Learning how to sell on Walmart Marketplace is a game-changer for many small businesses. And while many people are familiar with the brand, and may have shopped at one of their many brick-and-mortar stores, not everyone knows that they run an online marketplace.
However, they attract over 100 million unique visitors each month, so selling on Walmart Marketplace can help small businesses reach a larger audience.
Prospective sellers should know that Walmart has some specific requirements and a somewhat tricky application process that can prevent some sellers from joining their Marketplace. That is not necessarily a bad thing! If you can get through this process (which we will help you do!), you’ll already be a step ahead of the competition and can enjoy the benefits of selling on a less-crowded marketplace.
In this guide, you’ll learn more about Walmart Marketplace and its benefits, get all the details on how to start selling there, and pick up some tips for how to ensure your success on this platform.
Go from idea to online in minutes with GoDaddy Airo™
Get started now.
What is Walmart Marketplace?
Walmart Marketplace is an online platform, like Amazon and eBay, where small businesses can list their products for sale online, alongside Walmart’s own products. Walmart has long distinguished itself for its low prices, so this marketplace is a good fit for sellers that offer great products at affordable rates. You can use Walmart’s Sponsored Search ads to promote your products to Walmart’s visitors and utilize their fulfillment services, if desired, to handle the logistics of managing inventory and shipping out orders.
Benefits of selling on Walmart
Selling on Walmart Marketplace comes with several noteworthy benefits for small businesses, such as:
- Expanding your customer reach. As previously mentioned, Walmart attracts millions of users each day, which gives your products incredible reach with a widespread audience.
- Working with a reputable, well-known platform. Walmart is a very well-known, established brand. By listing your products on Walmart Marketplace, you get to borrow some of this credibility, meaning that customers will feel more secure buying your products on this platform.
- No fees until you make sales. Unlike platforms that charge a listing fee, Walmart Marketplace only charges a referral fee on products sold, so it’s cost-effective to get up and running.
- Less competition than other platforms. Because Walmart Marketplace has a more complex application process than other platforms, there are fewer sellers to compete with. This means that customers are more likely to find your products on Walmart than on other, more saturated platforms.
- Integrates with your online store. Walmart integrates with online store builders, so it’s relatively easy to add this marketplace to your existing sales channels.
Related: How to start an online business.
How to sell on Walmart Marketplace
With all these benefits in mind, it’s time to discuss how to go about selling on Walmart Marketplace by following the steps below.
Step 1: Confirm you meet the minimum qualifications
Before getting started, it’s a good idea to review the minimum qualifications to sell on Walmart Marketplace to ensure you are eligible to sell on this platform. To sell on Walmart Marketplace, you need:
- A Business Tax ID or License Number (not an SSN)
- Supporting documents to verify your business name and address
- Evidence that you’ve sold products online before, such as on another marketplace or ecommerce platform
- Products with GTIN/UPC GS1 Company Prefix Numbers
- Products that do not conflict with Walmart’s prohibited products policy
- Fulfillment system with returns capabilities (such as through Walmart Fulfillment Services)
Step 2: Create a seller account or login to your existing account
Once you’ve confirmed that you meet Walmart’s qualifications, you can begin setup! First, you need a Walmart seller account. Note that this is different from an account that you may have used as a consumer to purchase items from Walmart.com. To create a seller account:
- Go to Walmart’s seller signup form.
- Enter your name, business name, business email address, phone number, and preferred password.
- Read and agree to the terms and conditions.
- Click Create my account.
You will receive an email from Walmart to verify your business email address. After you verify your email, you are ready to continue with setup!
Step 3: Submit business verification details
Once you are logged in to your seller account, you can begin the onboarding process by verifying your business details. Before you start, make sure you have the following information handy:
- US Tax ID number (TIN)
- Yearly gross merchandise value (GMV) range
- Highest performing category (i.e. the most common category of your products)
You can verify your business by following these steps:
- From the seller homepage, click the Get verified button at the top of the screen.
- Fill out the verification form with the tax information, business details, and seller profile details requested. You can save this form and finish it later if needed.
- Click Submit for review.
Business verification can take up to two business days. You can check the status of your business verification through the seller application tracking site.
Step 4: Configure payments
When your business has been verified, you can continue onboarding by configuring your payment settings. You can choose between three third-party payment processors, based on your location:
You can configure payments by following the steps below:
- From the seller homepage, click the Get paid button at the top of the screen.
- Choose the payment processor that you want to work with and either create an account or sign in to your existing account by selecting the corresponding button.
- Follow the rest of the guided process to finalize your payouts.
Note: New sellers will experience a payment hold after beginning to sell on Walmart Marketplace, ranging from up to 14 days for US sellers and up to 21 days for international sellers.
Step 5: Set up shipping
Next, you will set up the shipping and returns experience you want to offer to customers who purchase your products. Configure shipping by following the steps below:
- From the seller homepage, click the Start shipping button at the top of the screen.
