U.S. Business Representative · TikTok Shop U.S. · Stage 1 of 5
Your U.S. representative, approved on the first attempt.
You choose the person. We screen them, paper them, and run verification with them before anyone logs in.
No one in mind? You have thirteen ways to fill the role, from a relative to a placement service, and each has a price. Your first call puts them in order for your brand. Looking for a $300 person who’s always available and nobody else is renting? That one doesn’t exist, and the next section shows why.
For foreign-owned brands doing seven to nine figures a year, adding TikTok Shop U.S. as a channel.
One upload. One login. One first attempt. All of it happens after this work.
▶ Watch first
Under two minutes with Scott Letourneau on the role, the two levels, and what gets settled before anyone’s ID is uploaded.
7,000+ founders
Served since 1997
60+ countries
Where our clients are based
Registered TikTok Shop Partner
For shop registration. See our approval
Why you haven’t found it yet
The representative most owners are searching for isn’t on the chart.
You’ve searched. You’ve asked AI. You’ve gotten quotes. What most owners are looking for is a one-time fee, around $300 to $1,000, for a genuine U.S. person who is always available, has been checked out, and isn’t renting their ID to anyone else.
That person doesn’t exist. Here is what does, by what it costs you and what it risks. The cheap corner and the risky corner are the same corner.
The five positions, with the price attached
5
A rented ID on multiple shops.
Cheapest. A few hundred dollars, sometimes one-time. Accounts link. The person stays for the vendor’s reasons, not yours.
4
The same person, as an unpaid favor.
Free. The yes arrives the same day. Their 1099 and the tax exposure arrive later, and most high earners pull out once they see it. The real obligation lands at re-verification.
3
A screened outsider.
$300 to $1,000 a month to the person, or around $12,000 a year plus a share of sales through a placement service, in the quotes we’ve received. Can work. The checks decide it.
2
Someone in your world, paid, in writing.
$300 to $1,000 a month to them (or more). The role explained before the yes. A number that holds. Where most brands land.
1
Your own executive or officer.
A salary line inside your U.S. company. Real stake in the outcome. Answers in year two.
Our fee sits beside positions 1 through 3. $497 to screen, paper, and get your person approved on the first attempt. $1,497 if you have names and want our team to run the interviews. If you’re at 4 or 5, one call tells you whether that person survives the checks before their ID goes anywhere.
The chart is half the answer. The other half is the 7-Question Screen, the questions to ask before anyone says yes. Get it free with the full Risk Dial.
What you’re buying
The questions are free. The answers and support are the service.
Select
$1,497
You have names. Our team interviews them and tells you who clears.
- Intake call, then up to three candidate interviews led by our team
- Each candidate scored in writing, with a named recommendation
- Agreements prepared for the one who clears, verification run with them
- If nobody clears, you get that in writing, with the next routes, and your credit stands
Verified U.S. Representative
$497
You have someone. We get them approved.
- Overview call, then the candidate call with your person on it
- The seven checks, the Briefing written to them, the number set before you ask
- The agreements, the document check, verification run with them
- Credits in full toward the Verified Path
Nobody in mind yet? Start at $497. The overview call puts the thirteen routes in order for your brand, including two through partners we’ve vetted, and the candidate call waits until you have a name. Calls stay available for 12 months.
Where this sits
This is stage 1 of 5. Your agency runs 4 and 5.
If an agency brought you here, they’ll register the shop, bind it, and run the first 90 days. Those are stages 4 and 5, and they sit on top of three decisions the agency doesn’t make: who your representative is, what your U.S. tax position is, and whether your U.S. company can pass TikTok’s W-9 check. Those three are yours; they come first, and this page comes first.
The representative comes first because it’s the one decision that’s hard to undo. The company can be fixed. The tax position can be elected. The person on the registration is the person you keep.
The question everyone asks second
Can I change the person later? Yes. You won’t like the road.
A route exists. It runs through transferring the shop to a new verified business, with sales paused, funds frozen, and brand and category approvals reset, once a quarter at most. The shop survives. Your momentum doesn’t.
The only painless change is one TikTok hasn’t offered yet: a rule change for foreign-owned brands. That could come in six months or six years. Choose the person as if it never comes.
One more thing nobody mentions
Your representative is a verification role. Keep it one.
Kept to verification and ministerial tasks, the role doesn’t change your U.S. tax position. Hand that same person pricing, customer decisions, or supplier calls, and you’ve given TikTok a representative and the IRS a fact about where your business is run. The agreements draw that line in writing, before anyone signs.
Your tax position is stage 2. The CEO Blueprint maps it on both sides of the border before your first U.S. sale.
Who we work with, and who should wait
We work with brands doing seven to nine figures a year, expanding to TikTok Shop U.S.
