That’s the incredible offer TikTok creator Austin Tyler teased to his millions of followers in a video viewed by Insider in late October.
“Just got my new Apple Watch Ultra, but instead of paying $800, you guys know I had to get it from the TikTok Shop for that deal, man,” he said in the video, which has since been taken down.
Tyler linked his post to a $34.88 smartwatch available on TikTok Shop from a merchant called MoonMates, which did not represent the item as Apple-made. Because the video featured a TikTok Shop tag, Tyler was likely eligible for a commission on any watch sales his video generated. He did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Other creators have similarly presented knockoff watches as Apple items. A TikToker who posts under the username @jennyselectionofficial uploaded a video in November touting “the most insane flash sale” for a separate “viral TikTok Apple Watch” available from a different seller for $8.55. Apple did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
As TikTok makes its splashy entrance into e-commerce, one of its key advantages over incumbents like Amazon is its existing network of influencers who can help sell products on its app. TikTok said in September that it had over 100,000 registered creators sharing products via its Shop affiliate program where it pays out a commission to influencers for sales generated via their videos.
But leaning on creators to sell products comes with two big challenges: they’re not always honest and don’t always understand what they’re selling.
Some creators may misrepresent a product to make it seem better than it is to boost commission earnings. Others may do it unintentionally because they’re not entirely sure whether a steeply discounted TikTok Shop product is authentic.
If false video reviews proliferate across TikTok Shop, it could pose an existential risk for the nascent e-commerce platform.
“If consumers have bad experiences by buying these products that turn out to be counterfeits or low quality, they’re going to lose faith in influencer recommendations and stop making purchases through that system,” said Brett Hollenbeck, an associate professor of marketing at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, who studies online marketplaces and cowrote an October 2022 paper titled “The Market for Fake Reviews.”
“If TikTok loses control over this and there’s a lot of bad actors, then it’s going to in the long run hurt their ability to have a successful e-commerce operation,” Hollenbeck said.
A TikTok spokesperson said that misrepresentation of products is a clear violation of TikTok Shop policies. Its policy against misleading content prohibits creators from posting a video promoting or advertising a specific product that differs from the actual product, including “false claims that a product is affiliated with other products.”
TikTok said it uses a combination of technology and manual moderation to enforce its policies, including monitoring negative reviews and complaint rates. They said the company also requires sellers to ensure their product listings are accurate and don’t mislead customers.
But for TikTok, effectively policing an army of 100,000 sellers and over 200,000 merchants is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. The company has struggled to keep prohibited products and knockoffs out of its marketplace, which can confuse influencers and users.
And, TikTok Shop’s affiliate program, which pays out on future sales, incentivizes creators to push items, regardless of quality, to make money.
Some TikTok influencers aren’t sure what’s real or fake
While some creators appear to deliberately muddy the waters on the authenticity of a product, others are genuinely confused about whether the goods they’re selling are authentic.
As TikTok has faced an onslaught of counterfeit products in categories like sportswear and skincare, it’s not surprising that creators and users have become confused about what’s real or fake.
TikTok user Vincent Patritto went viral in September after promoting a pair of Crocs that were available on TikTok Shop. In his video, he modeled a pair of shoes he had purchased on Amazon but found were for sale on TikTok. He wasn’t entirely sure whether the TikTok Shop listing was authentic.
“Obviously TikTok has to answer to some of this if they’ve got counterfeiters selling on their site or their app, but as far as I can tell from the ads and the options, they appear to be the legitimate thing,” he told Insider a few days after his video took off. “Until people who have made their order start receiving the products and find out if they’re counterfeit or not, that’s kind of where it stands.”
After spending a few weeks worrying that he had directed his followers to a counterfeit product, he later shared a screenshot with Insider of a user comment that indicated the Crocs were authentic.
Since then, the Crocs listing Patritto posted appears to have been removed from TikTok Shop, though a slew of low-cost Crocs remain for sale on the app via other sellers at prices like $13.33, $18.82, and $19.27. Crocs charges around $50 for its classic clog on its website. The company did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
When Insider asked one TikTok Shop seller, called New School Prime, about the authenticity of their $28.79 “Crocs Classic Clog” which had been purchased around 2,600 times, the merchant said all of its products were “brand new and authentic.” Less than a week later, the merchant’s shop closed without explanation.
TikTok Shop buyers have been similarly puzzled by the arrival of a series of low-cost belt bags that appear to be a version of the popular $48 Lululemon 1L “Everywhere Belt Bag.” Some influencers promoting the bags have centered their videos around whether the item is “legit” or not. The TikTok Shop listings for many of the items don’t explicitly claim to be from Lululemon, with some merchants describing the bag as a “Lululimonn,” “Lululemoon,” or “Lololemons” accessory.
A spokesperson for Lululemon Athletica did not respond to a request for comment, but several of the belt bags Insider flagged to the company and TikTok’s communications team were removed after Insider sent links to the listings.
Fake influencer videos could be the next big marketplace quality challenge
As large tech platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest as well as a flurry of startups try to push social shopping into the mainstream in the US, policing influencer content could pose a major challenge.
Influencers are poised to become a bigger part of the online shopping experience as traditional e-commerce platforms like Amazon introduce their own TikTok-style video feeds.
Misleading influencer promotions could become as big a headache for marketplaces as fake reviews. Amazon recently co-launched a program alongside brands including Glassdoor, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor to crack down on fake reviews and elevate trustworthy user content.
Unlike some programs like Amazon Vine, where users are given free products in exchange for reviews but aren’t offered a cut of future sales, TikTokers earn revenue based on the number of Shop sales their videos drive. This economic incentive could encourage positive reviews, regardless of product quality.
“The fact that it’s a commission model means that they’re going to have a very strong incentive to say that it’s a high-quality product and really push people hard to buy it,” Hollenbeck, the UCLA professor, said.
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