What is On Hold Status?

On the Manage Orders page under the Pending tab, an order with an On hold status indicates that the buyer can cancel the order without the Seller's approval and the Seller cannot fulfill the order. This is applicable to both TikTok Shipping and Seller Shipping orders.
The On hold status will last one hour once the buyer pays for the order. After one hour, the order status will change from On hold to Awaiting Shipment in the To ship tab – at which point the Seller will be able to create labels or add tracking info for the order.

Why is an order On hold?

TikTok Shop has a one-hour free cancellation window during which buyers are able to cancel their orders without notifying the Seller. Previously, Sellers could fulfill these orders during this window, which potentially could lead to them being processed in the warehouse and still be shipped to buyers that TikTok Shop has already refunded.
The On hold status removes the risk of orders being processed that buyers could cancel within one hour of the order being created.

What should I do with an On hold status order?

Don't ship an order while it is in On hold status, even if the buyer contacts you directly.
Please note for Seller shipping orders in Pending status:

• You will not be able to add tracking information or create a label for an order until the status changes from On hold to Awaiting shipment.
• When you download the order reports, address information of orders still in Pending status will be masked.

An order is in "On hold" status. Can I cancel it?

Yes, the Seller can only cancel or add notes for an order when it's in pending status.

What is the relationship between the On hold status and the Cancellation auto-approval set by the seller?

If you're using Seller Shipping (formerly Ship by Seller), you'll need to approve a buyer's order cancellation or upload tracking info within 24 hours of receiving the cancellation request (not applicable to TikTok shipping).
On hold - After the buyer finishes payment, the order will be on hold for one hour. During this period, the Seller cannot fulfill the order, and the buyer can cancel freely without the Seller's approval.
Cancellation Auto-Approval - For buyer-initiated cancellations, TikTok Shop enables Sellers to set an auto-approval window on the Fulfillment settings page, which allows auto-approval of cancellation requests submitted by buyers within 1/3/5 hours after the order status changes to Awaiting shipment (after the one hour of On hold status). Refer to the screenshot below for the available options.
Relationship between Cancellation Auto-Approval and On hold - As stated above, after the On hold status, the order will move to Awaiting Shipment status. If the Seller has also set 1/3/5 hours for the Cancellation auto-approval in the Fulfillment Settings, then in addition to Cancellation auto-approval requests by the buyer during the one hour of On hold status, the buyer-submitted cancellation requests in the Seller’s set period of 1/3/5 hours will also be auto-approved.
The clock for Seller-selected Cancellation auto-approval requests will start after one hour of On hold status, and the order will remain in Awaiting shipment status during that period. Refer to the timeline chart below for order statuses and the cancellation options with/without the Seller's approval.