How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace: A Step-by-Step Guide for Amazon Sellers (2026)

Many Amazon products face lighter competition from Walmart, especially in retail and online arbitrage categories, where identical listings may command higher prices. Although Walmart’s sales volume is typically lower than Amazon’s, some sellers prefer…

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Many Amazon products face lighter competition from Walmart, especially in retail and online arbitrage categories, where identical listings may command higher prices. Although Walmart’s sales volume is typically lower than Amazon’s, some sellers prefer the platform due to fewer competing offers and greater profit potential per unit. Walmart is also less saturated in categories where Buy Box competition has become challenging for smaller sellers.

Why Amazon Sellers Are Expanding to Walmart Right Now

In 2024 and 2025, two key developments prompted many Amazon sellers to consider Walmart. First, increased brand restrictions, section 3 suspensions, and category gate changes blocked sellers from accessing products they had previously sold. Second, sellers recognized the risks of relying on a single platform for their business.

Walmart is a logical next step because your existing operational skills transfer directly. If you can source products, manage a catalog, win the Buy Box, and handle fulfillment, you already have most of the expertise Walmart requires. The remaining learning curve is understanding the unique platform differences at Walmart.

Walmart’s marketplace still feels several years behind Amazon operationally. Seller Center is less polished, analytics are limited, and third-party tools remain underdeveloped. That frustrates some sellers, but it also means fewer sophisticated competitors. Sellers building an account history now may benefit later if Walmart tightens approvals and category controls, as Amazon eventually did. 

Sales volume at Walmart is generally lower than on Amazon across most categories. Some sellers report Walmart sales velocity at roughly 20–40% of their Amazon velocity per SKU during the early test phase, but this varies significantly by category and listing quality.

Amazon vs Walmart Marketplace: What Actually Transfers (and What Doesn’t)

Before accessing Seller Center, understand which Amazon features have equivalents on Walmart and which do not. The following table outlines the eight most important considerations for Amazon sellers evaluating this transition.

The main difference from FBA is competition density. Most Walmart sellers still ship orders themselves, so WFS listings often stand out because they carry the “2-Day Shipping” badge. In many categories, there may only be one or two WFS offers competing for the Buy Box instead of dozens of FBA sellers fighting on Amazon. 

A key limitation is the absence of a Keepa equivalent for Walmart. You cannot access 12 months of price history or sales rank data as you can on Amazon. Inventory decisions should be more conservative, especially initially. Begin with small quantities and use your own sell-through data to guide future orders.

What You Need Before You Apply

Walmart’s application process is selective. An application rejected due to mismatched documents can be frustrating and reset your timeline. Preparing accurate paperwork in advance takes about 30 minutes and helps prevent delays that could last weeks.

Here is what you need:

• EIN (Employer Identification Number). Walmart does not accept Social Security Numbers. Sole proprietors without an EIN need to obtain one from the IRS before applying. It is free and takes about 10 minutes online.
• GS1-certified GTINs/UPCs for every product. Walmart verifies GS1 registration directly. Reseller UPCs purchased from third-party barcode sites fail verification. If your products use non-GS1 barcodes, resolve this before applying.
• U.S. business address. P.O. boxes are not accepted. Your address must match your EIN registration exactly.
• U.S. bank account tied to your business.
• Payoneer or Hyperwallet account. Walmart supports only these two payment processors. Set up your account with one of them before beginning Seller Center onboarding.
• Your Amazon storefront URL is the most critical requirement. Walmart evaluates your e-commerce presence as the primary indicator of seller quality. A public Amazon storefront with active listings and reviews is the fastest route to approval. If you sell on Amazon, provide your storefront link. Do not use a social media profile or general website as a substitute.

There is no application fee. With all documents prepared, the process takes less than an hour.

How to Apply and Get Approved

Visit marketplace.walmart.com and select “Request to Sell.” The application will request your business details (legal name, address, EIN), intended product categories, and a website or e-commerce presence. Enter your Amazon storefront URL in this section and ensure the field is not left blank.

Approval typically takes 2–9 days, depending on your documented seller experience. Most applications with a complete Amazon storefront and matched business information are approved within 2–3 days. The most frequent cause of extended reviews is mismatched business information. Your EIN registration, legal business name, and bank account must match exactly, including formatting. For example, “LLC” and “L.L.C.” are considered different by Walmart’s verification system, causing multi-week delays.

After approval, Walmart will send a registration link to complete your Seller Center account. The email may not arrive immediately after notification, so allow a few hours before following up.

