A free sample on TikTok Shop comes with a posting deadline. TikTok sets it, and the clock starts when the box arrives.
TikTok's sample guide for creators says a creator who requests a free sample is required to “post promotional content within 14 days of receiving the product.”
The guide says that “to fulfill your posting obligation,” a creator can “post a short-form video that stays public for at least 3 days” or “go LIVE for at least 10 minutes.”
Both terms measure time. Whether anyone at the brand watched the video is a separate question.
An example, with made-up round numbers:
- Your team approves 500 sample requests before the holiday campaign.
- Most of the boxes arrive in the same week.
- Within 14 days, each of those 500 creators is due to post a video or go LIVE, in their own words.
That can mean hundreds of videos and LIVEs in about two weeks.
Automated tools can read each sample video as it posts and check it against the brief. The team then watches the ones that get flagged.
A question for your team: when your holiday samples land, who will watch what gets posted?