails during the order generation process, it gets returned to the "To review" tab. You'll see a banner at the top of the page telling you which applications failed, and you can try to approve them again.

3. Can I still approve samples one by one?

Totally! You can choose to use the default group setting or you can turn off the "combine orders" toggle if you want to create a unique order ID for each sample.

4. Does this work for all types of samples?

This feature currently works for manual free samples. It doesn’t apply to refundable or mixed requests (where a creator may have both bought from your brand and requested samples).

Monitoring Your Creators

Creators are given 14 days to create the promotional content (LIVE or short video) using the sample they received. They need to fulfill the task by adding the product link of the sample to their content and keeping the Short Video public for at least 3 days or doing the LIVE Session for at least 10 minutes. During this time, the status of the sample request will be in 'Content Pending'.
After creator finishes the task, the status will turned into 'Completed' and you will be able to check the Promotional Content's metrics by clicking on histories.

Notifying Creators to Post Content for Samples

If a creator hasn't posted content within five days of receiving their sample, you can send them a reminder notification. This can be done through the Sample Request > In Progress tab.
Sending reminders helps you:
✅ Boost the ROI of your sample program
✅ Save time with quick, one-click notifications
Note:

• You can only send one reminder notification per creator.
• If no creators are eligible, the Notify button will be disabled.
• Hover over a creator to see why they cannot be notified (e.g., already reminded, appealed, or not yet eligible).

Rate Creator's Free Sample Content

Once the creator receives the sample or completes their sample request by creating the content, you can give them a rating and review to provide feedback. This could help improve future collaborations, and guide other sellers when selecting creators to collaborate with.
You can review all sample requests coming from Open Collaboration or Target Collaboration with the following criteria:
You 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.

How To Rate Free Sample Content?

Now, follow these steps by step to rate the sample applications:

Where Can You Find The Rating?

Your ratings and review will appear on multiple pages in the Affiliate Center to help you discover creators who are great collaborators and consistently complete their sample applications:
By clicking the rating, you can see the detailed breakdown of the creator's rating and review given out by other sellers.