Your Old Commission Rate Is Protected for 30 Days

If a seller lowers your TikTok Shop commission rate, an eligible creator already promoting that product keeps the old rate for 30 days and receives a warning two days before it expires. The lower rate then applies after the lock expires. A creator who starts promoting after the reduction gets the new rate, while commission increases apply immediately. For videos already posted, the protection follows your qualifying promotion of the product; it does not make the old rate permanent or guarantee that every later order uses it.

Enter the rates, notice date, and average order value to see your lock deadline and the earnings change.

The 30-Day Lock Delays A Rate Cut

TikTok’s seller guidance describes a 30-day protection period when a seller reduces an affiliate commission rate, together with a two-day warning before the protected rate expires (TikTok Shop Seller University). The protection matters to an eligible creator who was already promoting the affected product. It is not another 30 days each time an existing video makes a sale.

If your old rate was 20% and the seller changed the offer to 10%, the practical sequence is:

1. You continue at 20% during the applicable 30-day lock.
2. TikTok warns you two days before that lock expires.
3. The 10% rate applies after expiry.
4. If the seller later raises the rate, the increase applies immediately.

Use the lock expiry displayed in your account as the controlling date. The calculator above projects 30 calendar days from the notice date you enter, but a notice date is not a substitute for TikTok’s recorded effective date. Save any in-account expiry timestamp, especially if it differs from your calculation.

The rule also does not make one percentage universal across the shop. Sellers can configure commissions by product and collaboration. The rate on another item from the same seller tells you nothing conclusive about the product you promoted.

Existing Videos Can Keep Earning During The Lock

A video posted before the reduction can continue generating commission during the protected period. If you qualified for the old rate, sales attributed under that protected arrangement can use it until the lock expires. The video does not automatically stop working when the seller edits the offer.

After expiry, an old video can still convert, but its age does not preserve the historical rate. A later attributed sale can use the reduced rate. This is the central distinction: the protection is temporary, not a lifetime rate attached to the video.

An old post is useful evidence that you promoted the product before the cut. Save its URL, publication date, attached product, and any visible attribution details. Those facts help establish your timeline, but the publication date alone does not determine every order’s commission.

New content published during the lock requires more caution. Your status as an existing promoter may protect the applicable product rate during the window, but the available evidence does not establish that every newly posted video independently inherits a historical rate. Check what your account displays for the product and the order rather than treating the post date as decisive.

Do not delete, relink, or materially edit affected content before recording its original state. Shopify reports that removing a product from your showcase or deleting related promotional content can forfeit a locked rate, though the available evidence does not establish that outcome for every market or program (Shopify’s TikTok affiliate overview). Keeping content active is a sensible precaution, not a guarantee that every sale receives the old rate.

New Promoters Get The Reduced Rate

The 30-day protection is for qualifying creators who were already promoting the product when its rate fell. If you add the product only after the reduction, expect the reduced rate from the start.

That distinction prevents a creator from locking a discontinued offer merely by selecting the product after its terms changed. Before investing in a new video, record the rate currently shown to you, the collaboration type, and any separate Shop Ads rate.

Rate increases work differently: the higher rate applies immediately, according to TikTok’s seller guidance and the commission reporting summarized by Dashboardly. You do not wait 30 days for an increase.

The Order May Use A Different Commission Route

“The seller lowered the commission” and “this order used the lower rate” are not always the same claim. A product can have different percentages based on collaboration and attribution.

Target Collaboration Can Override The Open Rate

For the same invited creator and product, third-party guidance describes the Target Collaboration rate as taking priority over the Open Collaboration rate (Printify’s TikTok affiliate guide).

For example, an Open Collaboration might show 10% while your Target offer shows 18%. If the Target arrangement governs an order, comparing its payout with the open listing gives you the wrong expectation. The reverse can happen if you remember an earlier Target offer but the order was not attached to it.

Save the offer name, product, acceptance date, active period, and displayed percentage. A screenshot of the public or open product listing is not enough to establish the order’s terms.

Shop Ads Can Use A Separate Rate

An organic sale attributed to shoppable creator content may use the standard affiliate rate. A sale from authorized content used in Shop Ads may use a separately configured Shop Ads commission.

The same product and video can therefore produce different percentages when one purchase is organic and another is attributed to Shop Ads. A lower ad-driven payout does not by itself show that TikTok ignored the 30-day standard-rate lock. Check the attribution and Shop Ads terms recorded for that order.

For each disputed sale, identify four things before comparing the numbers:

This turns a broad complaint into a traceable question: why did a particular order use one rate under a named collaboration and attribution route?

Refunds Can Lower Earnings Without Changing The Rate

The basic calculation described in the reviewed guidance is: actual commission equals revenue minus refunds, multiplied by the applicable commission rate (Dashboardly). “Revenue” means commissionable revenue recognized for the order, not necessarily the advertised retail price.

With $100 in commissionable revenue and no refund, a 20% rate produces $20. A 10% rate produces $10. That is the direct cost of the illustrative rate cut used in the calculator.

With the same $100 base, a $30 partial refund leaves $70. At 10%, the result is $7. If the entire $100 is refunded, the remaining base is zero and the commission is $0.

A rate dispute and a refund adjustment are separate questions. The first asks which percentage governed the sale. The second asks how much commissionable revenue remained. You need both figures to reproduce the payout.