If you’re new to e-commerce and planning to launch a brand in the U.S., TikTok Shop U.S. is the wrong first channel. We recommend you wait. Start on Amazon, or on Shopify from your home country, and build toward $1 million a year first. TikTok Shop U.S. asks a foreign brand for a U.S. company that meets the W-9 requirement, a U.S. representative paid for the life of the shop, a verification process that rejects valid documents, and a first 90 days with creators and affiliates that lose money before it makes any. Those costs arrive before your first sale, and they are the same whether the product sells or not.
If TikTok Shop is open in your country, start there. When you’re approaching $1 million a year, come back. The company and the representative will still be here, and you’ll be able to carry both.
The reason you’re doing this
A thousand creators selling your product, paid only when they sell.
A live that clears a month of inventory in an hour. Affiliates you’ve never met posting your product in a country you’ve never shipped to. That’s why TikTok Shop U.S. is worth the trouble, and it’s real. Brands are doing it right now.
It’s also the moment TikTok looks hardest at who is behind the shop. The night your first live sells out is the night the account gets reviewed. If the person on the registration doesn’t hold up, the shop goes dark, and the creators who built that night are the first to leave.
Your representative is the permit. Nobody skips the permit, because you can’t pour without it, and if it’s wrong, you don’t get to rebuild on the same lot. The work below is the permit, done right the first time.
What the $497 settles
Settled before anyone’s ID touches Seller Center.
Eleven guides, one working file, two calls with our team. These are the decisions inside it. We make each one with you, with agreements signed and documents checked before anything is uploaded. The page numbers are where your copy answers them.
Three things you can’t take back: the first ask, the first upload, the first login. Each happens after this work, never before.
If you already have someone in mind
The household check.
A spouse or household member of another seller fails before the conversation starts, no matter how clean their own record is. Master Guide, page 4.
Proof of address in their own name alone.
Family says yes fastest and fails this most often, because every bill is in a parent’s or spouse’s name. Routing Guide, page 16.
The tax question.
“Will this affect my taxes?” loses more candidates than the time commitment does. The answer, and the two paths when the answer is a problem, are scripted before you ask. Master Guide, pages 7 and 9.
The number.
Price the standing identity position, not four hours a month, or your person stops answering around month three. Fair-Pay Calculator, page 2.
Two W-9s, and one never goes to TikTok.
Get this backward and the first payment stalls. Master Guide, page 11.
Who signs in for what, from day one.
Split every row of the account between your representative and you. Most trouble starts with the owner signing in “just to look.” Role Map, page 2.
If you’re comparing services that supply the person
Exit position.
The one criterion that decides whether you own the shop or rent it. Every route is scored on it. Routing Guide, page 4.
The agency that also holds the seat.
End the agency agreement and the seat does not come with you. The representative is papered separately, before either starts. Routing Guide, page 8.
Three answers in writing before you sign with any provider.
You get the three questions on your overview call. If a provider can’t answer them in writing, they’ve answered. Routing Guide, page 13.
The structure test.
A foreign-owned single-member LLC can be perfectly legal and still fail TikTok’s tax certification, no matter who the representative is. Master Guide, page 6.
Where their ID has been.
A representative who appears on other shops brings that history with them. One shop, yours. Master Guide, page 3.
Quotes we’ve received for a supplied representative start around $12,000 a year, plus a share of sales. Select, $1,497, puts up to three people you already know through the same checks, interviewed by our team and scored in writing. If none clears, you know that for $1,497, and the credit stands.
From the founder
Do this before you ask anyone. Here’s why.
The order matters more than the person. Most of the accounts I’ve seen lost were lost before the representative did anything wrong: an ask made to the wrong person, an ID uploaded in the wrong format, a login created from the wrong place. Each one leaves a record you can’t erase.
Who I asked. I took the hard questions to partners and vendors at the Prosper Show and Amazon Accelerate. To mastermind groups. To more than a dozen TikTok Shop agencies. I pressed hardest on what happens when a representative leaves. And after we were approved as a TikTok Shop Partner for shop registration, I put those questions directly to the head of TikTok Shop’s U.S. partnerships.
What came out of it. Thirteen routes to a U.S. Business Representative, each scored out of 25 on trust, durability, responsiveness, document integrity, and exit position. Most people never measure the last one. It decides whether you own your shop or rent it. Behind the scenes sits every way a valid person and valid documents can still fail on our calls, and the order that keeps a qualified representative from being rejected.
What it means for you. You make the first ask once, to the right person, with the role and the number ready. If you’re weighing a service instead, you walk in with the three questions they have to answer in writing. Either way, nothing touches TikTok until you settle the decisions on this page.
What each level buys. The $497 includes the research, the agreements, and two calls with our team, one of them with your person on it. Select, $1,497, adds our team’s time: we lead up to three candidate interviews, score each in writing, and tell you who clears. The final choice stays with you.
