How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace in 2025: A Complete Guide for New Sellers

Walmart.com has over 110 million unique monthly visitors and is the second-largest US e-commerce platform behind Amazon. Walmart's marketplace has grown aggressively since 2020, adding over 150,000 new marketplace sellers.

The opportunity: Walmart Marketplace is significantly less competitive than Amazon in most categories. A category on Amazon with 50,000+ competing listings may have 500–2,000 listings on Walmart — a 10–100x lower competition density. Sellers who succeed on Amazon can often replicate that success on Walmart with less PPC spend and faster organic ranking.

Walmart does not charge monthly subscription fees (unlike Amazon's $39.99/month Professional plan). You only pay referral fees per item sold. This makes it lower-risk to maintain a Walmart presence alongside your Amazon business.

Unlike Amazon, Walmart Marketplace does not automatically accept all sellers — it is a curated marketplace that reviews applications and approves sellers based on stated criteria.

Walmart's stated requirements: a US Business Tax ID (EIN), a US business address (a registered agent address qualifies for international sellers), an established sales history on another e-commerce platform (Amazon sales history is specifically valuable), and the ability to fulfill orders reliably (either via Walmart Fulfillment Services or your own 3PL in the US).

In practice, Walmart currently prioritizes: sellers with demonstrated US Amazon or e-commerce history ($50,000+/year is a strong threshold), established brands with a registered trademark or professional brand presence, and product categories where Walmart.com has limited selection.

Application process: apply at marketplace.walmart.com. The application asks for your business information, product categories, current sales channels, and fulfillment capabilities. Walmart reviews applications within 2–4 weeks and approves, requests more information, or declines.

WFS (Walmart Fulfillment Services) is Walmart's equivalent of Amazon FBA. You ship inventory to Walmart fulfillment centers, and Walmart handles picking, packing, and shipping customer orders with 2-day free shipping for Walmart+ members.

WFS fee structure (2025): fulfillment fees based on item weight — under 1 lb: $3.45, 1–2 lbs: $4.95, 2–3 lbs: $5.45, 3–20 lbs: $5.45 + $0.40/lb above 3 lbs. These are comparable to Amazon FBA rates, though Walmart WFS has historically had lower storage fees than Amazon.

Referral fees: Walmart charges 6–20% of the sale price depending on category. Electronics: 8%. Home and Garden: 15%. Clothing: 20%. No referral fee for grocery.

An important Walmart advantage: WFS products qualify for 2-day shipping and the "Fulfilled by Walmart" badge — the equivalent of Amazon Prime. Walmart's customer base increasingly expects 2-day delivery, and WFS provides it without requiring a Walmart+ membership purchase.

Walmart accepts listings via three methods: Walmart's Item Setup API (for tech-savvy sellers with developer resources), bulk upload via spreadsheet (for smaller catalogs), and one-by-one manual listing in Seller Center.

Walmart's listing format is different from Amazon's. Key differences: Walmart uses "Key Features" instead of bullet points (similar concept, 5 lines of text), product descriptions have more flexibility, and Walmart does not have "backend keywords" — all keywords must appear in the visible listing.

Walmart's search algorithm heavily weights: price competitiveness relative to the market, customer reviews and ratings, in-stock rate (Walmart suppresses listings with poor inventory availability), and listing quality score (Walmart scores each listing for content completeness).

If you already have an Amazon listing, you can adapt it for Walmart — but do not simply copy-paste. Walmart's algorithm and buyer expectations differ enough that a Walmart-native listing performs better. Adjust your title format (Walmart prefers shorter, more descriptive titles), and emphasize price competitiveness more prominently.