Do not multiply your expected rate by the product’s displayed price unless the order record confirms that the full price was commissionable. Discounts, cancellations, partial refunds, and full refunds can change the base.

Pending Orders Need Order-Level Evidence

An estimated commission is provisional. It can change before settlement because of a refund, cancellation, dispute, attribution correction, delivery status, settlement review, or a difference between organic and Shop Ads treatment.

Third-party guidance generally describes commission as becoming payable around 15 days after delivery, with some cases extending to 31 days or longer because of settlement issues, returns, refunds, disputes, or review. These are reported time frames rather than guaranteed deadlines for every account.

A delayed payout does not prove that the rate lock failed. An early estimate showing the higher rate also does not guarantee that the final amount will remain unchanged.

Several dates can appear around one pending order:

• Content publication or product-linking date
• Seller’s rate-change and notice dates
• Order date
• Delivery date
• Refund or return date
• Settlement date

The available evidence does not establish one universal controlling event for every pending-order scenario. An order placed before the cut but delivered afterward, or settled after the lock expires, needs its own rate and attribution record. Do not infer the answer solely from when the buyer ordered or when money settled.

Record the estimated and settled stages separately. If the commissionable base fell from $100 to $70 while the rate stayed at 10%, the difference points to a refund adjustment. If the base remained $100 but the rate moved from 20% to 10%, investigate the lock expiry, collaboration, and attribution. If both changed, separate both effects when contacting support.

Preserve The Evidence Before Changing Content

Capture the rate change as soon as you see it. Interfaces and offers can change, making an earlier arrangement difficult to reconstruct.

For the product and offer, save:

• Product name and ID
• Seller or shop name
• Old and new rates
• Full notice text and delivery method
• Date and time shown for the change
• Lock expiry and two-day warning
• Open or Target Collaboration details
• Your creator account’s market

For each relevant video or LIVE, save its URL or identifier, publication date, attached product, showcase status, and whether it was authorized for Shop Ads. Record any edit, relink, removal, or reposting after the notice.

For each disputed order, save the order ID, order and delivery dates, settlement status, attributed content, organic or Shop Ads designation, collaboration type, commissionable revenue, refunds, rate, and commission. Keep full-screen captures where possible so account context and navigation labels remain visible.

Compare like with like. Do not test an organic Target order only against an Open Collaboration listing. Do not compare a refunded order with a non-refunded order without adjusting the base.

Ask Support To Explain A Specific Order

A documented order-level request is easier to investigate than “all my commissions are wrong.” Use a structure such as:

I was promoting product [product name and ID] under [Open/Target] Collaboration at [old rate] before the notice on [date and time]. The notice showed [new rate], a lock expiry of [date], and a warning on [date].

Order [order ID] was attributed as [organic/Shop Ads], with commissionable revenue of [amount], refunds of [amount], and a settled commission of [amount] at an apparent rate of [rate].

I expected [calculation] based on the documented offer and timing. Please confirm the collaboration, attribution, applicable commission rate, rate-effective event, and refund adjustment used for this order.

Label attachments by purpose: original offer, rate-change notice, content and product link, order attribution, refund status, and settled calculation. Ask TikTok to identify the exact rate and route rather than asserting that an old video must always keep the old percentage.

Decide Whether To Keep Promoting The Product

The calculator shows the immediate earnings difference per average order. Apply that difference to your own conversion volume, refund history, and production cost before deciding what to do next.

An existing video that still converts may require almost no new work. Leaving it active can remain worthwhile after a reduction if the content is accurate, compliant, and profitable. Producing another video is a separate investment involving research, filming, editing, revisions, comments, or LIVE time.

Expected earnings per conversion equal expected retained commissionable revenue multiplied by the applicable rate. If organic and Shop Ads orders use different percentages, calculate them separately. Use actual retained revenue rather than list price.

Three responses are defensible:

1. Keep promoting at the same level because the lower rate remains profitable.
2. Leave proven content active but stop funding new production.
3. Shift new work to another product with stronger expected earnings.

There is no universal acceptable commission percentage. The illustrative 10% rate may work for one product and fail for another. The decision depends on conversion rate, average commissionable revenue, refunds, sales mix, production time, unreimbursed costs, and the opportunity cost of not featuring a different product.

Common Rate-Cut Questions

Does The Lower Rate Apply To Old Videos Immediately?

No, not when you qualify for the 30-day protection as an existing promoter. The old rate remains available during the lock, followed by the reduced rate after expiry. An old video does not retain the higher percentage indefinitely, and a different Target or Shop Ads arrangement may govern a particular order.

Will Removing The Product Cancel The Locked Rate?

Third-party guidance reports that deleting promotional content or removing the product from a showcase can forfeit the locked rate, but the available evidence does not establish this for every market or account. Keep qualifying content and links active while checking your account terms, and preserve records before changing anything.

Which Rate Applies With Open And Target Offers?

Third-party guidance reports that the Target Collaboration rate takes priority for the same invited creator and product. Confirm that the disputed order was attached to that offer and active period. Also check whether Shop Ads attribution introduced a separate percentage.

What Happens When The Buyer Gets A Refund?

A partial refund reduces the commissionable base. A full refund can reduce that base to zero. The rate itself may remain correct even though your commission drops, so compare both the settled percentage and settled commissionable revenue.