Sellers ask "which platform is cheaper?" as if it has one answer. It does not — it has eleven, because the fee depends on the market, the category, the seller tier, and who ships the order.
This post runs the comparison properly. Every TikTok Shop number below is produced by running our actual calculation engines, not by estimating. Every Amazon number is Amazon's own published rate, labelled as such.
Two honesty notes before the tables:
- We are not affiliated with Amazon or TikTok. Nothing here is a claim about either platform's business.
- We model TikTok Shop; we do not model Amazon. Our rate files cover TikTok Shop only. Amazon's figures are quoted from Amazon's published fee schedule so you can compare like with like, but always confirm them in Seller Central before you commit stock. Amazon adjusts fees annually.
1. Fee Structure Comparison Table
The headline difference is structural, not just numerical. TikTok Shop's core charge is a category commission. Amazon's is a referral fee that behaves the same whether or not Amazon ships your product.
| TikTok Shop | Amazon FBA | Amazon FBM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core charge | Category commission | Referral fee | Referral fee |
| Typical core rate | 5%–6% (US/UK standard categories) | 15% (most categories), 8% for consumer electronics, up to 45% | Same as FBA |
| Minimum charge | None published | $0.30 per unit | $0.30 per unit |
| Charged on | Selling price + customer shipping + platform discount (US/UK) | Total sales price, incl. shipping and gift-wrap | Same as FBA |
| Payment processing | Included in commission | Included — no separate card fee | Included |
| Fulfilment | Self-ship, or FBT | Amazon ships | You ship |
| Fulfilment fee | Your postage, or FBT per-unit fee | $2.43–$4.22+ small standard non-apparel | Your postage |
| Monthly subscription | None published | $39.99/mo Individual, or per-item fee on Pro | Same |
| Storage | Only if you use FBT warehousing | Monthly, per cubic foot | None (stock is yours) |
| Return handling | Refund admin fee, 20% of referral fee capped $5/SKU | Itemised, by disposition | Your cost |
Two rows in that table do most of the work.
Amazon's referral fee is charged on the total sales price, and it is the same rate for FBA and FBM. You cannot escape it by self-fulfilling. And there is no separate payment-processing fee stacked on top, which is genuinely simpler than some marketplaces.
TikTok Shop's US commission base includes customer shipping and platform-funded discounts. A $50 listing with $4.50 customer shipping and a $3 platform discount sits on a $57.50 commission base — so the effective take rate is higher than the headline category rate suggests.
2. Commission vs Referral Fees: Who Takes More?
On the headline percentage, TikTok Shop usually wins in the US and UK. Here is the same $30 product across every market and tier we cover, priced by the engines:
Inputs: $30 selling price · $12 COGS · $4.50 outbound shipping · 5% return rate
| Market / tier | Category | Total fees | Take rate | Net margin | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Electronics (5%) | $1.50 | 5.00% | 40.0% | $17.37 |
| US | Jewelry (5%) | $1.52 | 5.07% | 39.9% | $17.38 |
| US | Skincare (6%) | $1.82 | 6.07% | 38.9% | $17.56 |
| UK | Most categories (9%) | $2.70 | 9.00% | 36.0% | $18.13 |
| PH | Marketplace — Fashion Accessories | $2.77 | 9.23% | 35.8% | $18.18 |
| SG | Standard — unlisted categories | $3.43 | 11.43% | 33.6% | $18.63 |
| MY | Electronics — BXP Marketplace | $3.78 | 12.60% | 32.4% | $19.10 |
Three conclusions:
- TikTok Shop is not one fee rate. The spread here is 5.00% to 12.60% — 7.6 percentage points — for the identical product. Amazon's 15% default sits above every row except the Malaysian one.
- The US and UK are TikTok Shop's cheap markets. 6% and 5% are genuinely competitive against Amazon's 15%. Malaysia at 12.6% total take is not.
- Compare total take, not headline commission. The US Skincare row is 6.07%, not 6.00%, because the modelled refund administration fee adds $0.02. The Malaysian row is 12.6% take on 7.02% commission, because a 3.78% transaction fee and a RM 0.54 per-order support fee sit on top.
For your own category's exact rate and confidence level, check the US TikTok Shop fee page.
