Dropshipping on TikTok Shop: the specific legal risks to know in 2026

TikTok Shop has established itself as one of the most dynamic online sales platforms in Europe. For entrepreneurs drawn to the dropshipping model, the commercial opportunities are real. But the legal risks, often underestimated, are just as real. In 2026, between the full entry into force of the European regulation on general product safety, the full application of the Digital Services Act and the tightening of tax rules, selling via dropshipping on TikTok Shop without a solid legal framework exposes you to heavy penalties. Here is what every business leader should know before getting started.

What is dropshipping on TikTok Shop and why is it particularly exposed legally?

Dropshipping is a sales model in which the seller markets products that they do not physically hold. When an order is placed, the seller forwards it to a supplier, often based in China or Southeast Asia, who ships the product directly to the end consumer.

On TikTok Shop, this model takes on an additional dimension: the sale takes place directly within the video content feed, via product links integrated into videos or livestreams. The purchase is almost impulsive, the relationship with the consumer is immediate, and the platform captures behavioral data on a large scale.

This context creates an accumulation of specific legal risks that, for example, a dropshipper operating on a traditional e-commerce site does not face:

• The seller remains fully liable to the consumer, even if the product ships from a warehouse located abroad.
• The platform imposes its own contractual rules, which may change unilaterally.
• The increased visibility on TikTok amplifies disputes in the event of a product defect or counterfeiting.
• Cross-border flows complicate compliance with tax, customs and regulatory obligations.

What are the dropshipper's legal obligations towards French consumers?

Is the seller considered a professional within the meaning of consumer law?

Yes, without any ambiguity. As soon as you sell products on a regular basis and for profit, you qualify as a professional within the meaning of the introductory article of the Consumer Code. This qualification applies regardless of your legal status (sole trader, SAS, SARL) or the fact that you do not store the goods.

As a professional, you are subject to all the obligations of distance selling law, set out in articles L221-1 et seq. of the Consumer Code. These obligations include in particular:

• Complete pre-contractual information: the seller's identity, the essential characteristics of the products, the total price inclusive of all taxes, delivery costs, payment terms, delivery time.
• The 14-day right of withdrawal (article L221-18 of the Consumer Code), a period that runs from receipt of the goods. If this right is not mentioned, the period is extended to 12 months.
• The 2-year legal warranty of conformity (articles L217-3 et seq. of the Consumer Code, amended by the order of 29 September 2021 transposing European directive 2019/771). For goods containing digital elements, this warranty can extend up to 5 years.
• The warranty against hidden defects provided for in articles 1641 et seq. of the Civil Code.

Concrete example. A dropshipper sells on TikTok Shop an electronic accessory shipped from Shenzhen. The actual delivery time is 25 days, but no information is communicated to the buyer. The buyer exercises their right of withdrawal at D+20. The seller is required to refund them in full, including return costs, and risks action by the DGCCRF for failure to provide pre-contractual information. The penalty can reach 15,000 euros for an individual (article L242-12 of the Consumer Code).

Is dropshipping compatible with the new product safety rules?

This is one of the most underestimated risks in 2026. European regulation 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR), applicable since 13 December 2024, has profoundly restructured the chain of liability of online commerce players.

This regulation requires that any product placed on the European market be safe. Moreover, it explicitly designates "fulfilment service providers" and "online marketplaces" as liable players. But above all, where no liable representative is established in the European Union, it is the online seller who becomes the economic operator liable for this compliance.

Concretely, the dropshipper who imports products from a Chinese supplier without ensuring their compliance with European standards (CE marking, EN standards, instructions in French) incurs civil and criminal liability. Market surveillance authorities can order the withdrawal of the product, its recall, and impose penalties of up to 4% of worldwide annual turnover for the most serious breaches.

What specific risks related to intellectual property on TikTok Shop?

Dropshipping of counterfeit products: direct and personal liability

A significant number of products offered on low-cost dropshipping platforms are counterfeits or products bearing trademarks without authorization. Selling such products, even unknowingly, exposes the seller to serious criminal liability.

