Do you need tens of thousands of followers to sell on TikTok Shop? The answer that gave many moms the courage to start

You have wanted to try selling on TikTok for ages, but every time you look at your profile you think the same thing: “Only a hundred-odd followers, who’s going to buy from me?” Some people have also heard that you need tens of thousands of followers before you can even open a shop, so the idea gets folded up and put away in a drawer.

There is a lot of confusion about this. Let’s go through what the follower numbers you hear about are actually for, what you really need to open a shop, and how a mom whose only free time is when the baby naps can start without wearing herself out.

How many followers do you need to open a TikTok Shop?

Quick Answer: If you are selling your own products, there is no minimum. TikTok Shop Thailand’s seller registration guide does not set a follower count at all.

For individual sellers, the guide requires only this:

• Thai citizen with a Thai ID card
• Aged 20 or over
• A personal bank account in the same name as on your ID card
• Not currently under investigation by a government agency, and not running a chain-letter or pyramid-type business

Put simply, even if you only signed up for TikTok yesterday, you can open a shop. Whether you sell anything depends on your videos and your products, not on the number on your profile on day one.

So where does the 1,000-follower number come from?

Quick Answer: It comes from the requirements for affiliate creators, people who sell other brands’ products for commission. It is not a requirement for people opening a shop to sell their own products.

TikTok Shop has two roles that people often mix up:

	Opening your own shop (Seller)	Affiliate Creator
What you sell	Your own products	Other shops’ products, earning commission on sales
Minimum followers	None set in the guide	At least 1,000
Age	20 or over (individuals)	18 or over
Do you need stock?	Yes, you hold, pack and ship it yourself	No, the shop ships it
Documents	Thai ID card, bank account book, address	Identity verification with a Thai ID card or passport

If you don’t have 1,000 followers yet but want to start selling now, the most direct route is to open a shop selling your own products first. The videos you make along the way will build your followers too. When you want to start recommending other brands’ products, you can apply for Affiliate later.

What do you need to prepare to register a shop?

Quick Answer: Your Thai ID card, the first page of a bank account book in your name, a working phone number and email, and an address for returns. Preparing takes less than an hour.

In Seller Center, work through these steps:

1. Sign up with your TikTok account, email or phone number, then choose Thailand
2. Choose your seller type: individual or company
3. Upload a photo of the front of your ID card, in clear color, with every character readable
4. Name your shop (no more than 40 characters, and you can’t use someone else’s brand name without permission)
5. Fill in your warehouse address, contact address and returns address
6. Link a bank account in the same name as your ID card
7. Wait for review, then connect your TikTok account to the shop so you can pin the product basket in your videos

Applications that get stuck usually come down to two things: an unclear ID card photo, and a bank account name that doesn’t match the name on the card. Check these two before you hit submit, so you don’t have to fix things later.

What should moms selling on TikTok watch out for in particular?

Quick Answer: Food products and skin products need the right permits or notifications before you sell them, and don’t exaggerate what a product does, because both the platform and Thai law keep an eye on this.

• Food, snacks and supplements need a registration number or permit depending on the product type. Even if you make it yourself at home to sell, you still need to look into this
• Cosmetics, soap and creams must be notified with the Thai FDA (อย.) before you put them on sale
• Baby products: don’t claim “100% safe” or “doctor recommended” without evidence
• Filming with your child: think first about how much you want your child’s face, name or school to appear in public media. Many families choose to film only mom’s hands and the product, and it sells just as well

If you’re still unsure what your products need, read Common myths before moms start selling online, which has a section on product permits.

Once you’re making sales, do you need to register or pay tax?

Quick Answer: Income from sales always has to be declared for personal income tax, whichever platform you sell on. Whether you need commercial registration depends on how you sell.

Many people think that if they only sell a little on TikTok, nobody will know. But the truth is that the Revenue Department has a tax guide specifically for online sellers, and the big platforms also have to send seller income data to the Revenue Department. The good news is that many people file and end up paying no tax at all, because after deducting expenses and allowances they fall below the threshold.

Read the details in Do online sellers have to pay tax? and Do online sellers need commercial registration?

TikTok Shop fees are deducted from every order you sell, and they change from time to time. So before you set your prices, check the latest rates in Seller Center and work out your profit after fees and actual shipping costs, not just from the selling price.

TikTok Shop or Shopee: where should a new seller mom start?

Quick Answer: If you’re comfortable talking on camera or making short videos, TikTok Shop can get your products in front of people who don’t know you yet, fast. If you don’t want to be on camera at all, Shopee, where people are already searching for things to buy, may be less tiring.

The two differ in how customers find you. On TikTok, customers find you through videos that show up in their feed, so people can see you even if you don’t have many followers. On Shopee, customers usually type in what they want, so product photos, product names and reviews matter more than videos.

Many moms start on one platform first, wait until packing and shipping is running smoothly, then open on the other. If you want to see the steps on the Shopee side, go to Opening a Shopee shop for beginners

When your only free time is baby’s nap, how do you start without burning out?

Quick Answer: Sell one product or just a few at first. Make short videos that answer customer questions, 3 to 4 a week, film them all at once while your baby sleeps, then post them gradually.

A plan moms with little ones can genuinely manage:

• Choose products that are easy to pack: not breakable, not perishable, no need to make each order fresh. It takes a lot of the load off at the start
• Question-answer videos, such as “What age is this suitable for?” or “How is it different from the one sold in department stores?” Videos like these need no dancing and no full makeup
• Film several videos at once: on a day your baby has a long nap, quickly film 4 to 6 videos, then schedule them to post across the week
• Go live when you’re ready: live selling is good for closing sales, but you don’t need to start with it if the house isn’t quiet enough yet or your baby still wakes often
• Watch just one number at first: which videos get the most basket clicks, then make more like those

Having few followers is no reason to wait. A little shop that opens today will always learn faster than the dream shop that hasn’t opened yet. Start slowly, alongside your little one.