Flash sale fees explained

When you run a flash sale on TikTok Shop, TikTok charges an extra ~1% campaign fee on top of the standard referral fee. Foregrade tracks it automatically.

How to spot flash sale orders

In the dashboard, flash sale orders show a ⚡ icon next to them. In the Product breakdown, flash sale revenue is tagged separately so you can see its margin impact.

Why the margin is lower on flash sales

TikTok's campaign fee stacks on top of your already-discounted price. Worked example for a UK general-merchandise SKU at the 9% default referral rate:

Original price:  £20.00
Flash discount:  -£4.00  (20% off)
Sale price:      £16.00
Referral fee:    -£1.44  (9% of £16)
Campaign fee:    -£0.16  (~1% of £16)
Shipped-by-seller: -£0.50  (if you self-fulfil)
Your cost:       -£6.00  (COGS)
Net profit:      £7.90   (down from ~£11.10 at full price, no campaign fee)

You're effectively paying TikTok for the boosted visibility. Sometimes worth it (new product launches, clearance), sometimes not (margin-tight products).

> Note on campaign_fee: TikTok's API field name is generic but in UK Shop it's the flash-sale fee specifically. We've verified this against several active campaigns — see docs/tiktok-dev-docs/finance.md for the API contract.

Using Foregrade to decide if flash sales are worth it

Go to Reports → Flash sale performance (Growth plan) to see:

• Flash sale revenue vs non-flash revenue
• Margin delta (how much flash sales cost you)
• Volume delta (how many extra units flash sales drove)

If the extra volume × unit profit exceeds the margin loss, flash sales are profitable. If not, skip them.