Fix TikTok Shop feed issues

TikTok Shop's availability field is stricter than Meta's or Google's. It accepts specific values ('in stock', 'out of stock', 'preorder') and rejects anything else. Items with invalid availability are rejected from the catalog.

Affects: availability

TikTok Shop's minimum image resolution is 600×600 — higher than Google's or Meta's. Items with smaller images fail validation. TikTok also prefers vertical aspect ratios for video-first placements; a square image will work but won't perform as well.

Affects: image_link

TikTok Shop uses its own product category taxonomy (separate from Google's). Items without a mapped category_id are rejected because TikTok can't route them to the right shopping surfaces.

Affects: category_id

TikTok Shop requires brand on every product. Without it, the product can't be matched against TikTok's brand registry, which affects discoverability in branded searches and Shop placements.

Affects: brand

TikTok's title policy bans specific keywords and patterns — promotional language, prohibited categories, sensitive terms. Items with restricted keywords in the title are rejected outright.

Affects: title

TikTok Shop requires price on every item. Missing or zero prices reject the item from the catalog.

Affects: price

TikTok caps product titles at 60 characters. Titles exceeding the limit get truncated mid-word in placements, which hurts click-through. Some accounts also see outright rejection.

Affects: title

TikTok Shop restricts certain product categories per region — alcohol, weapons, supplements, financial products, gambling. Items in those categories require additional verification or are outright banned.

TikTok Shop only operates in specific regions. Items intended for unsupported countries are rejected. As of 2026, supported markets include UK, US, several EU countries, and key SEA markets.

Affects: shipping

TikTok rejects product images with watermarks. Common for resellers using supplier-provided images that still carry the supplier's branding. Affects discoverability across TikTok Shop placements.

Affects: image_link

TikTok's quality score flagged the listing as below threshold. Vague catch-all — could be thin title/description, low-quality images, missing optional attributes, or inconsistent data.

TikTok detected an item that's very similar to another listing in your catalog or another seller's catalog. Can suppress delivery on both items pending review.

Affects: id

TikTok Shop requires shipping templates to be set up at account level before items can list. Templates define cost per region, weight bracket, and service level. Without a template, items can't activate.

Affects: shipping

TikTok requires variants to share a Standard Product Unit (SPU) ID — equivalent to item_group_id on other channels. Without SPU IDs, variants compete as separate items and TikTok's classifier rejects them as duplicates.

Affects: item_group_id

The product's category is banned outright in the targeted region — not just restricted, but prohibited from listing. TikTok's bans extend further than most channels in some categories.

Affects: google_product_category

TikTok flagged the item's return rate as above category norms. Doesn't block listings but suppresses delivery — TikTok's algorithm favours items that customers keep.

Listing has been in review longer than normal. TikTok's review SLA is typically 24-48 hours; listings stuck beyond 72 hours indicate manual review queue overflow or borderline policy compliance.

Account hasn't enabled TikTok Live Shopping, missing the highest-converting catalog surface on TikTok. Items still appear in non-live placements but don't qualify for in-stream commerce.

Item has no product video. TikTok favours video-first listings — items without video get suppressed visibility, especially in feed-style placements where video plays auto-preview.

Affects: video_link

Variant items share one image instead of each having variant-specific imagery. Users buying a 'red' variant see the 'blue' image — bad UX that suppresses conversion.

Affects: image_link

TikTok Shop has country-specific restrictions on certain product categories (alcohol shipping limits, supplement regulations, hazmat). Items targeting restricted destinations can't activate.

Affects: shipping

Title contains characters TikTok's classifier flags as non-standard — emojis, decorative symbols, excessive punctuation. Items still serve but with reduced ranking in search placements.

Affects: title

TikTok's classifier flagged the assigned category as incorrect for the actual product. Items still serve but in the wrong competitive set, hurting both ranking and conversion.

Affects: google_product_category

TikTok Creator Affiliate program enrolment pending — your items aren't yet available for creators to promote in their content. Limits TikTok Shop's biggest growth channel.