- Select your desired shipping templates, which determine how quickly you’ll fulfill orders, where you will ship, and the costs for the customer. Click Advanced setup to further customize these options.
- Review and agree to Walmart’s Returns Shipping Service for returns label printing.
- Enter the desired name and address for your return center. This will be printed on return shipping labels.
- Click Submit.
Step 6: List your products
With your business verified and all your payment and shipping information set up, you’re ready to build your product catalog! Depending on your catalog size, there are a few different ways you can handle catalog creation:
- Bulk upload, where you can create many products at once using a spreadsheet upload. This is useful for sellers with large product catalogs.
- Single item method, where you will add products one by one. This is the best method for sellers with very small catalogs.
- API integration method, where you programmatically connect your catalog so that changes to your catalog are automatically reflected on Walmart Marketplace. This is helpful for sellers with large and growing catalogs that have developer resources.
To add items to your Walmart Marketplace catalog in bulk:
- From the seller homepage, go to Product Catalog > Items and click Add Items.
- Drop your updated Walmart template or other custom spreadsheet into the file upload area.
- Click Next and follow the rest of the upload process to add these items to your catalog.
To add catalog items individually:
- From the seller homepage, go to Product Catalog > Items and click Add Items.
- Enter the item name or product identifier in the Search the Walmart catalog field. If your item doesn’t appear in this field, click Create a new item and fill out the required info to submit a new item for approval.
- When you find the right result, click Add Item to add this item to your catalog.
- Update the Offer Details section with your product SKU, selling price, fulfillment type, and shipping weight. You can expand the Optional section to update other details if desired.
- Click Submit to create the item in your catalog.
What kinds of products can I sell on Walmart Marketplace?
You can sell many types of products on Walmart Marketplace! However, there are some restrictions that you should be aware of. Restrictions are defined by product category (e.g., cosmetic products), so take a look at your product categories to understand how your products might be impacted.
Note in addition to product-specific limitations, that Walmart Marketplace does not permit any products with components from restricted regions, which include Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and the annexed regions of Ukraine.
Finally, there are some product categories that require pre-approval before you can begin to sell them on Walmart Marketplace, including (but not limited to):
- Fragrances
- Goods from luxury brands
- Software
- Cell phones and accessories
- Seasonal products
- Jewelry
Contact Partner Support if you want to sell a product in any of these categories.
Best practices and tips on how to succeed selling on Walmart
You know how to set up to sell on Walmart Marketplace, so now it’s time to learn how to do your best selling on this platform. Here are a few best practices that will set your business up for success on Walmart Marketplace.
Optimize new product listings for sale on Walmart Marketplace
Like any marketplace platform, it’s important to make a great impression on customers through your product listings. If you are creating a new item in Walmart’s catalog, take special care to ensure your product will be approved by Walmart’s team. Below are some tips on how to optimize your product listings for success.
- Follow Walmart’s guidelines for product names and descriptions. In general, write clear, concise copy that is relevant and useful to potential customers. This is useful for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes and also encourages customers to purchase your products by answering common questions and explaining the product’s benefits. Make your descriptions easier to scan by utilizing available formatting tools, especially bullet point lists. Review Walmart’s guidelines and requirements for more information on what is expected, encouraged, and prohibited in this copy.
- Use multiple, high-quality images on a white background. Unlike other marketplaces, Walmart has specific guidelines that you must follow for your product images. This ensures a consistent, high-quality experience for customers, but it also means that you’ll need to take special care with your product images. You should include multiple images of your products from different angles, with any included accessories, and, if applicable, showing your product in use. This will help your customers get a better sense of your product’s quality, design, and how it will fit into their lives. If possible, consider hiring a professional photographer to take pictures of your products to give your listings a premium look and feel.
Use an inventory tracking system
If you are selling through multiple sales channels (e.g., an online store, various online marketplaces, in-person retail, etc.), you need a way to track your product inventory across these various platforms. An inventory tracking system can help you manage changes to your product inventory that would be time-consuming and tedious to keep up with manually. Additionally, you’ll reduce or eliminate issues related to selling a product that you don’t have in stock, which is stressful as a seller and frustrating for the customer.
Ideally, your online store offers built-in integrations with all your marketplaces and other sales channels. These native integrations are beneficial because they are cost-effective, well-maintained, and require little to no effort to set up. If not, you should spend time doing a little research to see what your options are and how they can support your business.
Offer great fulfillment service
A consumer finding and purchasing your product is only half the battle — to impress your new customer and turn them into a repeat buyer, you need to do a great job fulfilling their order. This primarily means a fast shipping turnaround so the product is in the customer’s hands quickly, but also includes supporting customer refunds and returns when necessary.
Walmart Marketplace makes offering great fulfillment service easier with their own Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS). With WFS, you can completely offload fulfillment responsibilities to Walmart, which has a vast network of warehouses and strong shipping infrastructure to support your products and customers.
