Approving and fulfilling sample requests

This is for brands running free-sample programs who want to approve requests fast and get product moving.

The quick version

• You can approve requests in Cruva or in TikTok Seller Center — either works. Cruva syncs from Seller Center about every 2–5 hours, so a change made in one place shows up in the other after the next sync.
• Approving is not shipping. Approved samples still have to be fulfilled, and shipping/labels/addresses live in TikTok Seller Center, not Cruva.
• Auto-approve (Auto Review) can approve matching requests for you on a schedule.

Approving requests

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Sample Requests

New requests land on the To Review tab. To approve:

1. Open the To Review tab.

2. Select the creators you want (tick individual rows, or select several).

3. Click Approve. Confirm in the dialog.

Approved requests move to Ready to Ship. You can also Reject or Ignore requests from the same view.

Does it sync both ways?

Yes. Cruva reads everything from Seller Center and refreshes about every 2–5 hours. So:

• Approve in Cruva → it applies to your TikTok Shop; the status settles after the next sync.
• Approve or reject in Seller Center → it flows back into Cruva after the next sync.

Most users approve in Cruva because you can bulk-manage requests in one place. If something you just did in Seller Center isn't showing yet, give it a sync cycle (worst case ~3 hours).

Standard Bulk Approve

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Sample Requests

If you're viewing "To Review" sample requests, you can click checkboxes to the left of each creator/sample and action buttons will appear: "Approve," "Reject," and "Ignore." In TikTok Shop Seller Center you can only approve one at a time, so being able to multiselect is a huge unlock.

By default, this page will be in "By Creator" mode. The "By Creator" view groups samples by creators, so if you select a creator you may be approving multiple samples. Expand the creator by clicking the "> N requests" button to the right to view all their current "To Review" samples.

Alternatively, you can toggle to "By Sample" at the top to view sample requests individually rather than groups of creators, which can provide a more clear view of each sample individually rather than it being grouped by creator.

Common errors when managing samples in Cruva

"0 samples approved" (or fewer approved than you selected). If Cruva reports fewer approvals than you selected with no error message, the most common cause is that those samples were already approved in Affiliate Center. Because Cruva syncs every 2–5 hours, a sample approved in Affiliate Center can still show as "To Review" in Cruva until the next sync, and trying to approve it again produces this silent result. No action needed; the statuses will line up after the next sync. If you've verified that they're not approved in Affiliate Center, contact support and our developer team will investigate.

"Your shop is currently syncing, try again in a few minutes." Our systems are in the middle of updating your shop's data. Wait a few minutes and retry. This can also appear if your shop has an authentication issue. If the error persists, contact support and our developer team will investigate.

Product/creator unavailable, warehouse error, or any other red-banner error. These errors come directly from TikTok's APIs; Cruva relays them as received. If you approve the same sample manually in Affiliate Center, you'll likely see the same error. They usually indicate the product or SKU is out of stock, there's a warehousing or listing issue on the TikTok side, or there's an issue with the creator. Resolve the underlying issue in Seller Center, then approve again.

Auto-approve (Auto Review)

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Sample Requests → Auto Review

Set up rules that automatically approve (or reject) requests matching your criteria (e.g. minimum shop GMV, follower count, PPS score, specific SKUs). Rules run roughly every 4 hours. Once a rule is active, any request it processes can't be un-processed, so scope it carefully. You can also run a "One-time action" which applies the same filters but only runs once rather than a persistent rule that continues whenever new samples arrive in the future.

Why the eligible pool looks small

Auto Review only approves a request when every condition on the rule is met. If it approved far fewer than you expected, the rule is stricter than the pool — a creator you think should qualify is failing one of the conditions. Loosen the criteria, or check a specific creator against each rule condition.

Sample request swipe mode

Dashboard → Affiliate CRM → Sample Requests, click "Swipe mode" at the top right.

This opens a dating-app style interface where you can view incoming sample requests and approve (swipe right) or decline (swipe left).

You can:

• Approve: swipe right, type enter, or click the green checkmark.
• Reject: swipe left, type space, or click the red X
• Ignore: type tab, or click the ignore icon
• Skip: type "S" or click the skip button

Within each card, you can see when the sample was requested, which product is being requested, the affiliate's avatar, handle, bio, and performance statistics:

• 30D GMV (past 30d of GMV across all brands)
• Followers
• PPS
• Engagement rate
• Post Rate
• Shop GMV (gmv earned for your store)

We also surface 4 of their most recent shoppable videos to preview.

Why sample request swipe mode? It's a fun way to interact with your sample requests but it also encourages in-depth review of each sample. Displays creators one at a time in a bigger pane, showcasing all of their stats and recent content. Recommended if a seller is picky about which samples they want to approve and do an in-depth analysis beyond simple statistics. Otherwise, bulk actions or using the checkboxes are typically recommended.

Ignoring samples

Within Cruva, you can "Ignore" a sample request. This action is distinct from "Approve" and "Reject" because it actually doesn't do anything within TikTok Shop. Instead, it just hides the sample request from your Cruva dashboard as if it didn't exist. You can view your ignored samples by clicking the "Ignored" tab at the top. When you choose to ignore a sample it also asks if you want to ignore all future samples from these creators as well.

The benefit of ignoring samples is it prevents upsetting creators when you reject. A rejection notifies the creators that they have been rejected. Ignoring samples is a way to silently reject the sample request and avoid a negative reaction from the creators.

Shipping a sample

Once a request is approved (Ready to Ship), fulfilment happens in TikTok Seller Center, not Cruva.

• Find the creator's address: Seller Center → Orders → Free Samples. The shipping details are there.
• Print the label / ship: handle it in Seller Center like any other order, or through your usual fulfilment/3PL flow.

Cruva tracks the status (Ready to Ship → In Shipment → Content Pending → Posted) as it syncs from Seller Center; it does not generate the shipping label or store the address itself.

Undoing an approval

There is no undo button in Cruva for an approved sample. To reverse it you have to cancel the order in TikTok Seller Center → Orders (filter for the $0 sample order) and give a cancellation reason such as "Can't deliver." Note this may negatively affect your shop performance score, so only do it when necessary.

Why a creator can't see the "request sample" option

If a creator says there's no request sample button (only "Create Video" / "Add to Showcase"), it's almost always a TikTok-side setup issue, not the number of invites you've sent. Common causes:

• The product's affiliate/sample setup on TikTok, a violation flag, or a product error.
• Open Collab sample limits — adjusting the sample limit in Open Collab can affect Target Collab invites too, even though the two are configured separately.

What to try: test with a different product, and check your sample settings in TikTok Affiliate Center.

Common problems

"I approved but it's not showing / not in TikTok yet." Wait one sync cycle (up to ~2.5–3 hours) for Cruva and Seller Center to line up.

"No address on a Ready to Ship sample." Addresses are in Seller Center → Orders → Free Samples, not Cruva.

"Auto-approve only did a handful." Your rule conditions are stricter than the pool; loosen them or check a specific creator against each condition.