TikTok reinforces stance in U.S. Market by tightening rules on Chinese sellers

TikTok is tightening the screws over Chinese sellers, who want to sell their products on TikTok shop in a bid to continue their operations in the United States. With a potential ban on the social media platform's operations looming, TikTok seems to have learnt its lesson leading to several Chinese vendors complaining of its latest stringent rules. 

According to reports, the Chinese-owned platform now wants to ensure that U.S.-registered sellers have 51% ownership by a States passport holder and additionally be chaired by the same. This move is the root problem for Chinese vendors, who use the TikTok shop platform as an alternative to other popular e-commerce platforms including Amazon. 

Chinese Sellers Complain of Getting Less Prominence on TikTok Shop platform in comparison to their US counterparts

With this new rule change, the previously registered Chinese sellers must register themselves again. This would, however, snatch away their domestic status, as they would be recognised as overseas sellers, which in turn would lead to them getting less preference on the platform as opposed to the US-registered sellers. 

As many as 3000 Chinese sellers use the TikTok shop platform to sell their products, and they have made their complaints heard. However, the social media giants have claimed that the company has not made any recent changes in their rules and regulations for international sellers even though they face pressure from the United States government on the data privacy part.

A spokesperson from the ByteDance-owned company claimed that they have ensured maintaining a transparent environment since the shop was first introduced in the States in 2023. "TikTok maintains robust policies to protect customers and promote a trustworthy shopping environment, and we continually strengthen how we enforce our rules," the spokesperson said, as reported by Reuters. 

In response to the stringent new rules laid down by TikTok, Chinese sellers feel heavily plagued and are mulling ways to face the situation. Some have already started trying out newer avenues for selling their products, while some are trying to figure out how much time and resources to assign to the platform. 

The Chinese sellers will now need to boost their sales through e-commerce giants Amazon where sellers have already claimed to receive subsidies over delivery charges. TikTok however, still faces a massive trial by fire with its future hanging in the balance after the United States House of Representatives passed a bill to divest its Chinese shares. 

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