Scott Letourneau
CEO, Nevada Corporate Planners and Verified Expansion
The method
Thirteen routes. Five criteria. One standard for every candidate.
Score each route out of 25 on trust, durability, responsiveness, document integrity, and exit position. The same five score each candidate.
| Route | Score | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate family in the U.S. | 21 | Documents, not willingness. |
| Long-term friends | 17 | Availability over time. Goodwill alone does not hold. |
| A commercial partner with a stake in your volume | 16 | Their reason to stay grows as your brand grows. |
| A TikTok Shop agency that holds the seat | 10 | Exit position, 1 of 5. Leave the agency, and their person is still on your shop. |
The Routing Guide covers nine more routes, the sources we rule out, and what to do when the search comes up empty.
The checks, on paper, before anyone is asked
- Prior shop history.
- The ID they hold.
- Whose name is on their proof of address. The most frequent failure in our files.
- Their own account on the platform.
- Reachable in twelve months?
- Comfortable with a paid, written arrangement?
- Their state of residence.
Behind the checks are the ways valid documents have failed TikTok’s reader on our calls. Your candidate call works through the ones that apply to your person.
A recent example
What the review catches before TikTok sees it.
A recent client situation, with identifying details removed.
Starting situation. A seven-figure brand outside the U.S., with a professional contact willing to take the role. Nothing visibly in the way.
What we caught. Three documents, before upload: an ID photo in a format TikTok’s reader rejects, a joint bank statement, and a welcome letter used as proof of address. Each has cost other brands a resubmission or an account.
Result. All three replaced. The application went in once. Approved, October 2026.
Outside our control. The approval itself. TikTok Shop makes every verification decision.
At Select, we document this review. Each candidate gets a written score on the five criteria and the checks, with concerns and a recommendation.
Two levels
You make the ask, or our team does.
Same standard either way. The difference is who holds the conversation with your candidate. You always make the final choice.
Verified U.S. Representative
You make the ask. We prepare you for it and join the call that counts.
- Two 30-minute calls: the overview call, then the candidate call with your person on it.
- The Routing Guide: thirteen routes, each scored out of 25.
- The Master Guide, Representative Briefing, Onboarding Packet, and Role Map.
- The Fair-Pay Calculator, the Scripts, the Scorecard, and the Disqualifier List.
- Four fillable agreements*, each with its instruction sheet.
Counts in full toward the Verified Path ($2,497) and $250 toward Verified Ready ($997) within 90 days. Calls available for 12 months.
Verified U.S. Representative Select
Our team makes the ask. You give us the names, and we hand you a written assessment.
- Two 30-minute calls with you: an intake call, then a results call.
- Everything in the Verified U.S. Representative toolkit.
- Up to three candidate interviews, run by our team.
- Each candidate scored out of 25, in writing, with a named recommendation.
- Template agreements prepared for the candidate who clears. If nobody clears, you get that in writing, with the next routes to explore, and your credit stands.
Counts $497 toward the Verified Path ($2,497) and $250 toward Verified Ready ($997) within 90 days. Calls available for 12 months.
Who does what
| $497 | Select, $1,497 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sources the names | You | You |
| Explains the role and terms to the candidate | You, with our language | Our team |
| Leads the conversations | You. We join one review call | Our team, up to three interviews |
| Scores each candidate | You, with our Scorecard | Our team, in writing |
| Prepares the agreements | You, from our templates | Our team |
| Makes the final choice | You | You |
Paying your representative
Yes, pay your person. The number is where owners go wrong.
Plan on $300 to $1,000 a month. The right number depends on the person and what you’re asking.
The hours are small. The exposure is not. Price the hours, and you land near fifty dollars a month, and then wonder why the phone stopped ringing back.
The Fair-Pay Calculator starts from your relationship to the person, applies four adjustments, and gives you one flat monthly figure. Role first, number second.
The comparison. Services that supply the person charge a monthly fee, and in the quotes we’ve received, a share of your sales: about 2.5% of GMV in year one, stepping down after. At $1 million in sales, that’s $25,000 before the monthly fee. A representative you choose, at $300 to $1,000 a month, is $3,600 to $12,000 a year, and answers to you.
The questions behind every hesitation
Tax, liability, and privacy.
Your person will ask about all three, out loud or by going quiet. The Representative Briefing answers fourteen questions in plain English, written to them. The short version:
Tax
Paid, your person is an independent contractor, and the income is theirs to report. Unpaid, nothing to report. The Onboarding Packet covers your side: the form to collect first, what you report, and the five states that need an attorney’s review.