The category trap
Amazon's referral fee is frozen for 2026 — Amazon announced no percentage changes, while FBA fees rose by about $0.08 per unit on average effective January 15, 2026. Published 2026 referral rates range from 5% to 45%:
| Amazon category | Published referral fee |
|---|---|
| Personal Computers | 6% |
| Consumer Electronics, Camera & Photo, Cell Phones | 8% |
| Beauty / Health / Personal Care, Baby (over $10) | 15% |
| Home & Kitchen, Sports & Outdoors, Toys & Games, Pet Supplies, Tools, Office, Musical Instruments, Luggage | 15% |
| Automotive, Industrial & Scientific | 12% |
| Jewelry | 20% up to $250, then 5% |
| Apparel | 5% up to $15, 10% to $20, 17% above $20 |
| Amazon Device Accessories | 45% |
Read that against the TikTok table. A TikTok Shop US apparel seller at 6% has a structural advantage over Amazon's 17% apparel rate. An Amazon seller in consumer electronics at 8% is better off than a TikTok Shop US seller at 6% once fulfilment is counted. Category placement moves more money than platform choice.
3. Fulfilment: FBT vs FBA vs Self-Ship
This is where the comparison usually gets hand-waved, and it is where self-fulfilling sellers lose money.
What each platform charges
Amazon FBA publishes an exact per-unit rate card. For small standard-size non-apparel goods, 2026 rates are priced in three bands by selling price:
| Shipping weight | Under $10 | $10–$50 | Over $50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 oz or less | $2.43 | $3.32 | $3.58 |
| 4+ to 6 oz | $2.56 | $3.45 | $3.71 |
| 6+ to 8 oz | $2.66 | $3.54 | $3.80 |
| 14+ to 16 oz | $2.95 | $3.96 | $4.22 |
Apparel sits roughly $0.20–$0.55 above the equivalent non-apparel band. Items under $10 qualify for Low-Price FBA, a $0.86 per-unit discount. Amazon's published small-standard fees are also measured in 2-ounce intervals as of 2026, so dimensional mistakes are priced more precisely than before.
TikTok Shop FBT (Fulfilled by TikTok) works on a comparable weight-tier structure — 4 oz through 150 lbs, with Heavy Bulky tiers for 50–150 lbs added July 13, 2026 — plus several verified discounts:
- Free customer shipping by default on all FBT orders, with no $30 minimum (effective June 16, 2025). Sellers can opt out.
- Chargeable weight is the greater of actual and dimensional weight, where dimensional = L × W × H ÷ 166. If actual weight is 2 lb or under and volume is 332 in³ or under, you are charged on actual weight (effective May 1, 2026).
- Multi-unit discounts on 2, 3 and 4+ unit orders from the same seller; the 0–4 lb tier was cut by up to 24% from January 12, 2026.
- SIOC discounts of $0.06–$0.70 across the 4 oz–50 lb tiers, single-unit orders only, and only with FBT packaging standards and SIOC certification (effective May 15, 2026).
We are not quoting a dollar figure for FBT per-unit fees, deliberately. Our verified FBT data covers the rules above but its rate-card tables are only partially extracted, so we will not publish a per-unit number we have not verified. Check your FBT rate card in Seller Center. Amazon's FBA figures above are published, which is why we can quote them.
The structural difference that matters
Amazon FBA bills you a fixed per-unit fee plus monthly storage. TikTok Shop self-fulfilment bills you your actual postage. For a cheap, light, fast-turning product, your postage is often cheaper than Amazon's floor.
For a $30 item, the deciding question is blunt: is your outbound postage below or above roughly $3.32–$3.54? If your courier costs you $4.50 to move a 6–8 oz parcel, FBA is cheaper and it removes your packing labour. If you ship in a poly mailer through a discounted regional service for $2.90, self-fulfilling wins and the $3.54 never leaves your account.
One trap worth naming
Amazon FBA adds costs beyond the fulfilment fee: monthly storage per cubic foot, inbound placement service fees, and low-inventory-level fees. On a slow-moving $30 item those can rival the fulfilment fee itself. Model them before assuming FBA is the safe choice. Our fee calculator post covers the equivalent hidden layers on TikTok Shop.
4. Advertising Costs: TikTok Shop Ads vs Amazon PPC
We will not invent CPC or CPM figures for either platform — neither is a fixed rate, and both vary by auction, season, and seller. What we can do is tell you the number that actually decides the question: how much ad cost your margin can absorb.
