TikTok Shop adds “fine art” category and launches with live sale by influencer artist Sophie Tea

TikTok Shop launched a new “fine art” category last month within its collectibles, art, and cultural items section, opening the door for artists to sell through shoppable videos, photographs, and livestreams. The category debuted with a three-hour live sale on March 11 by Sophie Tea, a self-taught artist with 1.3M TikTok followers, featuring 20 original oil paintings priced at £2,800 each, though only about six sold through TikTok Shop with the rest going through Instagram DMs after the sale, and TikTok took a 9% commission on app sales. Marco Spaducci, head of home and living at TikTok Shop UK, said the category “expands the platform into high-value, collectable goods” and that the company looks “forward to opening our doors to more artists,” while Tea told The Art Newspaper that “it does not work at present for an artist.”