A Seller’s Guide to Walmart Marketplace Fees
Thinking about selling on Walmart? You need to know what to expect. This guide breaks down Walmart’s fees, from referrals to fulfillment
The ecommerce space has grown exponentially in recent years, with online marketplaces becoming a lucrative arena for entrepreneurs worldwide. During this time the Walmart Marketplace has expanded quickly enough to have received a lot of attention from Amazon sellers looking to expand their customer base.
That’s largely because of the millions of square feet of brick and mortar commercial real estate that Walmart occupies across the globe. That’s a lot of social proof to comfort online shoppers still new to the platform!
However, just like their (very) big brother Amazon, for a Walmart marketplace seller, there are associated fees.
If you’re considering selling on Walmart, understanding the Walmart seller fees is crucial. This guide will provide an in-depth breakdown of the expenses involved in selling on the Walmart Marketplace.
(ZERO) Monthly Fees and Setup Costs
A significant distinction of Walmart’s Marketplace is that compared to many other online marketplaces, there are no monthly fees.
Walmart doesn’t charge you to maintain your seller account every month. Instead, the costs primarily revolve around the products you list and sell. When it comes to item setup or product listing, there are no fees involved either. This means that you can list multiple products without worrying about additional costs.
Walmart Marketplace Selling Fees
The primary cost to sell on the Walmart online marketplace is the referral fee. It’s based on the product category you list your items in. The Walmart referral fee is a percentage, most often around 15% for items in many categories.
For example, if you have a product listed at $100 and it falls into a category with a 15% fee, Walmart will take $15, and you will receive $85, excluding other charges like shipping and sales tax.
However, it’s essential to check the specifics as some categories might have lower or higher percentages.
Here’s a look at the specific charges for some of the more popular Walmart product categories:
| Apparel & Accessories | 5% for items with a total sales price of $15 or less 10% for items with a total sales price between $15 – $20 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $20 15% for backpacks |
| Baby | 8% for items with a total sales price of $10 or less. 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10 |
| Beauty | 8% for items with a total sales price of $10 or less. 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10 |
| Books | 15% |
| Cell Phones | 8% |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% |
| Electronics Accessories | 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $100. 8% for the portion of the total sales price greater than $100 |
| Decor | 15% |
| Health & Personal Care | 8% for items with a total sales price of $10 or less. 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10 |
| Home & Garden | 15% |
| Jewelry | 20% for the portion of the total sales price up to $250. 5% for the portion of the total sales price greater than $250 |
| Kitchen | 15% |
| Luggage & Travel Accessories | 15% |
| Music | 15% |
| Pet Supplies | 15% |
| Sporting Goods | 15% |
| Toys & Games | 15% |
| Video Games | 15% |
A full list of Amazon’s charges can be found here.
Walmart Fulfillment Service Fees
Just like Amazon’s marketplace, Walmart offers an all-in-one fulfillment service. And, like Amazon, there are referral fees associated with that program. With Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), you can ship and store any amount of inventory you choose, without minimums or maximums.
Standard Fulfillment Fee
An Item is considered standard when it meets these criteria:
- Unit weight is less than or equal to 150 lb.
- Longest side is less than or equal to 108 inches
- Longest side + girth* is less than or equal to 165 inches
For units that weigh less than 1 lb., use the unit weight to determine the fee. If your unit weight is between 1 lb. and 150 lb., Walmart specifies that you use the unit weight or dimensional weight, whichever is greater. The dimensional weight is equal to the unit volume in inches (length x width x height) divided by 139.
(Add 0.25 lb. for packaging materials to calculate the final shipping weight. Round up to the nearest pound.0
| Shipping weight | Fee |
| ≤ 1 lb. | $3.45 |
| 2 lb. | $4.95 |
| 3 lb. | $5.45 |
| 4–20 lb. | $5.75 plus $0.40 for each lb. > 4 lb. |
| 21–30 lb. | $15.55 plus $0.40 for each lb. > 21 lb. |
| 31–50 lb.* | $14.55 plus $0.40 for each lb. > 31 lb. |
| ≥51 lb.* | $17.55 plus $0.40 for each lb. > 51 lb. |
*Heavier items may require more than two days for delivery because they’re shipped using ground transportation.
