A lot of people start selling imported 1688 goods on TikTok Shop the way they have seen others do it: open a shop, post some photos, wait for orders. When nothing comes, the assumption is the product is wrong. Often the real issue is that the setup steps were skipped or done out of order. This walks through each step to get 1688 goods onto TikTok Shop properly, from registration to your first order out the door.
Register and configure your shop first
Before thinking about products, the platform needs to be ready. TikTok Shop in Vietnam allows two types: a personal account registered with a national ID and phone number, or a business account that requires a business registration certificate. If you plan to sell at any serious volume, the business account is worth the extra paperwork. It unlocks higher listing limits, eligibility for platform programs, and fewer restrictions when running paid promotions.
During setup, fill in all shop information immediately: name, short description, logo, and cover image. A shop that looks bare gets scrolled past, regardless of how good the product is.
Connect a bank account before you list anything. TikTok Shop settles on a cycle and needs your banking information on file before a single order can pay out.
Understand the fee structure before you price
This is the step that causes the most damage when skipped. TikTok Shop charges a commission fee as a percentage of the selling price and a transaction fee per order. Both percentages vary by product category and change with platform policy, so check the current rates in Seller Center when you are setting up, not from something you read months ago.
If you use TikTok's own fulfillment or shipping services, there are additional logistics fees. If you handle shipping yourself, that cost sits with you and comes out of your selling price after the platform calculates its cut.
The key point: the landed cost of a 1688 import is not just the item price converted at the exchange rate. It includes everything that gets the product into your warehouse: domestic China shipping to the consolidation warehouse, freight to Vietnam, customs handling, and the order-agent service fee if you use one. The agent service fee is typically a few percent of the order value, but varies by provider. Convert all costs to VND at the current rate (around VND 3,600 per yuan is a common working figure, but recheck the actual rate when you calculate, since a shift of even a few dozen dong per yuan moves the margin on larger quantities).
Once you have the true landed cost per unit, work upward: add your target margin, then add platform fees, then add expected ad spend per order, then add a small buffer for returns. The result is your pricing floor. Price below it and you are paying to acquire each sale.
Have stock in hand before you publish a listing
One of the most common early mistakes: posting a listing when goods have not arrived yet. When an order comes in on a listing with zero inventory, TikTok Shop records a delayed fulfillment, your shipping score falls, and the platform reduces distribution on your listings going forward. For a new shop, early scores matter more than they do later because TikTok Shop uses them to decide whether to serve your listings to buyers at all.
With 1688 imports, lead time is long. Sea freight from the factory to your warehouse in Vietnam takes roughly 18 to 30 days from when the supplier ships, not counting any production time for made-to-order goods. Air freight or express routes are faster but significantly more expensive, which changes the landed cost calculation.
Have product in your warehouse before any listing goes live. How much depends on your expected initial sales rate, but enough to cover at least two to three weeks of selling without a restock is a reasonable starting buffer for the first batch.
Build listings correctly
A listing on TikTok Shop has to satisfy both the platform's technical requirements and what buyers actually need to feel confident purchasing. On the technical side, the main image must have a white background at the dimensions TikTok Shop specifies (check Seller Center for current requirements). Additional images and a short product video materially increase conversion.
A few points specific to listing imported 1688 goods:
- Avoid using the supplier's stock images where possible. Those same images are on dozens of other shops. The platform has no reason to distribute your listing higher than identical ones, and buyers see no difference. Photos you take yourself, even simple ones, tend to perform better than widely shared supplier studio shots.
- Write the listing title around the words buyers actually search, not the supplier's product name. Open TikTok Shop's search bar and look at autocomplete suggestions to see what people are typing.
- Make the description concrete. State dimensions, material, what is in the box, and what is not. Vague descriptions produce returns and bad reviews, both of which hurt the shop score.
- Classify the product correctly in TikTok Shop's category system. Products filed in the wrong category miss out on distribution in relevant platform campaigns.
For variants: if a product comes in multiple colors, sizes, or configurations, set up all variants from the start and assign accurate inventory to each. Incorrectly configured stock leads to overselling followed by cancellations, which TikTok Shop penalizes.
Price from cost, not from the competition
The selling price on TikTok Shop cannot be set by gut feel or by watching what others charge. It has to be built from the true landed cost upward.
A working formula: full landed cost (goods plus freight plus customs plus agent fee plus packaging) plus target margin plus platform fees plus expected ad spend per order plus return buffer. That total is your minimum selling price before you consider anything else.
If the number you arrive at is higher than what competitors are currently charging, you have two real options: reduce the landed cost (a different shipping route, a higher MOQ to get a better unit price from the factory), or pass on the product. Pricing below the floor to compete in the short term is the fastest way to lose money steadily.
TikTok Shop periodically runs platform-wide campaigns and asks shops to participate with discounts. If you start with a tight margin, campaign participation puts you in the red. Build the margin wide enough from the start so that discounting during a campaign still leaves you positive.
Content is the entry fee on TikTok
TikTok is a content platform first and a commerce platform second. A well-configured listing with no video gets limited organic reach. You do not need high-production video, but you need something.
For imported 1688 goods, the formats that tend to work:
- Short demo clips (15 to 30 seconds) showing the product being used. Practical and direct typically outperforms elaborate staging.
- Unboxing or comparison clips for products with multiple variants or where the difference from alternatives is visual.
- Problem-solution framing: name a specific problem in the video title, show the product solving it.
The goal early on is not a viral clip. It is enough signal for TikTok Shop's system to distribute your listing to the right buyers: some add-to-cart activity, the first few orders, and clean early reviews. Those signals compound.
Tag the product in the video through TikTok Seller Center's shopping feature so viewers can buy directly. This is core to how TikTok Shop works and needs to be set up correctly from the beginning.
Track inventory and fulfill on time
Once a listing is live, the two things that matter most are keeping inventory accurate and fulfilling orders within the platform's deadline. Late fulfillment on a consistent basis drops your shop score and reduces distribution. There is no workaround for this on a newer shop.
Because 1688 imports take weeks to arrive, set a clear reorder trigger. A practical rule: when stock falls below what you expect to sell in the next 30 to 35 days, place the next import order. This keeps goods available when orders arrive and prevents a gap in your selling cycle.
Pay attention to major campaign windows (11/11, 12/12, Tet, and other peak periods). Demand spikes sharply but your import lead time does not shrink. If you want inventory ready for a campaign, count backward from the campaign date to when you need to place the order, accounting for the full shipping window.
Bottom line
Getting started selling 1688 goods on TikTok Shop is not complicated, but the steps have an order. Set up the shop and registration first, then calculate the full landed cost, then have stock in your warehouse, then publish the listing and produce content. Skipping or reordering any of those steps leads to a shop that is slow to get orders, ships late, or sells at a loss. A few extra days of preparation at the start saves months of correcting problems later.