TikTok Shop's standard seller commission in Italy rose from 5% to 9% on 8 January 2026, applied uniformly across the EU5 markets — Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Ireland. That "referral fee" is the cut TikTok keeps on every sale: on a 100 euro order the platform now takes about 9 euro instead of the previous 5 euro, before you account for VAT, shipping, returns, and advertising. Two exceptions soften the picture — selected Electronics and Beauty items rose to only 7%, and brand-new stores can unlock a temporary 4% rate.
This guide covers the exact change and its effective date, the category exceptions, the new-seller launch discount, a plain worked example of what a seller actually keeps, how Italy compares to the UK and US, and the cases where selling inside TikTok Shop is the wrong move for a brand.
The headline change: 5% to 9%
Until early 2026, TikTok Shop charged EU5 sellers a 5% introductory commission — a launch rate designed to pull merchants onto the platform. From 8 January 2026 that rose to 9%, which TikTok frames as the end of introductory pricing and a move to standard market rates. The company describes it as part of its "ambitious growth plans to develop the marketplace of the future and to lead content-driven commerce." In practice it nearly doubles the platform's take on every order. The increase is uniform: Italy is one of the five affected markets, with no country-specific carve-out, so any EU5 storefront pays the same 9% baseline.
The three rates at a glance
- Standard — 9%: the rate for most categories from 8 January 2026.
- Reduced — 7%: certain Electronics and Beauty & Personal Care items, a two-point rise instead of four.
- New seller — 4%: a promotional rate for up to 60 days on newly opened stores, under specific conditions.
The 7% category exception
Not every product moved to 9%. Certain items in Electronics and Beauty & Personal Care rose to 7% — a two-point increase rather than the four-point jump most categories saw. The public announcements do not publish an exhaustive, code-by-code list of which products qualify, so treat "Electronics and Beauty" as a signpost, not a guarantee. If your catalogue sits in those areas, confirm your exact category rate in Seller Center before you re-price.
The new-seller 4% launch discount
Newly opened EU5 stores can qualify for a reduced 4% commission for up to 60 calendar days. The mechanism is a Seller Center "mission": accept it within 15 days of opening and publish at least 5 products, which must be substantially different from inventory already listed on TikTok Shop. It is a genuine head-start for launches, but it is temporary and conditional — plan your unit economics around the 9% you will pay afterwards, not the 4% you pay first.
What a seller actually keeps
The referral fee bundles payment processing. In the EU, TikTok Shop folds card and payment handling into the commission rather than charging a separate transaction fee, so the 9% is closer to an all-in platform cut than it first appears. Ignore any "extra 2% transaction fee" you may see quoted — that is not part of the confirmed EU structure.
A worked example. On a 100 euro order at 9%, the referral fee is 9 euro, leaving 91 euro before your own costs: product, packaging, shipping, returns, and any TikTok ads you run to drive the sale. What TikTok's figures do not settle is the exact base the percentage applies to — item price only, or item price plus buyer-paid shipping — and how VAT interacts with the commission. Confirm both in your own Seller Center billing before you model margins.
How Italy compares to the UK and US
The UK went first. Britain made the identical 5%-to-9% move back in September 2024, more than a year before the EU5 followed — a useful signal that 9% is TikTok's intended European standard, not a temporary spike. For reference, the US referral fee sits at 6%, lower than Europe's new baseline. Rates differ by market and by seller status, and they change, so the comparison is a snapshot rather than a fixed table.
When TikTok Shop is the wrong place to sell
TikTok Shop earns its 9% when the whole purchase happens inside the app — discovery, checkout, and payment in one closed loop. It is the wrong call when your margin cannot absorb a near-double platform cut, when you already own a converting store and only need demand, or when your product needs an off-platform experience TikTok Shop cannot host. In those cases the video is better used to drive traffic you own rather than to hand nine points to the marketplace on every unit.
That is the model TikJoy is built for: creators publish native videos on their own TikTok profiles and you pay per verified view, sending viewers to your own checkout instead of TikTok Shop's — so the platform commission never enters the equation. Paired with a cashback and creator layer, the incentive to buy stays on your side of the funnel, not TikTok's.
What to do now
- Re-model margins on 9%, not the old 5%, category by category.
- Check your real rate in Seller Center: Electronics or Beauty listings may be at 7%.
- If you are launching now, trigger the 4% mission within 15 days but plan for life after the promo.
- Weigh how much demand you can move off the closed loop if your margin cannot carry 9%.
Verify before you plan
These figures are accurate as of 26 July 2026 and drawn from TikTok Shop's Seller Center announcement as reported across multiple industry sources. Commissions, category exceptions, and new-seller promotions can change and vary by seller status — verify the current rates in your TikTok Shop Seller Center before you set prices or rebuild your margins.