Understanding Walmart Seller Fees: A Comprehensive Guide
If you’re considering selling on Walmart Marketplace, it’s essential to understand the various fees associated with being a seller. While Walmart offers a large customer base and the potential for high sales, it’s crucial to factor in the costs of selling on the platform.
In this guide, we’ll break down the different fees you can expect as a Walmart seller and provide tips on minimizing your expenses.
Why Are There Fees for Selling at Walmart?
It’s crucial to understand the reason behind Walmart’s charges for selling on its platform before we discuss specific fees. As with any marketplace, maintaining and operating the platform and providing support and resources for sellers incurs costs for Walmart.
Additionally, Walmart has strict standards for sellers, such as high-quality products and fast shipping times, which necessitate resources and investments from Walmart, reflected in their fees.
Walmart Seller Fees
Selling products on Walmart’s online marketplace is free of any subscription fees or monthly charges unlike most other online platforms. You won’t be charged for product listings, which sets Walmart apart from Amazon.
However, you will be charged a referral fee based on the category of your product, which ranges from 6% to 20% of the selling price. Walmart claims to apply the most accurate referral fee rates to your items and is committed to continuously improving its system to ensure that.
Walmart has a transparent pricing structure with clear referral fees, which vary by category and are based on chosen product types during setup. Use the guide below to determine your referral fees:
| Product Category | Referral Fee Percentage |
|---|---|
| Apparel & Accessories | 15% |
| Automotive & Powersports | 12% |
| Automotive Electronics | 8% for categories including Dash & Backup Cameras, Car Speakers, Power Inverters, Vehicle Tracking Systems, Car Video Monitors, Radar Detectors, Automotive Remote Starters, Anti-Theft Devices & Car Speakerphones |
| 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% |
| Camera & Photo | 8% |
| 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% |
| Gourmet Food | 15% |
| Grocery | 8% for items with a total sales price of $10 or less 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10 |
| 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% |
| Indoor & Outdoor Furniture | 15% on the first $200 / 10% on amounts over $200 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 12% |
| 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% |
| Major Appliances | 8% |
| Music | 15% |
| Musical Instruments | 12% |
| Office Products | 15%, except 8% for Calculators |
| Outdoor Power Tools | 15% for items with a total sales price ≤ $500 8% for items with a total sales price > $500 |
| Outdoors | 15% except 8% for Hunting Trail Monitors, Binoculars, Telescopes, Spotting Scopes, and Night Vision Goggles |
| Personal Computers | 6% |
| Pet Supplies | 15% |
| Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Ventilation | 10% |
| Shoes, Handbags & Sunglasses | 15% |
| Software & Computer Video Games | 15% |
| Sporting Goods | 15% |
| Tires & Wheels | 10% |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 15%, except 12% for Base Power Tools |
| Toys & Games | 15% |
| Video & DVD | 15% |
| Video Game Consoles | 8% |
| Video Games | 15% |
| Watches | 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $1,500 3% for the portion of the total sales price greater than $1,500 |
| Everything Else | 15% |
How Are Sellers Paid on Walmart?
Walmart uses Payoneer (payoneer.com) to process payments and pay its Marketplace sellers.
Who Handles the Fulfillment?
As a Walmart supplier, the way you handle fulfillment differs from that of a Walmart Marketplace seller. If you’re a Marketplace seller, you can take care of warehousing and shipping on your own. Walmart provides you with a Walmart.com site to sell your products, and you can handle fulfillment by yourself.
However, Walmart also offers Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) to Marketplace sellers. Once accepted as a seller, you can use WFS to set up your products and ship your inventory to a Walmart facility. From there, Walmart will take care of storing, packing, picking, and shipping your orders.
Regardless of whether or not a Marketplace seller uses WFS, Walmart monitors fulfillment accuracy and customer satisfaction. Walmart.com shoppers are asked to provide feedback on the products they purchase from Marketplace sellers and their overall satisfaction with the experience, including communication and delivery.
Conclusion
Selling on Walmart Marketplace can be a profitable venture, but it’s important to understand and factor in the various fees associated with being a seller. By optimizing your product listings, negotiating shipping rates, and monitoring your performance metrics, you can minimize your expenses and maximize your profits on Walmart Marketplace.
Make sure to regularly check and modify your strategies to make sure you’re getting the most out of your investment in selling on Walmart. With the right approach, you can achieve success as a Walmart seller while keeping your fees to a minimum.