Under the terms of article L713-2 of the Intellectual Property Code, trademark counterfeiting is punishable by 4 years' imprisonment and a 400,000 euro fine. These penalties are aggravated when the acts are committed by an organized group or via an online platform. Lack of knowledge of the counterfeiting does not constitute grounds for exemption where the seller has not carried out the necessary checks.

Furthermore, TikTok Shop requires in its terms and conditions compliance with intellectual property rights. In the event of a report by a rights holder (via a "notice and takedown" type mechanism), the platform can suspend the seller's account without notice, resulting in the loss of access to the store, pending funds and sales history.

The use of third-party visuals and content in TikTok videos

To promote their products, dropshippers often reuse visuals, videos or descriptions from suppliers or other sellers. This practice exposes them to two cumulative risks: the infringement of copyrighton the original content (article L111-1 of the Intellectual Property Code), and the risk of misleading commercial practice if the visuals do not match the actual products (article L121-2 of the Consumer Code).

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This module is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice.

What are the obligations related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) for sellers on TikTok Shop?

The European regulation 2022/2065 on digital services (DSA), fully applicable since 17 February 2024, has transformed the obligations of platforms and, by extension, those of the third-party sellers who operate on them.

TikTok, as a very large online platform (VLOP), is subject to the strictest obligations of the DSA: traceability of professional sellers, reinforced reporting systems, algorithmic transparency, and independent annual audit. For sellers, this concretely means that TikTok has the obligation to verify their identity and the information provided before authorizing them to sell.

The DSA also provides that consumers can report illegal content or products directly to the platform via a simplified mechanism. In the event of a well-founded report, TikTok is required to act quickly, which may lead to the suspension of the seller's account, sometimes without the seller having been heard beforehand.

For the dropshipper, the DSA therefore reinforces two major operational risks: the suspension of the account without noticeand the residual personal liability where the platform cannot identify the initial supplier of the disputed product.

What are the GDPR obligations specific to dropshipping on TikTok Shop?

The dropshipper collects and processes personal data with each transaction: name, delivery address, email address, telephone number, payment data. They are therefore a data controller within the meaning of article 4 of European regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), and not a mere user of the platform.

The key obligations are as follows:

• Draft and publish a compliant privacy policy stating the legal basis for each processing operation, the retention periods and the rights of the data subjects.
• In the event of transmission of data to the foreign supplier (typically in China), formalize a compliant transfer outside the EU: the European Commission's standard contractual clauses (decision of 4 June 2021) or another valid transfer mechanism.
• Conclude a data processing agreement (DPA) with TikTok and with each logistics provider or supplier processing data on behalf of the seller.
• In the event of a data breach (leak, unauthorized access), notify the CNIL within 72 hours (article 33 of the GDPR).

Failure to comply with the GDPR exposes you to fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of worldwide annual turnover. The CNIL has stepped up its checks on online commerce players since 2023 and has explicitly targeted the practices of social commerce platforms.

Point of attention. TikTok is subject to regulatory investigations in Europe regarding the localization and security of user data. As a seller on TikTok Shop, you transmit your customers' data to an infrastructure whose governance remains debated. This exposure may constitute a GDPR compliance risk for your own account if the transfer guarantees are not properly documented.

What are the dropshipper's tax obligations in 2026?

VAT: the IOSS scheme and its pitfalls

The majority of products sold through dropshipping are imported from third countries, notably China. For consignments worth less than 150 euros, the European Union has set up the import one-stop shop scheme (IOSS, Import One Stop Shop), introduced by directive 2017/2455 and applicable since 1 July 2021.

This scheme requires that VAT be collected at the time of sale and remitted via a one-stop shop. In practice, if the French seller uses TikTok Shop as a sales interface, the platform may be deemed to facilitate the sale and become liable for the VAT in their place (article 14a of the VAT directive). However, this qualification depends on the contractual terms and the actual structure of the transaction.

The risk is twofold: either the seller does not collect VAT when they should, or they collect it twice along with TikTok. In both cases, a tax reassessment is possible, accompanied by a 40% surcharge for deliberate breach.

Income reporting and the platforms' transparency obligation

Since 1 January 2023, digital platforms have had the obligation to automatically report to the tax authorities the income of the sellers operating on them, pursuant to the DAC7 directive (directive 2021/514/EU transposed into French law by article 1649 ter A of the General Tax Code). TikTok Shop is subject to this obligation.