Additional Fulfillment Fees for Standard Items
| Apparel | Your item is an article of clothing. | Add $0.50 |
| Hazardous materials | Your item is or contains a chemical, aerosol, pesticide or battery. | Add $0.50 |
| Retail price less than $10 | Your item is priced under $10. | Add $1 |
| Oversize | Your item meets at least one of these criteria: Longest side greater than 48″ and up to 96” Median side greater than 30″ Longest side + girth greater than 105″ and up to 130” | Add $3 |
| Your item meets at least one of these criteria: Longest side greater than 96″ and up to 108” – Longest side + girth greater than 130″ and up to 165” | Add $28. The unit weight also starts at 90 lb. when determining the fulfillment fee. |
Big & Bulky Fulfillment Fees
Walmart requires big & bulky fulfillment fees when items meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Unit weight is greater than 150 lb. and up to 500 lb.
- Longest side is greater than 108 inches and up to 120 inches
- Longest side + girth* is greater than 165 inches
(Up to 500 pounds, the fee is $155 plus $0.80 per lb greater than 90 lbs)
Walmart Fulfillment Service Storage Fees
Walmart’s fulfillment service for third-party sellers, known as Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), was launched in February 2020 to provide a comprehensive solution for sellers looking to streamline their order fulfillment process.
By leveraging Walmart’s extensive logistics network and infrastructure, WFS enables sellers to store their inventory in Walmart’s fulfillment centers, with Walmart handling the picking, packing, and shipping of orders placed on Walmart.com.
This service offers several benefits to third-party sellers, including faster delivery times, competitive shipping rates, and access to Walmart’s vast customer base. Additionally, products fulfilled through WFS are eligible for Walmart’s two-day shipping program, increasing their visibility and potential for sales.
Walmart’s WFS program also offers fixed monthly storage fees for storing your items at a Walmart fulfillment center. It’s based on the volume of the product being stored and the length of time. Unit cubic feet is equal to the unit volume in inches (length x width x height) divided by 1,728.
| January–September | $0.75 per cubic foot per month |
| October–December (peak season) | $0.75 per cubic foot per month for items stored for fewer than or up to 30 days. Add $1.50 per cubic foot per month for items stored for more than 30 days. |
| >12 months | Up to $7.50 per cubic foot per month |
You Need to Be Accepted to Sell On Walmart
This is one reason why Walmart might not be the ideal place for new sellers. Walmart requires that you show proof of having already found success in the ecommerce industry – particularly on similar platforms such as Amazon and eBay.
What qualities does Walmart look for when inviting a seller to join Walmart Marketplace? Here’s Walmart’s answer to that question:
“We are looking for relationships with reputable retailers and brands that provide first-class customer service, a compelling product assortment, competitive pricing and fast, reliable fulfillment.”
Once accepted, the process couldn’t be easier.
Walmart’s 3-Step Setup Process
To get instant access to millions of Walmart.com shoppers, Walmart is promoting a “newer, easier, and faster way to integrate your existing product catalog.”
It’s as simple as these three steps:
- Verify your business – Submit your business details and complete your Seller Profile.
- Set up payments – Tell Amazon where to send your payments with no setup, subscription, or monthly fees. (This step will become available upon business verification)
- Set up your product catalog and shipping details – Import your product catalog from an existing marketplace with just a spreadsheet, and choose the shipping method that works the best for your business.
What Is the Walmart Buy Box?
Once you’ve been accepted as a Walmart seller, and have paid your fees, there’s one more similarity with Amazon’s massive marketplace. Just like Amazon, Walmart also has a bullseye for online sellers to take aim at.
I’m talking about the Walmart Buy Box.
If a product is sold by more than one seller, Walmart presents all the seller listings in one single page. This listing page contains all the merchants selling the product, even sellers with different prices. However, Only one seller can win the Walmart Buy Box.
The competition is stiff on Walmart, as with most online marketplaces. This is where the ‘Buy Box’ comes into play. Sellers often aim to win the Buy Box, a feature that directs potential buyers to purchase from the featured seller, typically the one offering the best price or value.
To enhance your chances of winning the Buy Box, you might consider investing in Walmart’s marketing services. However, selling on Walmart marketing fees can vary based on the services you choose. These could range from sponsored product listings to banner advertisements on the platform.
Canopy Management Can Help You Get Started Selling On Walmart
Walmart, being one of the largest retailers globally, provides an incredible platform for businesses to reach a massive audience. While the absence of monthly fees and item setup charges makes it enticing, success in the Walmart Marketplace requires understanding the full picture – from the registration process to the intricate nuances of the Buy Box.
Selling on Walmart’s marketplace is not a set-it-and-forget-it activity. You need to continuously adapt and optimize your listing as consumer behaviors and Walmart’s algorithm changes.
Because not everyone has the time to constantly stay on top of these changes, Canopy Management’s Walmart marketplace experts have their finger on the pulse of ecommerce and are at the front line so that you don’t have to be.
Talk to our team about how you can get started selling on Walmart.
