Welcome to Rankster 👊
The weekly TikTok Shop newsletter that brings FOMO to Amazon sellers
Readability: Grade 3 (I still think the “birds & bees” talk is about birds and bees)
Reading Time: 4 min
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DEEP DIVE
You're doing TikTok Shop wrong 🤬
Everyone's asking me the same question:
"How much time and money does TikTok Shop need?"
Wrong question.
The real question is:
How much time and money are you willing to waste doing it the wrong way?"
Here's the thing – everyone thinks they know how to crack TikTok Shop. They see some 19-year-old making $100K a month and think: "How hard can it be?"
Spoiler alert: Pretty damn hard.
Most people treat it like throwing spaghetti at the wall. Post some videos, pray for virality, wonder why their bank account is bleeding.
But there's actually a system. A boring, methodical, "this-actually-works" system.
The 5 Pillars That Actually Matter
After working with 150+ clients (and watching way too many people fail), we figured out there are exactly 5 things that move the needle. Everything else? Small boy stuff.
Pillar 1: Affiliates (aka your new best friends) This is where most of your budget goes. Think of affiliates like your sales team, except they only get paid when they actually sell your stuff.
Pillar 2: Ads (your cheat code) TikTok's GMV ads are basically AI-powered money printing machines. When you find content that converts, you dump gas on that fire.
Pillar 3: Promotions/Campaigns (the free traffic hack) TikTok literally hands you free exposure through flash sales and campaigns. Most people ignore this. Don't be most people.
Pillar 4: The HERO Programme (TikTok's teacher's pet program) Get TikTok to personally boost your best product. It's like having the platform itself become your marketing team.
Pillar 5: CRM (slide into those DMs) Like Amazon emails, but for TikTok. Hit up people who are interested but haven't bought yet. Sometimes people just need a gentle nudge.
The Money Reality Check
Let's talk numbers because math doesn't lie (unlike that guru who promised you'd be a millionaire in 30 days).
Time for some “Napkin Maths”: Say your product costs $20. Your cost of goods is $8. You pocket $12 per sale.
But wait – you're paying affiliates 25% commission. There goes $5.
Now you're down to $7 profit per sale.
"That doesn't sound like much..."
It's not. Until you realize affiliates are creating dozens of videos about your brand, building awareness, giving you ad creative, and basically becoming your unpaid marketing team.
The sample game is expensive. You'll be sending out dozens to hundreds of free products. But here's the thing – every sample is a lottery ticket. One viral video pays for 100 samples.
The Time Question Everyone Asks
"Paul, how much time does this actually take?"
Plot twist: Way less than you think.
Once you know the system, most of this runs on autopilot:
Affiliates: Use a tool like EUKA. Contact thousands per week, follow up every few days. Done.
Ads: TikTok's AI does the heavy lifting. Set it and (mostly) forget it.
HERO Programme: Check enrollment once a week. Takes 5 minutes.
Promotions: Re-enroll in FlashDeals every 3 days and check for other promotions. Set a reminder.
CRM: Set it up once, check responses weekly.
The secret sauce? Systems, not hustle.
Why Most People Fail
They try to wing it. They think TikTok Shop is like posting dance videos.
It's not.
It's a business. With processes. And boring spreadsheets. And follow-up sequences.
The brands making $100K+ per month? They treat it like Amazon PPC, not social media.
What's Next?
I could sell you a $5,000 course right now. Tell you it contains "industry secrets" and "insider knowledge."
But honestly? The system isn't secret. It's just tedious to build from scratch.
So we built the tools instead:
TikTok Shop keyword research
TikTok Shop Listing Optimizer
TikTok Shop Ad management platform
Affiliate connector (coming soon…. currently ‘warming’ the affiliates)
Plus a course that shows you exactly how to use everything…. Absolutely everything our agency covers.
We're releasing it end of October.
Low launch price because we're not trying to get rich off courses….. but we want you to get rich from TikTok Shop.
If you want to know when it drops, just vote below:
Run TikTok Shop like an agency — with AI tools, SOPs, and zero fluff
Because here's the truth: Success on TikTok Shop requires a system.
This is that system 👊
That's it for this week
Thanks for reading.
- Paul 👊
PS…. Q4 is upon us….. What are you doing differently this year? Reply or message me if you want to chat