Same $30 US product, Skincare at 6%, varying only cost-per-acquisition:
| CPA | Net profit | Net margin | Break-even price |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 | $11.68 | 38.93% | $17.56 |
| $2.00 | $9.68 | 32.27% | $19.69 |
| $3.00 | $8.68 | 28.93% | $20.76 |
| $4.50 | $7.18 | 23.93% | $22.35 |
| $6.00 | $5.68 | 18.93% | $23.95 |
At 4x ROAS your maximum CPA on this product is $7.50. Below roughly 2.4x ROAS you are limited by profit, not by your target — chasing a low ROAS does not rescue an expensive product, it just spends money faster.
Now the point that matters for this comparison. On this $30 product, the entire fee advantage of TikTok Shop over Amazon FBA is about $1.72 per order (section 6). So:
If your cost per acquisition on TikTok Shop is more than $1.72 higher than on Amazon, the platform fee difference stops mattering. Nothing else on this page survives that.
The two platforms do differ in discovery, which is a real structural difference rather than a rate. TikTok Shop is a feed: content can find buyers who never searched for your product. Amazon is predominantly a search and buy-button surface where demand already exists and you bid for it. A product with strong short-form demo content can plausibly need less paid acquisition on TikTok Shop; a product with proven keyword search volume can plausibly convert cheaper on Amazon. Neither of those is a fee, and neither is guaranteed.
5. Return & Refund Fee Policies
Returns are where the two platforms diverge most in structure.
TikTok Shop US charges a Refund Administration Fee of 20% of the refunded referral fee, capped at $5 per SKU (effective May 15, 2025). That is a percentage of a percentage, so on a low-commission category it is very cheap — and the $5 cap means it cannot run away on an expensive item.
Our engine models this against an estimated return rate:
| Return rate | Refund admin fee | Total fees | Net profit | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0.00 | $1.80 | $11.70 | 39.00% |
| 5% | $0.02 | $1.82 | $11.68 | 38.93% |
| 10% | $0.04 | $1.84 | $11.66 | 38.87% |
At 6% commission the exposure is tiny. At 17% commission in a high-return category, 20% of a much larger referral fee starts to matter — model it, do not assume it is negligible.
TikTok Shop FBT changed its returns handling on June 1, 2026: the previous flat $3.00 Customer Returns Handling Fee was replaced by itemised per-unit fees based on return service type and final disposition. A disposal and a return-to-merchant are no longer the same price. If you use FBT, your returns cost is now a variable you must look up rather than a constant you can budget from memory.
Amazon handles returns differently again and its rates are published in Seller Central rather than in our rate files. Because we have not verified Amazon's current return-handling percentages, we are deliberately not quoting them here. If returns are a material part of your model — and on apparel they usually are — pull the current figure from your Seller Central account before comparing it to the 20%-capped-$5 structure above.
6. Real Example: $30 Product on Both Platforms
One product: sells for $30, COGS $12. Four routes. TikTok figures from the engines; Amazon figures from Amazon's published rates.
Route A — TikTok Shop US, self-fulfilled (Skincare, 6%)
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $30.00 |
| Referral fee (6.0%) | −$1.80 |
| Refund admin fee (modelled, 5% returns) | −$0.02 |
| COGS | −$12.00 |
| Outbound shipping | −$4.50 |
| Kept | $11.68 (38.9%) |
Route B — Amazon FBM (Home & Kitchen, 15%, self-shipped)
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $30.00 |
| Referral fee (15%, published) | −$4.50 |
| COGS | −$12.00 |
| Postage | −$4.50 |
| Kept | $9.00 (30.0%) |
Route C — Amazon FBA (Home & Kitchen, 15%, small standard 6–8 oz)
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $30.00 |
| Referral fee (15%, published) | −$4.50 |
| FBA fulfilment (published $10–$50 band, 6–8 oz) | −$3.54 |
| COGS | −$12.00 |
| Kept | $9.96 (33.2%) |
Excludes monthly storage, inbound placement fees and low-inventory-level fees, which are additional FBA costs.
