Live shopping platforms UK: best options for retailers

What to take away

Where UK retailers can sell live

TikTok Shop Live puts checkout inside the stream, so a viewer buys without leaving the app. That is the fastest route to a first sale, and the one with the least control over the customer record. Before you model margin, check the current TikTok Shop fees UK schedule, which varies by category and changes.

Whatnot works as a marketplace with its own audience and its own seller terms, which suits collectables and single-item auctions more than a full catalogue. Amazon Live favours sellers already active in Seller Central. YouTube Shopping streams suit brands with an existing channel and a linked store.

For retailers who want the customer record, a hosted show such as Bambuser or Livescale is the alternative. Stream on any app, then send buyers to your own product page with a timed code. The trade-off is impulse speed against ownership of the data, and the two are rarely equal.

Meta wound down native live shopping on Facebook and Instagram in 2022 and 2023, so those two apps now work as audience builders rather than a checkout.

Fee shapes in pounds

The table below compares where checkout happens, not which platform is best.

Indicative UK commission rates are around 5 per cent for TikTok Shop and 8 per cent for Whatnot. YouTube has no fixed platform rate, and brand-set affiliate commission typically runs from 5 to 20 per cent.

On the £28 average order, an indicative 5 per cent TikTok Shop rate is £1.40, an 8 per cent Whatnot fee is £2.24, and a mid-range 10 per cent YouTube affiliate commission is £2.80.

Take a 90-minute show with 60 settled orders at £28 average value. Gross is £1,680. An illustrative 5 per cent commission, used as a placeholder for TikTok Shop, takes £84. Card processing at 1.5 per cent plus 20p per order takes about £37. Returns at 8 per cent of gross remove £134.

Contribution before stock, staff and returns handling is about £1,425. These figures are illustrative, so substitute your own contract rates.

Rules that follow the show

VAT does not change because the sale happens on camera. Register once taxable turnover passes the current £90,000 threshold, then confirm the rate that applies, including the 20 per cent standard rate, through Register for VAT.

Distance selling rules apply as well. A live sale to a consumer is a distance contract, so the 14-day cancellation right and the pre-contract information duties in the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply.

Claims made during a show, from a countdown discount to a paid creator's endorsement, sit under the CAP Code. Giveaways that collect names and addresses bring UK GDPR into the room, so read the ICO guidance before you publish the entry terms.

A first live show, in six steps

Common questions

Do I need a marketplace account to sell live in the UK?

No. TikTok Shop, Whatnot and Amazon Live include checkout. A hosted show works with the store you already run, so long as your checkout and delivery promise hold up under live demand.

Are live selling fees higher than normal social selling fees?

Rarely. Commission is charged per settled order, in the same shape as a marketplace referral fee. The real additions are production time, moderation and the returns you absorb.

What happens when a live order comes back?

The same cancellation and refund rules apply as for any distance sale, and your published returns policy for social orders has to match what you actually do. Platform processes run alongside those duties, not instead of them.

Does a hosted show need new software?

It needs a streaming tool and a checkout you trust under load. If you already run Shopify or WooCommerce, you are adding a layer rather than replacing the shop.