Free tool for TikTok Shop sellers
TikTok Shop sample ROI calculator
How many sales does a free sample need to pay for itself? Enter your own numbers and see the break-even per sample, for the whole batch, and for each creator who actually posts.
This calculator only does arithmetic. The result depends entirely on the numbers you enter. It can't tell you whether a creator will post or whether anyone will buy. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Break-even
Example numbers. Change any field and the result updates.
- Sales to pay back one sample
- 1 sale$11.00 ÷ $13.24 = 0.83, rounded up
- Sales to pay back the whole batch
- 17 sales$220.00 ÷ $13.24 = 16.61, rounded up
- Sales needed per creator who posts
- 2.8 sales16.61 ÷ 6 creators who post (30% of 20)
- Cost per sample / whole batch
- $11.00 / $220.00
- Left from each sale
- $13.24price minus $3.75 commission, $2.00 platform fee and product cost
How it's calculated
Cost per sample = sample cost + shipping per sample
Left from each sale = price − price × commission % − price × platform fee % − product cost
Sales per sample = cost per sample ÷ left from each sale, rounded up
Sales for the batch = cost per sample × number of samples ÷ left from each sale, rounded up
Sales per posting creator = sales for the batch (before rounding) ÷ (number of samples × share who post)
With the example numbers: one sample costs $6 + $5 = $11. A $24.99 sale pays $3.75 commission and, at the example 8% fee, $2.00 in fees, and the unit costs $6, so $13.24 is left. One sample needs 0.83 of a sale, so 1 sale. Twenty samples cost $220 and need 16.61, so 17 sales. If 6 of the 20 creators post, each of them has to account for about 2.8 sales.
If each sale leaves nothing or less (commission, fees and product cost add up to the price or more), no number of sales pays back the samples, and the calculator says so instead of giving a number. The calculator leaves out returns, refunds, ad spend, any flat fee you pay a creator and your own time; add a flat fee to the sample cost if you pay one.
About the "share who post" slider
Not every creator who receives a sample posts a video. We don't have a reliable figure for how many do, so the 30% default is only a placeholder. The best number is your own: creators who posted divided by samples you shipped, over your last few batches. Slide it down and watch the last result: the fewer who post, the bigger the share of the batch's break-even that falls on each creator who does.
How to send fewer samples to the wrong creators
The cost side of the calculation is the one you control before you ship. On 2026-10-03 we checked the public profiles of 63 US creators who post shoppable videos. These checks rule creators out; they don't tell you who will make sales.
- Look at median views, not followers. 14 of the 63 creators had a 30-day median under 300 views. The median across all 63 was 1,088.
- Watch for batch posting. 14 of 63 posted more than 35 times a week; the typical creator posted 12.6.
- Don't judge by one big video. 10 of 63 had an unusual rise on their most-viewed shoppable video, a sudden jump that doesn't show the creator's usual reach.
- Check TikTok's AI-generated labels if your brand cares. 7 of 63 had the label on more than half their posts.
- Check category fit. For the typical creator, 61% of linked products were in their main category. Few products like yours means their viewers didn't follow them for it.
Across the 63, our overall screening score showed no relationship with how much the products they linked had sold (Spearman ρ = −0.01, 61 creators). Ruling out a poor fit lowers the batch cost; it doesn't make the remaining creators sell.
Check creators before you ship
Paste up to 10 creator handles. The free sample check runs these checks from public data and gives send, send with care or don't send, with the reason. Or read the full checklist and run it by hand.
Common questions
How many sales to break even on a TikTok Shop sample?
Divide what one sample costs you (the product plus shipping to the creator) by what one sale leaves you (price minus commission, platform fee and product cost), then round up. A sample that costs $11 with $13.24 left per sale needs 1 sale; 20 of them cost $220 and need 17 sales between them.
How do I work out the real cost of sending free samples?
Add the cost of the product you give away and every shipping leg you pay to get it to the creator, then multiply by the number of samples. Count the samples that never turn into a video too: you pay for those as well.
What share of creators actually post after getting a free sample?
We don't have a reliable figure, and the 30% default on the slider is only an assumption. Use your own history: creators who posted divided by samples you shipped. The fewer who post, the bigger the share of the batch's break-even that falls on each creator who does.
Is sending free samples to TikTok creators worth it?
It depends on your margin and on who you send to. This calculator shows how many sales your samples need to pay back; it can't tell you whether those sales will happen. Ruling out poor-fit creators before you ship lowers the cost side.