Liability
In the standard arrangement, you are not an owner, officer, or manager, in writing. If your representative is an officer or owner of your U.S. company, the agreements change, and your candidate call covers it. The company carries its own debts, and the Hold Harmless Addendum allocates claims from the company’s actions to the company. The agreements allocate liability; they don’t make it impossible, and they don’t cover misconduct.
Privacy
It runs both ways. Your person gives TikTok their ID and identity details, and gives your company a W-9 so you can pay them. The agreements cover how you hold it and when you delete it. You’re also giving your person a seat on an account that shows your sales. The Role Map sets what they can see, and the access rules that keep the account yours.
Why the preparation includes live calls
Six times since April, TikTok has changed what this step requires.
Each change landed on brands mid-application. Your calls are where your person gets what is true that month.
After payment
What arrives, and when.
01
The day you order. Your welcome email with the Briefing, Routing Guide, Master Guide, Role Map, Onboarding Packet, and booking page.
02
The agreements. We send them in a separate email within 1-3 business days of your signed waiver form.
03
Your calls. At $497, book the overview call once you’ve read the Briefing, then the candidate call once you have someone in mind. At Select, book the intake call first; schedule interviews and the results call as the assessment moves.
04
If a candidate declines, misses a call, or fails the screen. That step is complete, and you move to the next name. A missed call is rescheduled once at no cost; after that, a further candidate call is a Private Working Session, $297. At Select, unused interviews stay available for 12 months.
05
Your representative’s pay. Separate from our fee. Plan on $300 to $1,000 a month. The Fair-Pay Calculator sets your figure.
06
Scope. The calls cover the representative and the role. Account setup comes next, and your purchase counts toward it on the terms above.
07
Terms. Review our Terms of Service before purchasing. For questions about cancellation or missed appointments, contact support@launchwithconfidence.com before you order.
Is this the right service for your brand?
It fits if you can say yes to four things.
- You’ll bring candidate names from your own world, or the offers you’re weighing. We’ll show you where to look and prepare you for every conversation.
- You can budget for our fee and $300 to $1,000 a month for your representative.
- You’ll read the Briefing, run the checks, and bring your person to the candidate call.
- You’re planning a sustained U.S. expansion. The arrangement runs for the life of the account.
Questions
Before you buy.
Q
Do you provide a U.S. representative?
You choose the person. We get them approved: the seven checks, the agreements, the document review, and verification happen on the call. If you have nobody yet, your overview call puts the thirteen routes in order for your brand, with what each one costs, and you leave with names to work. The questions are free. The answers are the service.
Q
I’ve already talked to a service that supplies the person. Why would I need this?
Because the decisions on this page get settled before you sign anything, with anyone. We score their offer on the same five criteria as every other route, including exit position, and show you what a person you already know would cost against it. The chart at the top is that comparison.
Q
What if I don’t know anyone in the U.S.?
The search is mapped: thirteen places a representative comes from, each scored, including in-laws, long-term friends, customers, suppliers, and advisors. Your first call narrows them to those open to you and covers what to do if the first ask comes up empty.
Q
How is Select different from the $497?
At $497, you lead the candidate conversations, and we join one review call. Select replaces that with an intake call, up to three interviews run by our team, written assessments, a recommendation, and a results call. Both levels include the full toolkit. A further candidate call at either level is a Private Working Session, $297.
Q
Could my representative take over my company?
The agreements define what the role covers and what it doesn’t. Ownership is not part of it.
Q
What if my representative leaves?
The route TikTok publishes runs through transferring the shop to a new verified business, pausing sales, and resetting approvals. See the section above. We settle where you stand before you choose anyone, and the exit terms go into the agreement.
Q
Does either level register my shop?
Not yet. Don’t create a login before that stage. Account setup is Verified Ready ($997) or the Verified Path ($2,497), and your purchase counts toward either under the terms above.
Q
What does Registered TikTok Shop Partner mean?
TikTok Shop has approved us as a partner for shop registration in the U.S. market. It isn’t an endorsement, and it doesn’t change any approval decision.
Your representative, approved on the first attempt.
Before the first ask, the first upload, and the first login. You choose the person. We settle everything above before their ID goes anywhere.
Not sure which level? Book a free discovery call.
P.S. Brands stall most often on a conversation, with someone in mind and no ask made for weeks. Your overview call starts there.
*Template agreements. We recommend an attorney review them before anyone signs. Ask on your call, and we will introduce you to an attorney.
This page is educational and is not legal or tax advice. TikTok Shop makes every approval decision. Scott Letourneau holds the MSCTA® credential. We work with tax attorneys and CPAs for legal and tax execution. Registered TikTok Shop Partner status covers shop registration and is not an endorsement by TikTok. Figures come from our own client records and quotes we have received. Questions: support@launchwithconfidence.com
VERIFIED EXPANSION/by NCP | Since 1997
