Selling on Walmart Marketplace gives you access to millions of shoppers on Walmart.com, but the platform is more selective than some competitors. You need a registered business (not just a Social Security number), products with UPC codes, and some track record in ecommerce. Here’s how the process works from application through your first sale.
What You Need to Apply
Walmart requires several documents and qualifications before it will approve your seller account:
- Business Tax ID or Business License Number. A personal Social Security number is not accepted. You need a formally registered business entity.
- Copy of a personal ID for the account holder.
- Business entity classification (LLC, corporation, sole proprietorship with an EIN, etc.).
- Supporting documents that verify your business name and address.
- Ecommerce history. Walmart looks for a track record of selling on marketplaces or your own online store. Brand-new sellers with zero sales history will have a harder time getting approved.
- Products with GTIN/UPC codes. Every item needs a GS1 Company Prefix Number. If your products don’t already have UPC barcodes, you’ll need to purchase them through GS1 before applying.
- A compliant product catalog. Your items must not violate Walmart’s Prohibited Products Policy (more on that below).
- U.S. warehouse capability. You need a business-to-consumer warehouse in the U.S. that can handle returns and meet Walmart’s shipping standards, or you can use Walmart Fulfillment Services.
The application is free. Walmart reviews submissions and typically responds within a few weeks, though approval timelines vary. If you’re approved, you’ll complete onboarding steps like setting up your Partner Profile, linking your payment information, and uploading your product catalog.
What It Costs to Sell
Walmart charges no monthly subscription fee or setup fee. You pay only when you make a sale, in the form of a referral fee (essentially a commission) that varies by product category. Here are some of the most common rates:
- Consumer Electronics: 8% of the total sales price.
- Home, Kitchen, Decor and Garden: 15%.
- Apparel and Accessories: 5% for items priced at $15 or less, 10% for items between $15 and $20, and 15% for items over $20.
- Electronics Accessories: 15% on the first $100 of the sales price, then 8% on anything above $100.
- Indoor and Outdoor Furniture: 15% on the first $200, then 10% on the remainder.
The “total sales price” includes not just the item price but also shipping charges, handling fees, and gift wrap. So if you charge $5 for shipping on a $50 item, the referral fee applies to the full $55.
Listing Your Products
Once your account is live, you upload your product catalog through Walmart’s Seller Center. You can add items one at a time, upload a spreadsheet in bulk, or connect through an API or integration partner if you already manage inventory on another platform.
Each listing needs a valid UPC, a product title, images, a description, pricing, and shipping details. Walmart’s search algorithm favors listings with competitive prices, strong images, and complete product attributes (size, color, material, weight). Filling out every available field improves your visibility in search results.
Pricing matters more on Walmart than on many other platforms. The marketplace attracts value-conscious shoppers, and Walmart’s algorithm can suppress listings that are priced significantly higher than comparable offers elsewhere online. If your price is too far out of line with what the same product sells for on other sites, Walmart may remove your listing from search results or flag it.
Fulfillment: Ship It Yourself or Use WFS
You have two main options for getting orders to customers. The first is merchant-fulfilled shipping, where you store inventory in your own warehouse and ship orders yourself. You control the process but are responsible for meeting Walmart’s delivery speed and reliability standards.
The second option is Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS). You ship your inventory to Walmart’s fulfillment centers, and they pick, pack, and ship orders for you. WFS items automatically qualify for Walmart’s two-day shipping tags, which can significantly boost your visibility and conversion rate.
WFS Fees
WFS charges both a fulfillment fee per order and a storage fee for keeping your inventory in their warehouses.
Fulfillment fees for standard items (shipped by small parcel) start at $3.45 per unit for items weighing one pound or less and increase with weight. A two-pound item costs $4.95, a three-pound item costs $5.45, and items between 4 and 20 pounds cost $5.75 plus $0.40 for each additional pound above four. Apparel items add $0.50 per unit, and items priced below $10 carry an extra $1 surcharge. Big and bulky items shipped by freight start at $155 per unit.
Storage fees run $0.75 per cubic foot per month from January through September. During peak holiday season (October through December), that rate holds for the first 30 days, but inventory stored longer than 30 days during that window gets an additional $1.50 per cubic foot. Items sitting in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days incur a long-term storage fee of $2.25 per cubic foot per month.
Products That Are Restricted or Prohibited
Walmart is stricter than many marketplaces about what you can sell. Firearms, ammunition, tobacco products, e-cigarettes, alcohol, and adult content are entirely prohibited. So are recalled products, drugs, drug paraphernalia, and products sourced from sanctioned territories including Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
Several categories require pre-approval before you can list anything. These include books, ingestible products (supplements, food), topical products, over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, fragrances, luxury brands, software, jewelry, watches, and precious metals. If you plan to sell in any of these categories, build extra lead time into your launch plan, as the approval process adds days or weeks.
Even categories that sound straightforward, like electronics or home goods, have subcategory rules. Walmart will automatically unpublish items that violate its policies, and repeated violations can affect your account standing. Review the Prohibited Products Policy in Seller Center before uploading your catalog.
Performance Standards and the Pro Seller Badge
Walmart tracks your performance closely. Falling below their standards can result in reduced search visibility, account warnings, or suspension. The key metrics to watch are your on-time delivery rate (the percentage of orders that arrive by the promised date), your cancellation rate (how often you cancel orders after they’re placed), and your shipping speed.
If you consistently hit high marks, you can earn the Pro Seller Badge, which displays on your listings and signals trustworthiness to shoppers. The thresholds for earning it are:
- On-time delivery rate: 95% or higher.
- Cancellation rate: 1.5% or lower.
- Shipping speed score: 50% or higher (meaning at least half your orders ship at competitive speeds).
The badge can meaningfully improve your click-through and conversion rates, so it’s worth optimizing your operations to qualify. Using WFS helps on all three metrics since Walmart controls the shipping process.
Getting Your First Sales
New sellers on Walmart often face a cold-start problem: without reviews or sales history, your listings sit lower in search results. A few strategies help you gain traction faster.
Competitive pricing is the most immediate lever. Walmart shoppers expect low prices, and the algorithm rewards them. If you can undercut the current lowest offer on a product, even by a small margin, you’ll start generating the sales velocity that lifts your search ranking. Once you’ve built reviews and a sales track record, you can gradually adjust pricing.
Walmart also offers an advertising platform called Walmart Connect, which lets you run sponsored product ads that appear in search results. You bid on keywords, and you pay per click. For new sellers without organic visibility, sponsored ads can jumpstart traffic to your listings while you build up your natural ranking.
Finally, make sure your listings are complete and optimized. High-quality images (Walmart recommends at least four per listing), detailed product descriptions, and fully populated attribute fields all improve your placement. If you’re selling a product that already exists in Walmart’s catalog, your offer competes on price and fulfillment speed. If you’re listing a unique product, the quality of your listing content determines whether shoppers find and trust it.