TikTok Shop Updates Customer-Service Requirements: Southeast Asian Sellers Must Improve Response
TikTok Shop has updated customer-service communication requirements across several Southeast Asian sites, and customer-service performance may affect store ratings, repeat purchases, and eligibility for multiple programs.
What are the key facts?
- 1TikTok Shop updated Southeast Asian customer-service requirements on September 24, 2026
- 2The requirements cover Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
- 3Customer-service performance may affect eligibility for multiple programs
- 4Some chats are generally excluded when metrics are calculated
What happened?
On September 24, 2026, TikTok Shop updated its Customer Service Communication Requirements for multiple Southeast Asian sites, covering Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The platform will assess store customer-service quality through metrics including chat performance. Better communication performance can improve customer satisfaction, repeat-purchase rates, and store ratings, and may affect seller eligibility for Campaign, Flash Sale, Affiliate Marketing Tools, Mall, and Star Shop programs. When calculating the relevant metrics, the platform generally excludes chats received during holiday mode, broadcast messages initiated by sellers, issues resolved by auto-replies or FAQs, and chats from blocked customers. For cross-border sellers, customer service is no longer only an after-sales cost; it may also be directly linked to traffic and program eligibility. Sellers operating Southeast Asian sites should review multilingual coverage, first-response times, auto-reply settings, and holiday mode to avoid declining store ratings caused by insufficient human responses.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
TikTok Shop has updated customer-service communication requirements for Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Chat performance may affect store ratings, repeat purchases, and eligibility for Campaign, Flash Sale, Affiliate Marketing Tools, Mall, and Star Shop. Cross-border sellers should include multilingual coverage, first response, auto-replies, and holiday mode in routine operational checks.
What should sellers do now?
- 1This week, check multilingual customer-service coverage, auto-replies, and FAQ content for stores in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam; complete a site-configuration checklist and mark any gaps.AI Customer Service
- 2Create a first-response-time and holiday-mode review process for Southeast Asian stores; distinguish auto-replies, FAQs, broadcasts, and chats from blocked customers, and retain customer-service setting screenshots and an exception list.