The two ways sellers collaborate with creators on TikTok Shop: Open Collaboration for reach and Target Collaboration for the creators you actually want. Commission ranges, how target rates override open rates, edit timing, free samples, and how to structure both. Sourced from TikTok's seller docs.
TikTok Shop gives sellers two affiliate collaboration types: Open Collaboration, which exposes your products to all creators at a set commission, and Target Collaboration, which invites specific creators to promote specific products at a rate you choose. Commissions range from 1% to 80%, target rates override open rates when both apply, and creators only ever earn one commission per product. Most brands run both at once: Open for reach, Target for the creators they actually want.
A clear guide to the two ways sellers collaborate with creators on TikTok Shop, written for brands and agencies deciding how to structure their affiliate program.
Every TikTok Shop affiliate program is built from two collaboration types inside the Affiliate Center. Understanding the difference is the foundation of running a creator program that actually converts, because they solve different problems.
Both run on commission, meaning you only pay when a sale is made. The commission rate on either type can be set anywhere from 1% to 80%, per product or across a group of products.
Open Collaboration is about reach. You select which products to expose (specific ones or your whole catalog), set a commission rate, and those products become discoverable to the entire TikTok Shop creator marketplace. Creators browse, pick products that fit their audience, and promote them without you lifting a finger for each one.
Key mechanics to know:
Open Collaboration is the volume engine. It gets your products in front of thousands of creators you would never have time to contact individually. The tradeoff is that you have little control over who promotes and how, and you are competing for creator attention against every other open offer in the marketplace.
Target Collaboration is about intent. Instead of waiting for creators to find you, you go find the creators you want and invite them directly to promote chosen products at a rate you set for them.
Key mechanics:
Target Collaboration is where a real creator program lives. It is how you offer your best creators a higher rate, seed them with product, and build repeat relationships instead of one-off promotions from strangers.
Hubfluence runs the TikTok Shop creator side end to end, from finding the right creators to target to outreach that gets replies to sample logistics and creator-level GMV tracking. Book a 30-minute call and we'll map the program to your catalog.
Inside a collaboration, commission is only one of several levers. Sellers can also:
This is the part most brands underestimate. The rate you offer matters, but so does everything around it: whether you send a sample, whether you offer usage rights, whether you back a creator's content with ad spend, and, above all, how you reach out in the first place. Two brands can post the identical 20% Open Collaboration and get wildly different results based on the creators they target and the message they send.
You should almost always run both, but weight them to your stage:
Ask the simple question TikTok frames it around: do you want specific creators promoting specific products (Target), or do you want the widest possible pool of creators able to promote (Open)? Most answers are "both," structured so your best creators sit in Target at a better rate and everyone else discovers you through Open.
The collaboration type you choose is not a settings detail. It is the structure of your entire creator program. Get it wrong and you either burn budget on Open offers no one picks up, or you cap your reach by only ever inviting a handful of creators through Target.
The winning shape for most brands is a two-tier program: a broad Open Collaboration that keeps products discoverable across the marketplace, and a curated Target Collaboration where your priority creators get better rates, free samples, ad support, and usage rights. That combination captures both the long tail of small creators and the concentrated GMV of the few creators who actually move volume.
The hard part is not the settings, it is the operation: finding the right creators to target, sending outreach that gets replies, shipping samples without drowning in manual address entry, and tracking which creators are actually producing GMV. That is exactly the work Hubfluence runs for TikTok Shop brands and agencies, from creator discovery to personalized outreach across TikTok DM and email to sample logistics and creator-level GMV tracking.
Commission rates, samples, ads commission, and usage rights all feed reply rates and performance, and dialing them in per creator is where a program goes from break-even to compounding. If you want help structuring your Open and Target collaborations around your catalog and your goals, book a strategy call and we'll map the program with you.
From outreach to GMV reporting, Hubfluence runs every part of your creator campaigns for agencies and enterprise brands. Set it up once, scale it across every brand you manage.
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