This means that the income of any seller active on the platform is transmitted to the DGFiP without the seller having to take any action. In the event of under-reporting of income, the authorities have all the information necessary to launch a tax audit.

What are the contractual risks related to TikTok Shop's terms and conditions?

The relationship between the dropshipper and TikTok Shop is governed by terms of use imposed unilaterally by the platform. These terms provide in particular:

• A right for TikTok to suspend or terminate the seller's account at any time in the event of a breach of the platform's policies, without the seller being able to automatically claim a recoverable loss.
• Fund retention mechanisms during disputed periods, which can block several weeks of turnover.
• Cross-liability rules: in the event of a consumer complaint, TikTok can pass the costs on to the seller via automatic deductions from their balance.
• An applicable law clause that is often unfavorable, potentially referring to a foreign law for disputes between the platform and the seller.

Under French law, some of these clauses may be qualified as unfair terms within the meaning of article L212-1 of the Consumer Code if the seller is considered a non-professional, or as unbalanced clauses liable to be set aside on the basis of article 1171 of the Civil Code in adhesion contracts between professionals. However, this protection remains theoretical if the seller has not previously built up documentary evidence of their activity.

The relationship with the supplier: an often non-existent contract

In dropshipping, the relationship with the supplier most often rests on simple orders placed via a B2B platform (AliExpress, CJ Dropshipping, etc.), without a formalized distribution or supply contract. This absence of a contract exposes the seller to several risks:

• Interruption of supply without notice, making it impossible to honor customers' orders.
• Impossibility of taking action against the supplier in the event of a defective or non-compliant product.
• Unilateral variation of prices or deadlines without possible compensation.

From a distribution law standpoint, formalizing a supply contract specifying the product warranties, the shipping times, the return conditions and the intellectual property of the visuals is essential to guard against these risks.

How does the firm Mirabile Avocat support dropshippers on TikTok Shop?

The firm Mirabile Avocat intervenes at each stage of the project to secure the activity of sellers operating on social commerce platforms:

• Legal audit of the project: analysis of the business model, identification of the risks specific to each product category, verification of compliance with CE standards and the GPSR regulation.
• Drafting of contractual documents: general terms and conditions of sale (GTC) adapted to distance selling and dropshipping, GDPR-compliant privacy policy, supply contract with the supplier.
• GDPR compliance: mapping of processing operations, drafting of data processing agreements, analysis of data transfers outside the EU, support in the event of a CNIL inspection.
• Tax structuring: guidance towards the appropriate legal status, analysis of VAT and IOSS obligations, coordination with the chartered accountant for the reporting of income from platforms.
• Protection of the trademark and content: trademark filing with the INPI, verification of the freedom to exploit the products, reporting procedures in the event of counterfeiting suffered.
• Management of disputes: assistance in the event of a TikTok Shop account suspension, formal notice to defaulting suppliers, defense in the event of a consumer complaint or a DGCCRF inspection.

What minimum precautions should be taken before selling via dropshipping on TikTok Shop?

The following list does not constitute an exhaustive checklist, but represents the minimum foundation to put in place before any product goes on sale:

• Verify the compliance of each product with the applicable European standards (CE marking, sector-specific directives) and obtain the declarations of conformity from the supplier.
• Draft complete GTC stating the right of withdrawal, the legal warranties, the actual delivery times, the seller's identity and the return terms.
• Publish a GDPR-compliant privacy policy and register as a data controller.
• Register for VAT if necessary, or check whether TikTok Shop collects VAT in your place under the IOSS scheme.
• Formalize the relationship with the supplier through a written contract specifying the warranties and obligations of each party.
• Do not sell any product bearing a trademark without having obtained explicit authorization from the rights holder.
• Keep evidence of each order, shipment and communication with customers in order to be able to defend yourself in the event of a dispute.

This article is written for general information purposes and does not constitute personalized legal advice. The situation of each business is unique and requires a specific analysis. For any question relating to your dropshipping activity, contact the firm Mirabile Avocat.