You can choose WFS as your fulfillment service during Walmart Marketplace onboarding — however, if you decide to use a different fulfillment service, be sure that you can offer a great customer experience through the fulfillment and post-purchase processes.
Qualify for the Buy Box by pricing products competitively
When there are multiple listings for the same product, Walmart chooses one to list by default when a customer searches for this product. This coveted position is known as the Buy Box. Walmart places listings in the Buy Box based on product price — the cheapest listing wins. All other listings for this product are relegated to the “More seller options” link, which is discretely listed further down on the product page.
Getting your product placed in the Buy Box is a huge advantage because customers are much more likely to purchase this product than spend time reviewing other options. To consistently qualify for the Buy Box, be sure that your products are priced competitively. This requires regular research, especially if you are selling a popular product with many other sellers. Where possible, try to price your products just below your competitors to ensure you win the Buy Box without sacrificing too much revenue.
Encourage customers to leave positive reviews
Product reviews are critical to your listing’s success because they help customers form their first impressions of your product and you as a seller. After customers purchase a product and that product is delivered, they’ll have the opportunity to leave reviews for both the product and the seller. These are publicly visible to other customers on the product pages and on your profile page.
You can encourage your customers to leave positive reviews by providing a great experience for them before, during, and after purchase, such as by providing clear and accurate descriptions and photos of your products, responding quickly to customer inquiries, and ensuring timely shipping of purchased products.
Run Walmart Marketplace ads
You can purchase ads for Walmart Marketplace to help reach customers that are searching for products like yours. These Sponsored Search ads are free to create and launch — you only pay when customers click on them.
There are two types of Sponsored Search ads, which come with their own specific requirements and benefits:
- Sponsored Products target customers who are actively looking for a product like yours on Walmart’s site. As these customers search on Walmart, Sponsored Products ads are surfaced in prominent positions. Sponsored Products ads are useful for promoting a specific listing for a well-known, popular product type.
- Sponsored Brands promote your brand rather than a specific product. When customers search for products like yours, your brand and its associated products are listed in a premium callout space at the top of the page. This is a great way to help customers explore your entire brand offerings, rather than a specific product.
Conclusion
While Walmart is well-known for its popular and prolific in-person retail stores, its online presence provides a smart opportunity for small businesses looking to expand their online sales. Sellers that offer great products at low prices and can persevere through Walmart’s onboarding process can benefit from partnering with an established brand with a large customer base. After reading this guide, you are ready to take on the onboarding process, set up your product catalog, and grow your business by expertly navigating the ins and outs of working with Walmart Marketplace.
Selling on Walmart Marketplace FAQ
Is there a fee to sell on Walmart? How much does it cost?
Walmart charges a referral fee when you sell a product on Walmart Marketplace, which varies based on the product category. These fees range from 6% - 20% of the purchase price, with most product types incurring a fee around 15%. There are no fees to create an account or list products on Walmart Marketplace.
How long does it take for the approval process on Walmart Marketplace?
All businesses must be verified before listing products for sale on Walmart Marketplace. The verification process can take a few minutes or up to two business days. To expedite this process, double-check all information provided during business verification to make sure there are no errors or other inconsistencies that might delay your approval process.
You can check the status of your business verification through the seller application tracking site.
Why did Walmart Marketplace deny my application?
If you see that your business verification status comes back as “Failed”, this means that Walmart has rejected your application to become a Marketplace seller. There are two main reasons why this may have happened:
- You provided incorrect or incomplete information during the business verification process. In this case, you can choose to resubmit your application with corrected information.
- Your business doesn’t meet Walmart Marketplace’s requirements. For example, you may not have sufficient proof of your ecommerce / marketplace success on other platforms or the correct supporting documentation to verify your business name and address.
If you believe your application was denied unfairly, you can appeal this decision with Partner Support. There are also other ways to sell online, in case Walmart is not the way for your business, try some other options from our guide on how to sell products online.
How much can you make as a Walmart seller?
The amount of money you can make as a seller on Walmart Marketplace varies based on the demand for your products/product type, how competitively you price your products, and your utilization of advertisements. The majority of sellers earn at least 20%, and over half of small businesses on Walmart Marketplace earn over $100,000 in annual revenue.
How do Walmart Marketplace reviews work?
After purchasing and receiving a product from Walmart Marketplace, customers are asked to leave a review for both the product and the seller. These reviews are publicly available on your product listing page and your seller profile page, so they can certainly influence other customers and their decision to purchase a product from you.
To encourage positive reviews, take care to provide a great experience for your customers, such as by accurately representing your product through your images and description.
Can I sell on Amazon and Walmart at the same time?
Yes, you can sell on Amazon and Walmart at the same time. In fact, diversifying your sales channels can be a great way to increase your sales, so working with multiple marketplaces can be very beneficial to your business.
Disclaimer: All trademark rights belong to their respective owners. Third-party trademarks are used here for demonstrative and educational purposes only, use does not represent affiliation or endorsement.