Upon registration, you will access the Seller Center onboarding checklist. Complete each step in order, as Walmart restricts catalog tools until the checklist is finished. Skipping steps can result in being locked out of the listing interface until all requirements are met.

Walmart assigns a dedicated account specialist to new sellers, providing personalized support rather than a generic queue. Engage with your specialist, especially during your first 60–90 days. This level of direct support is a notable advantage over Amazon, where meaningful human assistance is less accessible.

Setting Up Walmart Seller Center

Many Amazon sellers find Seller Center incomplete. Features that are automated in Seller Central often require manual steps. Reporting is limited, and navigation can be unintuitive. Set these expectations before logging in, but do not let them deter you from using the platform.

The onboarding checklist includes business verification, tax form submission, payment setup (connect your Payoneer or Hyperwallet account), shipping configuration, and return policy setup. Complete each step in sequence, as Walmart requires all items before your listings become active.

Shipping configuration can be challenging for Amazon sellers because Walmart does not import shipping rates from FBA settings. You must manually configure rates for seller-fulfilled orders and accurately set handling times. Walmart closely monitors on-time shipping, and early violations can hurt your seller score before you have enough order volume to recover. Offering flat-rate shipping often results in better early performance than using complex rate tables.

How to List Your Products on Walmart

Walmart lets you add listings individually by UPC (Universal Product Code) search or in bulk via spreadsheet upload. For catalogs with 15–20 products or more, the spreadsheet method is recommended because single-entry is slow and prone to errors at scale.

Before creating a new listing, check if your product already exists in Walmart’s catalog. If it does, link to the existing listing instead of creating a duplicate. This lets you inherit existing reviews and sales history, speeds approval, and prevents catalog duplication. Use the catalog tool to search for matches by UPC.

For new listings, Walmart’s title character limit is 75, compared to Amazon’s 200. Your Amazon title will not fit. Begin with your primary keyword in the first 40–50 characters, add one key attribute or benefit, and remove the rest. Standard FBA product images (white background, product occupying at least 85% of the frame) work on Walmart.

WFS vs Seller Fulfilled: Which to Start With

Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) is Walmart’s equivalent of FBA. You send inventory to Walmart’s fulfillment centers, and Walmart manages picking, packing, shipping, and returns. Listings fulfilled by WFS automatically receive a “2-Day Shipping” badge, increasing Buy Box win rates and conversion rates.

The main difference from FBA is the current adoption rate. Walmart Fulfillment Services can give listings a two-day delivery badge, and many Marketplace sellers still rely on self-fulfillment, so WFS items often have a speed advantage. This gives WFS a greater competitive advantage over Walmart than FBA currently offers on Amazon. While this gap will narrow as adoption grows, it remains significant in 2026.

The recommended approach is to test new products as seller-fulfilled for 2–4 weeks before committing to WFS. If a product does not sell as seller-fulfilled, it is unlikely to perform better with WFS. Start by sending 3–5 units, confirm sales velocity, then send larger quantities to WFS. This strategy prevents sending large amounts of slow-moving inventory into WFS for products that may not gain traction.

For sellers who operate exclusively through FBA on Amazon and prefer not to manage a home warehouse, starting directly with WFS for proven products is practical. Purchase conservatively for the initial shipment and treat it as a test.

The Pricing Parity Rule: How to Stay Compliant Without Hurting Margins

Walmart’s price parity rule is enforced automatically. If the system detects that your listing is priced higher than the same product on another platform, including Amazon, it will unpublish the listing without notice. You must identify and fix the issue manually. For sellers with large catalogs, this can create significant operational challenges if prices are not set correctly before listings go live.

The guideline is simple: your Walmart price must always be at or below your Amazon price. Set reminders to cross-check both platforms whenever you update pricing.

Many sellers miss that Walmart’s parity rule can actually improve margins. Amazon often charges a referral fee plus FBA fulfillment fees, whereas seller-fulfilled Walmart orders may incur only the referral fee. For example, a product priced at $25 on Amazon might still produce more profit at $22 on Walmart because the platform costs are lower. 

Calculate these figures for each product before setting Walmart prices. Exact amounts vary by category, product weight, and whether you use WFS.

Tools for Selling on Walmart in 2026

Walmart’s software ecosystem lags Amazon’s by several years. Most Amazon tools lack Walmart equivalents, and existing Walmart tools are generally less accurate.

