News & Announcements
Protect Your Intellectual Property
We’re excited to introduce the Walmart Brand Portal, a centralized platform where brand owners can register their brands, submit and track intellectual property claims, manage their authorized representatives, and get up-to-date reporting to track the progress of each claim. Brand owners with one or more registered trademarks can sign-up today to start protecting your intellectual property.
New Inbound Logistics Service for Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) is excited to announce a new cost-effective Inbound Logistics service, Preferred Carrier Program, that WFS sellers can use as a transportation solution to inbound inventory to our warehouses. Sellers who take advantage of the program will receive discounted ground shipping via FedEx for small parcels and dependable delivery timelines.
If you’d like to add the service, head to Seller Center now and navigate to the WFS Send Inventory section and select Manage Shipment, or visit Seller Help for more information.
Summer Home Décor Trend Forecast: Brighten up your assortment
As summer begins to bring warmer days ahead, we’re seeing Home Décor trends follow suit. Read our latest Sell Better Blog to find out which summer styles and categories are favorites among customers. Plus, let us know if you plan on offering any of these items to get additional exposure on Walmart.com.
Lost After Delivery (LAD) Policy Reminder
As previously communicated, we’ve been closely evaluating the industry-wide increase in refund requests for shipments lost after delivery (LAD) and are taking steps to protect sellers from unauthorized claims. We also now require customers to wait 2 days after the estimated delivery date (EDD) before submitting a claim. As a reminder, sellers are responsible for customer resolutions and refunds regarding packages lost in transit, damaged in transit, lost after delivery (LAD), or delivered to the incorrect address.
Sellers have several different options to manage and resolve missing orders. We strongly encourage you to contact the carrier for additional support, request shipping insurance for high-value items, or require a signature or photo for proof of a successful delivery.
New Shipping Carriers Options in Seller Center
Later this month, we’re adding more shipping carrier options for sellers to choose from when entering tracking and carrier details into Seller Center. This will enable tracking numbers and statuses to auto-populate for shipped orders which will improve the customer experience with valid information for tracking their orders.
Payments & Tax
Marketplace Sales Tax Collection Update
Due to recent tax law changes, effective July 1, Walmart Marketplace is required to collect and remit sales tax on all taxable marketplace sales shipped to Florida and Kansas.
Payment Fees
As a reminder, in accordance with our Seller Promise, our default payment method is “direct deposit” to your bank account with no fees to you, ensuring that you receive 100% of your funds.
Requirements for no fee payments:
- Enrollment with your payment processor must be initiated from your Seller Center account.
- Payment must be delivered to a U.S. or Canadian bank account that supports direct deposit (ACH).
If you are paying fees today and wish to change to “no fees payment delivery”, please contact your payment service provider (Payoneer or Hyperwallet). You will need to have your business bank account details available when you contact them.
IRS Mandates
IRS mandates require Walmart to ensure that your tax profile on file with us is accurate and a W-9 or W-8 form is on file with your payment processor.
Please note, that in order to comply with this mandate, we will be verifying seller tax IDs and legal names on file with us with the IRS and we may contact you if your information cannot be verified.
How do I verify my tax profile is correct?
- Login to Seller Center
- Select “Tax Profile” under “Settings” on the top menu bar
- Verify that your:
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- Legal name in the Name field
- Tax ID (TIN)
- Tax classification (W-9, W8-ECI, W-8BEN) are correct.
- If the information shown is correct, please open a Partner Support case for further assistance
- If you made changes to your tax profile, you will be notified after the information has been verified
We are also working with Payoneer and Hyperwallet to ensure that every seller receiving payments has a W-9 or W8ECI/W-8BEN-E form on file with them. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in payment delays.
What happens if I don’t correct my information?
If after 30 days, you have not updated your information or opened a Partner Support case, your payments may be suspended until we can verify your tax information with the IRS. Further actions may include, but are not limited to:
- Collecting backup withholding on gross payments at the rate of 24%, as directed by the IRS
- An IRS-imposed $270 penalty for incorrect information if updates are not made before your 1099-K form is filed for the calendar year (penalty assessed each year information remains incorrect)
- Additional solicitations from Walmart to obtain correct information
Please refer to the IRS for more detailed information.
Content Categorization
Last year, we made improvements to the content categorization process we use to determine referral fees. All content is now categorized automatically to increase accuracy, reduces errors, and produce more consistent rates.
As a reminder, the category provided during content ingestion is only used to display the most appropriate set of attributes to describe your content; it is not used to set referral fee rates.
How does our automated categorization work?
Our categorization scheme prioritizes “what an item is” over “how the item is used”, unless the item is specialized enough that it can only be used a designated category, precluding its use in other settings, the general category will be used.
- Example 1: Leather care products can be used on leather car seats, leather jackets, leather accessories and leather furnishings. Therefore, leather care products are associated with Home & Garden at 15%.
- Example 2: An automotive wrench will be categorized under Automotive & Powersports at 12% rather than Tools & Home Improvement at 15%, because its use is restricted to automobiles.
Please keep these guidelines in mind before contacting Partner Support.
Policies & Guidelines
Prohibited Products Policy Improvements
We understand and recognize your need for additional information regarding the products that are prohibited on Walmart Marketplace and have improved our Prohibited Products Policy to provide more clarification. We’ve also added additional resources for compliance-related topics, including resources provided by regulatory bodies to give you a better understanding of which products we prohibit.
If you have questions about our Prohibited Products Policy or would like additional guidance, please create a case for Partner Support and reference code TNS.
Review the Walmart Seller Pricing Policy
We want to remind sellers that the Walmart Marketplace pricing policy is in place to ensure that customers have access to fair, competitive prices for products offered by sellers on Walmart Marketplace.
For all products, including products such as hand sanitizers, cleaning agents, face masks, etc., we require sellers to continue to adhere to Marketplace policies regarding price and advertising claims to ensure customer trust in Walmart Marketplace. Products that are priced in violation of the pricing policy will be removed. Please refer to the Pricing Policy and our Prohibited Products Policy for more information.
If prices change and the item now falls within the acceptable range, the item will automatically republish, typically within 48 hours. If more than 48 hours has passed and you believe your item remains incorrectly unpublished, please create a case for Partner Support.
Security & Privacy
Walmart protects your security and privacy. We will never ask for personal information (such as passwords or credit card numbers) in an email. If you receive such a request, please do not respond to the email.
