Introduction to TikTok Shop's expanded product categories

In order to improve the overall product listing experience and make it easier for you to add new listings to TikTok Shop, we've made updates to our product category structure — you can now take advantage of a more detailed four-to-seven level structure so that you can better describe your products.
With expanded product categories, you can easily port your current product categories from existing commerce platforms without having to redefine them to fit our previous three level structure. This will improve the search and browse experience for your customers, but will also save you time and reduce efforts in correcting miscategorizations.
Our expanded product categories offers the following benefits:

• Allows merchants to quickly import product catalogs without having to recategorize your current product categories to fit TikTok Shop's previous three level structure
• Provides more support to merchants in choosing categories for their products, thus reducing merchant time needed for corrective action
• Allows shoppers to more easily search and browse your products

Getting Started Before we get started, we have included a few refresher seller academy articles to help you in choosing the correct category for your products.

• Product Category FAQ
• Product Category Qualification
• TikTok Shop Restricted Products Policy
• Restricted Products with Category Qualification Requirements*

AppealsAdditionally, if you are using apps or integrations to manage your shop operations, visit the relevant Feature Guide.
Note: If your products are assigned to a category listed in Appendix A, you will need to provide documentation as outlined in the "Restricted Products with Category Qualification Requirements " section of the "TikTok Shop Restricted Products Policy".

How to edit your product categories

You can edit your product categories in Desktop, Seller Center App, and API.
Please note that any edits made to an existing listing will need to be reviewed and approved by TikTok Shop. Additionally, if categories are changed, product attributes will clear and need to be re-entered.

Editing your product categories via Desktop

1. Open Seller Center and click Products. Then select Manage Products. Locate the product that requires an update and click Edit.
   
2. Fill in the Product Name and then go to Category. In this section, you can update the product category structure in one of two ways:
   1. Click on your preferred recommendation in the recommended categories section above the Category field or,
   2. Click the dropdown arrow in the Category field to manually fill in the product category structure.
      

Note for manual product category structure selection: If you choose to manually select your product categories, you will need to manually click on each desired sub-category until you have reached the most granular definition for your product.

3. Once the product categories have been selected, continue to fill in all required information in the Add Product section and click Submit for review (or Update) once all required information has been filled out.

Editing your product categories via Seller Center app

1. Open the Seller Center app and navigate to the Product tab. Find the product you would like to edit, and click Edit.
2. In the category section, you can choose one of two options to complete this section:
   1. To generate category recommendations, fill in the Product Name first. Once completed, return to the category field and click View All in the Recommended categories section. Select the radio button of your preferred categories and click the 'X' to exit the window.
      
      
   2. Manually create the product category structure by tapping the recommendation box. Note: If you choose to manually select your product categories, you'll need to manually tap on each desired sub-category until you have reached the most granular definition for your product.
      

Editing your product categories via API

If you are using an API integration or connector app, please visit our feature guide for more information.

How to certify your products

Certification of a product is required if the product type is mentioned in the TikTok Shop Restricted Products Policy. Sellers must pass a product listing approval process before selling restricted products on TikTok Shop. This process requires you to submit documents for each product subject to restricted product requirements. Refer to the policy to know the documentation requirements. Please see Appendix A for the list of products requiring certification.

FAQs

Appendix A: Product Categories Requiring Certification

If your products are assigned to a category listed below, you will need to provide documentation as outlined in the "Restricted Products with Category Qualification Requirements " section of the "TikTok Shop Restricted Products Policy". Please review this policy for the exhaustive list of goods requiring certification.
Table I: Categories Requiring Certification and Subject to Violations