If you run affiliate or creator marketing on TikTok Shop Malaysia, you already know the cost nobody puts in a slide: the free samples that go out and never come back as content. A creator requests your product, you approve it, you pay to ship it, and then nothing. No video. Or a video to 200 people that sells zero units.
What TikTok launched
Two things landed in the sample-request manager recently, and together they change how brands should screen creators.
The first is Sample Score. It’s a score inside the sample-request flow that predicts whether a given sample request is likely to turn into good content and actual sales. Instead of judging a request by follower count and a gut feeling, you get a signal on whether this creator tends to deliver. It sits alongside the Star Creator badge, which flags reliable creators, and your own Product Score, the score creators use to decide whether your product is worth promoting in the first place.
The second is less obvious but just as useful: TikTok consolidated all the free-sample controls into one Sample Settings page. You can now set how much free sample stock you’ll give per product, exclude specific SKUs, set eligibility criteria for who can even request, and switch on auto-approval for the requests that clear your bar. It works across both open collaboration and targeted collaboration. There’s also a Creator Adjustment Program letting newer creators start promoting with limited features while they work toward full access, which means more creators in the pool, not fewer, so your screening matters more, not less.
What to do this week
A few things you can do straight away:
Set your eligibility criteria before you open the gates. Decide the minimum you’ll accept and put it in Sample Settings so the obvious no-hopers never reach your team’s inbox.
Use Sample Score and the Star Creator filter as your approval shortlist, not your whole decision. The score is a strong signal, but you still read the creator’s recent content: do they sell products like yours, to an audience that looks like your buyer?
Raise your Product Score in parallel. Good creators are picky, and they read that score before they say yes. Accurate listings, fast dispatch and clean reviews make your product the one they want to promote. You can screen creators all day, but the best ones are screening you too.
Cap your free sample stock per product so one hot SKU doesn’t get drained in a weekend by requests you haven’t vetted.
If you want a clear read on where your shop stands, get your free TikTok Shop Health Checkup.