An order that sits too long stops being your decision. TikTok Shop cancels it, and the cancellation counts against you rather than the buyer.

Orders auto-cancel if you do not add valid tracking within 5 business days of the order entering Awaiting Shipment. Separately, customers can request a refund if an order has not been marked In Transit within 7 business days from Awaiting Collection. Both outcomes are recorded as seller-fault cancellations, which feed your Shop Performance Score.

5 business days from Awaiting Shipment. Add valid tracking within this window or the order auto-cancels.

7 business days from Awaiting Collection. If the order has not been marked In Transit, the customer gets the option to request a refund.

30 days to ship overall. Where you cannot ship within the stated timeframe, you must seek the customer's consent to the delay through a delay notice rather than letting the order sit.

The distinction that catches people out is that tracking has to be valid, not just present. A number that never scans does not protect the order.

Seller-Fault Cancellation Rate (SFCR) is one of TikTok Shop's core fulfillment metrics. It measures how often orders are cancelled for a reason on your side, such as being out of stock or missing the shipping window.

A high SFCR affects shop health, your Shop Performance Score, and settlement speed. That last one is the part sellers underestimate. Settlement tiers are reviewed on the 1st of every month, so a bad fulfillment month can slow how fast you get paid the following month, well after the orders themselves are forgotten.

You can appeal individual order cancellations by contacting Customer Service. If a delayed order is later delivered, you may appeal and can be eligible for compensation under the standard review process.

Sample shipments run on their own clock. Once you approve a free sample request, you have seven days to ship the product from Seller Center, which is separate from the order deadlines above.

Both clocks fail the same way: not through a decision, but through a queue nobody got to. Peak season is when request volume peaks and team capacity is thinnest, which is also when a slow settlement tier is most expensive.

Oldest order in Awaiting Shipment. If anything is past day three, it is at risk, not comfortable.

Tracking that has not scanned. Valid means moving, not merely uploaded.

Your SFCR trend rather than the single number. A rising rate is a warning about next month's settlement speed.

Anything you intend to appeal. Appeals are time-bound like everything else here, and the evidence gets harder to assemble the longer you wait.