FBT or your own labels? Price both before TikTok decides for you
TikTok is pushing Fulfilled by TikTok hard — faster delivery promises, free shipping to buyers by default, and search treatment that rewards it. What it does not publish is a readable rate card: the official FBT table ships as images, and the transcriptions circulating among sellers disagree with each other by dollars. This calculator therefore does the honest thing: it carries clearly-labelled placeholder rates from the January 2026 card for orientation, lets you paste your own quoted rate for a real answer, and puts FBT on one column against your own labels, packaging and handling time on the other — with referral, affiliate and refund costs held equal so the fulfilment channel is the only difference.
Refunds differ quietly between the channels: self-shipped returns burn the label you paid; FBT returns do not hand the fulfillment fee back either, but there is no label loss — the calculator models both. FBT storage is free for the first 60 days, which makes FBT a launch tool and self-ship a slow-stock tool more often than sellers expect.
Worked example
At the defaults — a $30 product in the 8–12 oz FBT bracket against a $5.60 self-ship label — FBT nets about $11.39 an order against self-shipping's $8.56. Most of that gap is the label: sellers with discounted carrier accounts should paste their real label cost and watch the answer tighten or flip.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the product's economics once; both channels share them.
- Pick the FBT bracket nearest your parcel — or paste your quoted FBT rate, which overrides it.
- Enter your true label cost and time yourself packing for a week before trusting the handling line.
- Mind the storage-days line: past 60 days, FBT stock starts paying rent; slow movers belong at home.