I’ve been selling on Walmart for three years. Here’s my honest take.
Walmart is fundamentally about supply chain. If you have a great supply chain, you’ll win. The platform rewards low prices — but low prices with profit, because Walmart gives you margin room.
If you think you’re competitive on sourcing, Walmart is worth a shot. They give more margin than other platforms. Once you get a product up and running, it tends to stay up — unlike Amazon where bestseller rankings shift constantly.
Deal submissions are free (unlike Amazon). There’s a lot of manual control behind the scenes — things like strike-through pricing, locked-in deals, etc. But that control mostly goes to big sellers.
The catch: pushing a product takes time. You’re not going to hit #1 in a month like on Amazon.
At the end of the day, it’s simple: low price, low price, low price.
Answers (4)
If you think Walmart is easier than Amazon, think again. The platform has more bugs, more traffic tilt toward 1P, and higher returns. Don’t assume a product that struggles on Amazon will magically work on Walmart.
Also, if you don’t have a category manager (which most small sellers don’t), you’re on your own. Managers only work with top sellers. The rest of us get generic support.
I’ve tested raising and lowering prices, and honestly, it didn’t change much. Traffic is scattered. Ranking high for a keyword doesn’t guarantee sales. It’s not like Amazon where rank and sales are tightly correlated. Low price alone won’t make you win.
In the early days, Walmart was a cash grab. Then came mass seller recruitment, and now Temu has completely changed the game. Walmart’s user base now overlaps heavily with Temu shoppers. With Temu pushing semi-managed and local inventory, Walmart’s low-to-mid price range is under direct attack.
If Temu ever removes the $2.99 shipping fee for orders under $30, Walmart will be in serious trouble.
Real talk: if you have a strong supply chain and can do ultra-low prices, go to Temu, not Walmart. If you have the ability to develop unique products and deep pockets, Amazon is still the place. Walmart is stuck in the middle — not the cheapest, not the fastest.
I’ve been selling on Walmart for three years, managing both JD store-within-store and third-party accounts. Here’s my honest take.
When Walmart was good (pre-Temu):
Before Temu launched in the US, Walmart was a goldmine. High traffic, hard to get an account, less competition. You could list almost anything and get sales. We even had seasons where Walmart volume beat Amazon.
Now?
Temu has eaten a lot of Walmart’s low-end traffic. Walmart is stuck in the middle: prices can’t beat Temu, shipping speed can’t beat Amazon. And they don’t even have their own fulfillment network — WFS just uses third-party carriers.
Pros (where Walmart still shines):
Less competition in some categories — products that are oversaturated on Amazon can still work on Walmart. But keep in mind: Amazon traffic is often 5x to 20x higher. A product that sells 20/day on Amazon might only sell 1/day on Walmart.
Reviews are easier to get — you can import reviews from your own independent site (Review Syndication) for free, or use their paid program ($10/review). But the rules have tightened — you need a legitimate site with real traffic, and you must mix in some negative reviews. Get caught faking it, and you lose the ability forever.
No monthly fees, fast payout — after you get past the new seller hold, cash flow is good.
Free promotions — if you have a category manager and decent sales volume, they can open up deal submission for you.
Path to physical retail — if you do well, there’s a chance to get into Walmart’s physical stores (though that’s a big stretch for most small sellers).
Cons (the real pain points):
Traffic heavily favors first-party (1P) sellers. In competitive categories, third-party listings might not even show up on the first page. A 1P listing with minimal effort will outrank a well-optimized 3P listing.
Hijacking is a nightmare. You get hijacked, you can’t do much about it. Brand Registry (R mark) doesn’t stop hijackers. The only real protection is Brand Gate, which only large sellers can get. Hijackers use multiple accounts, ship junk, and price so low you can’t compete. Most of them operate out of China.
WFS shipping costs kill low-ticket items.
≤1 lb: $3.45
1–2 lb: $4.95
3 lb: $5.45
If your item sells for under $10, they add another $1 per order.
That means a $9 item has $4.45 in shipping alone, plus 15% commission, plus inbound shipping and product cost. You can’t make it work. Large sellers can get the under-$10 fee waived, but most can’t.
The IT system is a disaster. Bugs everywhere — shopping cart disappears, inventory shows out of stock when it’s in stock, variations get split, new listings don’t appear, products get error’d out for no reason. They roll out new features without testing. It’s frustrating.
Returns are brutal. WFS products are returnable for 90 days, no questions asked. Customers can return to physical Walmart stores. You pay return shipping:
1 lb: $4.70
2 lb: $6.20
3 lb: $6.70
Who should actually sell on Walmart:
If you sell heavy, high-ticket items (over $40), especially in home goods (which was 25% of GMV in 2023), Walmart can work. Hijackers and unreliable shipping methods don’t work well for large items.
For small sellers? It’s better as a secondary channel. Don’t make it your main focus unless you have clear supply chain advantages.