Return and refund requests come with a response clock, and the clock is shorter than most sellers expect. Miss it and the decision gets made without you.

It depends on the item price. Sellers have 2 business days to review return and refund requests for items priced at $100 or less, and 4 business days for items priced above $100. Replacement requests are faster still at 1 business day. If you do not respond in time, TikTok Shop can auto-approve the request on your behalf.

Items $100 and under: 2 business days to approve or reject.

Items over $100: 4 business days to take action.

Replacement requests: 1 business day. If you do not act, TikTok Shop may auto-approve the replacement.

Non-returnable items: the same 2 and 4 business day split by price applies.

Business days exclude weekends, so a request that lands on a Friday afternoon is not as urgent as it looks. A request that lands Monday morning is.

Separately, some non-electronic orders at $100 and under are auto-approved by TikTok Shop without seller review at all.

The request proceeds without your input. For replacements specifically, TikTok Shop may auto-approve after 1 business day of no action.

You can still appeal most automatic refunds through the Contact Us page in Seller Center. The one category where appeals are not accepted is automatic refunds that resulted from seller errors in setting or editing your own rules. If you configured a rule that refunded something you did not intend to refund, that is treated as your decision.

Knowing the buyer side explains why requests arrive when they do.

Customers have 30 calendar days from when the package is marked Delivered to raise a refund request, within the return window that applies to the order.

Qualified sellers can adjust their own return window, choosing from 14 days (some categories), 30 days, 45 days, or 90 days. During promotional or holiday periods TikTok Shop can temporarily override a seller-configured window, which is why January volume does not always match the policy you set.

Once the return window closes, customers may still raise a claim under the Money-Back Guarantee for up to 90 calendar days from the date the item was received. This is free coverage applied automatically to eligible items. Excluded categories include pre-owned luxury and collectibles, trading cards, final sale items, worn or used items, and heavy or bulky items.

Once a return is approved, the customer has 30 calendar days to send the product back.

If at least one item in a batch is being returned for a seller-fault reason, the seller pays the return shipping fee.

On replacements, the seller covers both legs: shipping the replacement out and returning the original. One exception is worth knowing. If a customer escalates a replacement into an after-sales dispute and TikTok Shop sides with the customer, TikTok Shop issues a refund instead of having you ship a replacement.

Refunds reverse creator commission. Every after-sales decision made without you is a settlement line you did not review and, where a creator was attributed, a payout that may or may not have reversed cleanly.

The practical habit is to check the after-sales queue on the same daily pass as your sample queue. Both run on short clocks, both default to a decision you did not make, and both are easy to lose during peak season when volume is highest and staffing is thinnest.