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How to Unmask Customer Addresses from TikTok Shop in Shopify

Learn how to unmask TikTok Shop customer addresses in Shopify by switching from TikTok Shipping to Seller Shipping so full address data flows through for tax.
Updated 26 days ago

If your TikTok Shop orders arrive in Shopify with the recipient name or street address replaced by asterisks, nothing is broken. TikTok is hiding those details on purpose, and a single setting in your TikTok Shop Seller Center controls it.

This guide walks you through what to change, what changes along with it, and how to clean up the masked orders that already landed in Kintsugi.


Why this matters for your sales tax

Kintsugi does not connect to TikTok Shop directly. Your TikTok Shop sales reach Kintsugi through Shopify, so whatever TikTok sends to Shopify is what Kintsugi has to work with.

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Your TikTok shipping setting determines how much address detail reaches Shopify, and therefore Kintsugi.

Kintsugi validates ship-to addresses down to the rooftop level, because sales tax rates can differ between two addresses in the same ZIP code. When the street line is masked, Kintsugi cannot complete that match, and the order gets flagged for review instead of counting cleanly toward your nexus tracking.

You are most likely still covered on collection. TikTok Shop generally collects and remits US sales tax on TikTok Shop orders as a marketplace facilitator, so masked addresses usually do not mean you under-collected. The impact is on nexus tracking. In many states, marketplace-facilitated sales still count toward your economic nexus thresholds, so Kintsugi needs to know which state each sale went to in order to tell you when you are approaching a registration requirement.


What masked and unmasked orders look like

TikTok Shop offers more than one shipping method, and the one you choose decides how much customer detail leaves the platform.

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How much detail is hidden can vary by order. What matters for Kintsugi is whether a complete, valid ship-to address arrives.

The shipping options you may see

Option

Who buys the label

Address detail sent to Shopify

TikTok Shipping or Upgraded TikTok Shipping

TikTok, using its carriers and rates

Masked

Seller Shipping

You, using your own carriers and rates

Full

Fulfilled by TikTok

TikTok, from its own warehouses

Masked

New US sellers are usually defaulted to a TikTok-managed option, which is why masking shows up without anyone changing a setting. TikTok has used a few names for these over time, so if you do not see the exact wording above, look for the option that lets you ship with your own labels.


Before you switch: what else changes

Switching to Seller Shipping does more than reveal addresses. It moves fulfillment responsibility from TikTok to you. Read this before you flip the setting.

With Seller Shipping, you take on:

  • Buying your own shipping labels, at your own negotiated rates rather than TikTok's

  • Uploading tracking numbers and keeping them updated

  • Handling returns and shipping-related customer service

  • Meeting TikTok's on-time shipping requirements. TikTok measures late shipments, and consistently missing the ship-by window can affect your shop standing.

For most sellers who already fulfill their own orders through Shopify, this is a natural fit and often cheaper. If TikTok currently handles your shipping and you are happy with it, weigh that against the address visibility you gain. You can also leave the setting alone and clean up flagged addresses in Kintsugi instead, which is covered further down.


How to switch to Seller Shipping

Set this up first. TikTok requires at least one shipping template with a buyer-visible shipping rate, assigned to the warehouse you ship from. Without it, the Seller Shipping option will not save. You can create one under Shipping or Logistics in Seller Center.

  1. Log in to the TikTok Shop Seller Center.

  2. Open your shipping settings. TikTok has moved this menu more than once, so use whichever of these you see in the left navigation:

    • Orders then Shipping Settings then Delivery Settings

    • Orders then Fulfillment Settings then Shipping and Delivery

    • Logistics then Shipping

  3. Find the warehouse you ship from and open its shipping options.

  4. Select Seller Shipping as your preferred shipping method.

  5. Confirm your shipping template is assigned to that warehouse. If none is assigned, create one and link it before continuing.

  6. Save your changes.

Repeat this for every warehouse you ship from. A warehouse left on a TikTok-managed option will keep masking addresses.

How to confirm it worked

Place or wait for one new TikTok Shop order, then open it in Shopify. A correctly configured order shows the full recipient name and street address, and it will not carry a shipped-by-TikTok label. Within about a day, that order should also appear in Kintsugi with a complete ship-to address.


What about orders that are already masked?

Changing this setting applies to future orders only. TikTok does not backfill address details on orders that were already placed, and neither Shopify nor Kintsugi can recover data TikTok never sent.

The good news is you do not have to leave those orders sitting incomplete. Kintsugi flags them for you and suggests corrections.

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Masked orders surface in Pending Tasks on your Kintsugi dashboard.

  1. Open your Kintsugi dashboard and find the Pending Tasks panel.

  2. Look for Invalid Address Transactions or Blank Address Transactions.

  3. Click Bulk Cleanup or Add Addresses to open the list.

  4. Review each suggested correction and apply it.

Where a masked order still carried a valid city, state, and ZIP code, Kintsugi can usually enrich it well enough for accurate state-level nexus tracking. Where too little came through, the record will show No Suggestions Found and you can fill in what you know from your TikTok Seller Center order records.

Step-by-step instructions live here:


Troubleshooting

What you are seeing

What to check

Seller Shipping will not save

You are missing a shipping template with a buyer-visible rate, or it is not assigned to that warehouse. Create or link one, then try again.

Some orders are unmasked, others are not

You likely have more than one warehouse and only changed the setting on one. Check each warehouse. Also confirm the masked orders were not placed before you made the change.

New orders are unmasked in Shopify but still flagged in Kintsugi

Give the sync about a day to catch up. If it persists past that, reach out to us so we can look at the transaction.

You cannot find the shipping options menu

TikTok has renamed and moved this menu across account types and regions. Search Seller Center for "shipping options" or "delivery settings", or contact TikTok Shop Support, who own this setting.

TikTok Shop sales are not reaching Kintsugi at all

Confirm your Shopify integration is active in Kintsugi under Data Sources. See the Shopify Read-Only Integration Guide.


Good to know

  • This setting lives in TikTok Shop, not in Shopify or Kintsugi. Neither Shopify nor Kintsugi can turn masking off on your behalf.

  • Masked addresses do not usually mean missed tax collection on TikTok Shop orders, since TikTok generally collects and remits as a marketplace facilitator. They do affect how accurately Kintsugi can track where you are building up nexus.

  • Even when a marketplace collects tax for you, you may still need to register and file in states where you cross a threshold. Kintsugi flags this for you once it can see the destination state.

  • If you sell on other marketplaces that Kintsugi does not connect to directly, see When Your Marketplace Is Not Listed in Kintsugi: Use Shopify Marketplace Connect.

  • Fulfilled by TikTok orders stay masked regardless of this setting, because TikTok ships them from its own warehouses.


Need Help?

For further concerns, we are always here to help. If you cannot find the answer you are looking for, just reach out to us using the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen.

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