Mistakes That Cause New Shops to Lose Money During Mega Sales

Mistake 1: Not Accounting for Non-Refundable Promotion Costs

With BMSM, if the customer cancels the order before shipping, the promotion cost is refunded to the budget. However, if the customer requests a refund/return after shipping, the promotion cost is non-refundable — the budget is still deducted even if the final order is unsuccessful. Mega Sales is a period when return rates are usually higher than normal (emotional buying, easy to change minds) — if you do not calculate this in advance, the actual promotion budget spent will be higher than the set budget.

Mistake 2: Incorrectly Stacking Promotions, Leading to Lower-Than-Expected Selling Prices

Not all promotion tools can be stacked together. Bundle deals are prioritized over BMSM — if a product is both in a bundle and eligible for BMSM, the system applies the bundle price and ignores BMSM, rather than adding both discounts. Misunderstanding this priority order (Campaign Price > Flash Sale > Bundle Deal > Product Discount) can easily lead to miscalculating the actual price the customer will pay, resulting in inaccurate revenue/profit forecasts.

Mistake 3: Failing to Prepare Enough Operational Manpower for the Sudden Surge in Orders

The content strategy of 2–5 posts/day and extended LIVE sessions during Mega Sales aims to increase traffic — but increased traffic brings more orders and more chats. If the packaging and customer service teams are not prepared in advance (see the article on Chat Performance), delayed shipping or slow chat responses will directly affect the Shop Health score — with consequences lasting long after the sale event.

Mistake 4: Running Out of Stock Mid-Campaign but Failing to Stop Promotions in Time

Budgets and the quantity of gifts/vouchers are limited. Campaigns only automatically deactivate when the budget runs out or the period ends — if you continue to promote products whose offers have ended, customers who click through will not receive the advertised offers, affecting their experience and satisfaction rate.

Risks to Note

Increasing the ad budget too quickly during peak periods (according to operational recommendations, it should not be increased by more than 30%/day in most phases) can decrease delivery efficiency instead of increasing it, as the system needs time to relearn. Increasing gradually stage by stage is always safer than a last-minute spike.

Sources

TikTok Shop Seller Academy — Buy More Save More (BMSM); Bundle Deals; Plan Your Mega Sales Promotions