A lot of sellers pricing 1688 imports on TikTok Shop double the purchase price, round it up to a number that feels right, and move on. That approach leaves out enough fee layers to turn a product that looks profitable into one that quietly loses money, or prices things so high that the competition wins before you make a single sale.
Why doubling the 1688 price does not work
The price on 1688 is a factory gate price in yuan with nothing else included. Between that number and the real landed cost sitting in your warehouse, at least five cost layers enter the picture:
- Domestic China freight. From the factory to the consolidation warehouse and across the border. Small but not zero.
- Freight to Vietnam. Billed by actual weight or volumetric weight, whichever is higher. Light products with large dimensions cost more to ship than most people expect.
- Order-agent service fee. If you go through a sourcing agent or order service, this is typically a few percent of order value. Some charge a flat rate per order, others charge a percentage.
- Import tax and customs handling. The duty rate depends on the HS code category. Add declaration fees and inspection fees where applicable.
- Shrinkage. Defects, breakage, and short quantities. The rate varies by product type and supplier, but it belongs in the cost calculation, not on a wish list.
Convert everything to Vietnamese dong at the current rate (around VND 3,600 per yuan, but verify this when you calculate since the rate moves). That total is your real landed cost per unit sitting in your warehouse.
Doubling the 1688 price skips most of these layers. The result is that you think you are profitable when you are breaking even, or think you are breaking even when you are losing money.
Four layers to add before setting a sell price
Once you have the real landed cost, you still need to add the actual selling costs before you arrive at a minimum price. On TikTok Shop, four layers matter:
Platform commission. TikTok Shop takes a percentage of the order value. The rate varies by category and changes over time with platform policy, so check the current fee schedule inside your seller account before calculating. Do not use a rate someone mentioned months ago.
Shipping subsidy. Many shops offer free shipping to stay competitive, which means the shop absorbs that cost. If your product participates in the platform's free-shipping program, the platform covers part of it and the shop covers the rest. Calculate this as a real number per order. It is easy to lose track of when you think of it as a vague benefit rather than a line item.
Ad spend per order. This is the layer most sellers calculate wrong. The right way is to take total ad spend and divide it by the number of orders that came from those ads. If you spent 2 million VND on ads and got 20 orders, each order carries 100,000 VND in ad cost. That number shifts with your actual ROAS, but you need a grounded estimate, not a blank.
Return rate allowance. A returned unit costs you round-trip shipping, processing time, and often means the unit cannot be resold. Return rates on TikTok Shop vary by category: apparel, footwear, and cosmetics run higher than accessories or household goods. Even a low return rate should be a small allowance in your cost, not ignored.
The minimum price formula
With every number in hand, the minimum sell price follows a bottom-up calculation:
Minimum price = Real landed cost + Platform fee + Shipping cost + Ad spend per order + Return allowance + Target margin
Every input should be a real number, not an estimate rounded to feel comfortable. The target margin is your own call: for evergreen goods, at least 15 to 20 percent above landed cost gives you enough room to absorb variability. For short-trend products, aim higher because you are being paid for the risk.
A rough illustration to show the structure: a product with a landed cost of 80,000 VND, a 5 percent platform fee, 15,000 VND in free shipping cost, 25,000 VND in ad cost per order, a 5,000 VND return allowance, and a 20 percent margin target. The minimum price is not 80,000 times two. It lands closer to 160,000 to 170,000 VND. If the market only bears 130,000, that gap tells you immediately: find a cheaper source, cut ads, or drop the product.
Anchor the price to the real market after you have the floor
The minimum price is the floor. The price you actually take to market needs to be checked against real competition.
Go to TikTok Shop and Shopee, search for the same product or a close equivalent, and record the price band that other shops are running. If most are selling between 150,000 and 180,000 VND and your floor is 155,000, you can enter at 169,000 without losing on price, and still have margin to run promotions or bundle accessories.
Three situations come up regularly:
Market price sits well above your floor. This is the good scenario. You can enter at the midpoint, hold a solid margin, and have room to discount during platform campaigns without losing money.
Market price sits only slightly above your floor. This is a warning. Either the market has been priced down to cost, or some sellers are running at a loss to hold rank. Entering with the same cost structure leaves almost no margin unless you have a real difference in the product.
Market price falls below your floor. Do not enter. Either find a supplier at a materially lower price, or accept that this product does not fit your cost structure right now.
Flash sales and campaigns: check the floor first
TikTok Shop runs regular campaigns tied to calendar dates (like 9.9, 11.11) and hourly flash sales. Many sellers register for these without checking whether the campaign price lands above or below their cost floor.
The rule is simple: the price after any coupon or flash-sale discount must still sit above total cost plus selling fees. If the platform requires a 20 percent discount to join a campaign but your current sell price is only 15 percent above cost, joining that campaign means selling at a deliberate loss.
The practical solution: if you want to participate in a flash sale, raise the list price a few days in advance (within whatever window the platform allows), then drop to the flash-sale price that still keeps a margin. This is not a trick. It is planned pricing rather than a rushed reaction.
Revisit pricing regularly, not once and done
Landed cost changes over time. The yuan-to-dong rate moves. Suppliers adjust prices by season. Freight rates shift with market conditions. If you set a price once and leave it, you may be selling at a loss without knowing it.
The minimum viable habit is to review the real landed cost on every active SKU once a month, or immediately when there is a large shift in the exchange rate or freight. Compare against the current sell price and adjust if needed. For SKUs running paid traffic, also pull the actual ad spend per order for the most recent month so you know where the real margin sits.
You cannot always reprice immediately since a sudden price change can affect your ranking and conversion. But you should always know whether you are profitable per order before you decide to keep running or stop a product.
Bottom line
Correct pricing is not doubling a number and going by feel. It is building up from real landed cost, adding each selling-cost layer, reaching a floor you cannot go below, and then anchoring to actual market prices to pick your entry point. Once you do this for each product, you immediately know what is worth selling, what does not fit your cost structure, and which platform campaigns you can join without taking a loss.