Helium 10 introduced Walmart keyword research and search volume tracking in 2026. It helps with listing optimization and competitive research, though data accuracy is still below Helium 10’s Amazon tools. Use it for general guidance. [INTERNAL LINK NEEDED: Helium 10 review]

Sellbrite automatically synchronizes inventory levels between Amazon and Walmart. If you manage both platforms and want to prevent overselling during demand spikes, set up Sellbrite before scaling beyond a few dozen products.

Teikametrics manages advertising for both Amazon and Walmart from a single dashboard. Running Walmart Sponsored Products ads alongside Amazon PPC in one interface reduces management overhead.

SmartScout identifies Amazon brands that have not yet expanded to Walmart. SmartScout helps you find product categories with less competition than on Amazon.

Marter is one of the few research tools built specifically for Walmart Marketplace sellers. It tracks pricing changes, estimated sales activity, Buy Box movement, and profitability data for Walmart listings. The dataset is still far less mature than Keepa’s Amazon history, so sellers should treat the numbers as directional rather than precise forecasting data. 

There is no Keepa equivalent for Walmart, and no tool reliably provides 12 months of sales rank history for Walmart listings. You will have less data than on Amazon. Start with small quantities and build your own sell-through history rather than waiting for improved tools.

Which Amazon Sellers Should (and Shouldn’t) Expand to Walmart

Not all Amazon sellers will benefit from expanding to Walmart now. Below is a breakdown by business model.

Retail arbitrage (RA): Strong fit. Walmart has fewer brand restrictions than Amazon, higher prices on matching listings, and lower competition. RA sellers can immediately apply their existing sourcing processes to Walmart.

Online arbitrage (OA): Strong fit. Product research and sourcing methods transfer directly. Items with compressed margins on Amazon often sell at higher margins on Walmart due to reduced competition.

Wholesale: Currently a poor fit. Wholesale on Walmart requires brand authorization and Walmart-specific reseller agreements. The platform’s infrastructure for wholesale sellers is limited. While a few sellers succeed, it generally requires more effort for a lower return than RA and OA.

Private label: Viable, but with a longer timeline. You must register your brand through Walmart’s Brand Portal to protect listings and access enhanced content. The Brand Portal process is slower than Amazon’s Brand Registry, and Walmart’s brand protection tools are less developed. Expect a longer time frame before private-label listings reach Amazon-level performance.

FBA liquidation: An underrated entry point. Inventory held in FBA for over 60 days or products that have declined in price on Amazon often sell at higher prices and with less competition on Walmart. Practitioners have found that using Walmart as a liquidation channel helps identify products with long-term potential on the platform.

Who should wait: Sellers generating less than $5,000 per month on Amazon without a stable sourcing operation, those lacking GS1-registered GTINs, or those who have not verified that their EIN, legal business name, and bank account match exactly. Fix these foundational issues before expanding to Walmart.

Begin by obtaining your Amazon storefront URL and confirming your products have GS1-registered GTINs. Walmart checks these two items first, and both are easy to verify before starting the application. The application process takes less than an hour, and approval typically takes a few days.

We provide updates on Walmart Marketplace strategy and platform developments twice a week in The Selller newsletter. Subscribe to receive the latest insights directly in your inbox.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Walmart Marketplace approval take?

Approval typically takes 2 to 9 days. Sellers with an active Amazon storefront and consistent business records are often approved within 2 to 3 days. Delays usually result from mismatched information between EIN records, bank accounts, and the Walmart application.

Can I use Amazon FBA inventory to fulfill Walmart orders?

Generally, it is not safe. Walmart may issue warnings if orders are shipped in Amazon-branded packaging through Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF). Sellers who want to share inventory across both platforms typically use a neutral third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse.

What are Walmart’s referral fees compared to Amazon’s?

Walmart referral fees vary by category, with many standard categories around 15%. Seller-fulfilled Walmart orders may yield higher margins than Amazon, as they avoid FBA fulfillment fees in addition to the referral fee.

What is the Pro Seller badge on Walmart, and how do I get it?

The Pro Seller badge appears on your Walmart storefront and listings, showing your account meets Walmart’s performance standards for order defect rate, cancellation rate, and on-time shipping. You earn the badge automatically once your metrics cross those thresholds. Most consistent sellers become eligible within 90 days of active selling.

Do I need separate UPCs for my Walmart listings if I already have Amazon ASINs?

Yes. Walmart identifies products using GTINs such as UPCs or EANs, not Amazon ASINs. If your Amazon listings use GS1-registered UPCs, you may use the same codes on Walmart.