TikTok Shop has also tightened its rules on gambling and randomized sales, limiting how sellers can run trading card breaks in the US.
TikTok Expands Restrictions on Randomized Card Breaks
Since May, the platform has revised its Gambling Policy a number of times. The new rules only permit random team breaks through TikTok Shop’s Surprise Sets feature and its own randomization system.
Card breaks are when sealed trading card products are opened in livestreams, and the contents are distributed to customers who bought spots. Random team breaks involve assigning buyers a team or other category at random, then taking cards matching that team from the opened products.
TikTok’s May policy banned random card, draft-style, and bounty breaks. A June revision added eight formats including pull games, points programs, train games, King of the Hill and HP battles.
The most recent version, on August 31, is a different take on random team breaks. Eligible sellers can still sell them, but only in Surprise Sets. Draws will be conducted using TikTok’s official randomization tool, and no draws will be done manually outside of the software or any other external methods.
The rules also prohibit raffles of break spots that did not sell. Blind box promotions are only permitted for products which were originally produced as blind boxes by brands recognized by TikTok.
Not every break format is prohibited. However, approved sellers who meet the Shop Performance Score requirements may still offer personal breaks, pick-your-team breaks, pull-until-you-win breaks, and case breaks. The products must be sealed before the livestream, and customers must receive physical products after purchase.
TikTok Updates Surprise Set Rules Amid Gambling Concerns
TikTok’s existing policy also bans gambling activity on its Shop service. This includes raffles, sweepstakes, wagers, lucky wheels, and other activities where customers pay for the opportunity to receive a randomly selected prize.
There are also Surprise Sets on the platform that are not just trading cards. The feature lets buyers purchase products without knowing the exact item they will get until the sale is finalized. TikTok turned the idea into categories such as electronics, beauty products, toys, and fashion accessories.
The expansion has posed questions about value transparency. Previous Surprise Set rules imposed numerical limits on the difference between the highest- and lowest-priced items and required higher-value products to constitute a certain share of inventory.
Those numbers were removed in September. The existing language calls for fair price differences and does not allow sets where the more expensive products are too rare.
Sellers on TikTok must disclose the potential contents and quantities of Surprise Sets. Additionally, sellers must show the products available during the livestreams, and the platform reviews the listings for compliance.
The policy changes come as the legality of card breaks continues to be in question. There are a number of lawsuits involving TikTok, Fanatics, Whatnot and Fanatics Live that have raised issues surrounding competition, gambling and alleged lottery-style operations.
Three breakers have sued TikTok and Fanatics in California, alleging antitrust and unfair competition. Separately, legal claims against Whatnot allege some break formats are unlicensed gambling.