Route D — Amazon FBA, Consumer Electronics (8%)
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $30.00 |
| Referral fee (8%, published) | −$2.40 |
| FBA fulfilment (published) | −$3.54 |
| COGS | −$12.00 |
| Kept | $12.06 (40.2%) |
What the four routes say
| Route | Kept | Margin | vs Route A |
|---|---|---|---|
| A — TikTok Shop US, self-ship | $11.68 | 38.9% | — |
| B — Amazon FBM | $9.00 | 30.0% | −$2.68 |
| C — Amazon FBA, 15% category | $9.96 | 33.2% | −$1.72 |
| D — Amazon FBA, 8% category | $12.06 | 40.2% | +$0.38 |
Three honest conclusions:
- On this product, TikTok Shop wins — by $1.72 against a comparable Amazon FBA listing, and by $2.68 against Amazon FBM.
- Amazon wins anyway if you pick the right category. A 8% consumer-electronics listing beats the TikTok Shop listing by $0.38. Amazon's category spread is far wider than TikTok Shop's, which cuts both ways: it is an opportunity and a trap.
- The margin of victory is smaller than your ad spend variance. $1.72 is roughly the gap between a good and a mediocre cost per acquisition. Platform fees are a second-order decision next to traffic.
If you want these numbers for your own product and market, run them yourself in the TikTok Shop Profit Calculator.
7. When to Choose Each Platform
There is no universally cheaper platform. There are products that fit each one.
Choose TikTok Shop when
- Your product demonstrates well on camera — before/after, unboxing, texture, transformation. Feed discovery is the advantage and it only pays off if the video works.
- You are in the US or UK, where commission is 5–6% against Amazon's 15% default.
- You are already comfortable with creator and affiliate commissions. Our engine models a 15% affiliate rate costing a $50 US listing roughly 13.5 points of margin — that is a real channel decision, not an afterthought.
- You would rather self-fulfil and keep fulfilment economics in your own hands. At $2.90–$4.50 postage, that beats Amazon's $3.32–$3.54 floor on light goods.
- You want a single flat percentage rather than a fee that multiplies across referral, fulfilment, storage, placement and placement-of-inventory charges.
Choose Amazon when
- Your product has proven keyword search volume and you intend to bid for existing intent.
- You sell into a low-referral Amazon category — consumer electronics at 8% or personal computers at 6% can beat TikTok Shop once fulfilment is counted, as Route D shows.
- Fulfilment is your bottleneck. If packing and shipping is eating your evening, the $3.32–$3.54 FBA fee is buying back time, and time is a real cost even when it is not on the invoice.
- You are in a high-referral Amazon category and a low-commission TikTok Shop one — apparel is the clearest case, 17% versus 6%.
- You need Prime-adjacent delivery expectations and the long-tail search traffic that comes with them.
The honest middle answer
Most serious sellers run both, and treat the platforms as different demand channels rather than a cheaper-versus-dearer choice. The correct order of operations is:
- Pick the category first — it sets both platforms' headline rate, and on Amazon it swings 6% to 45%.
- Pick the fulfilment model second, and compare your real postage against Amazon's published per-unit card.
- Model the ad cost third, because as section 4 shows it can erase every fee advantage on the table.
- Only then decide which platform gets the inventory.
8. Run Your Own Numbers
Everything above about TikTok Shop came from running the calculator. Put your own product in it.
The TikTok Shop Profit Calculator prices your exact category, market and seller tier against verified 2026 rate data, then tells you:
- every fee line, with its source URL and confidence level
- your net margin, contribution margin and effective take rate
- your break-even price and the price for any target profit
- your max CPA at any ROAS target
- a monthly projection at realistic volume
Then re-run it for a higher-fee market or tier and see whether the product still works. That is the comparison that should decide where you send your next shipment.
Free, no signup, and it runs on the same verified rate data as our fee calculator and market fee pages.
New to the fee maths? Start with how to calculate TikTok Shop profit, then see how thin the cushion gets in TikTok Shop Profit Margin Calculator.
Related Resources
- How to Calculate TikTok Shop Profit — the fee-by-fee foundation
- TikTok Shop Fee Calculator 2026 — commission, transaction and fixed fees by market
- TikTok Shop Profit Margin Calculator — break-even price and margin targets
- US TikTok Shop Seller Fees 2026 — 202 category rates with sources
- UK TikTok Shop Seller Fees 2026 — 347 categories
- Malaysia TikTok Shop Seller Fees 2026 — BXP and non-BXP tiers
- Singapore TikTok Shop Seller Fees 2026 — 4 BXP programmes
- Philippines TikTok Shop Seller Fees 2026 — Marketplace vs Mall
- Privacy Policy — how we handle your data
- Disclaimer — sources, scope and limitations