Walmart offers several fulfillment options to help Marketplace sellers manage shipping more efficiently. There are three primary ways to handle fulfillment: self-fulfillment, using Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), or working with a Walmart-approved third-party Solution Provider. Within these fulfillment approaches, sellers can choose from five shipping methods: Value, Standard, TwoDay, OneDay, or Freight.
Sellers must support a minimum of one shipping method.
The Different Fulfillment Approaches
Seller-Managed
As the name suggests, Seller-Managed fulfillment requires the Marketplace seller to fulfill and ship orders from its warehouse or 3PL. Walmart requires that sellers meet certain requirements to be eligible for this option. The criteria are as follows:
Sellers must either have been on the Marketplace for more than 90 days or have filled at least 100 Marketplace orders.
Sellers must have a return policy that allows for quick and easy merchandise returns for a large variety of reasons.
Sellers must have good Order Defect Rate (ODR) scores within the most recent thirty days, matching these metrics:
On-Time Delivery: greater than 95%
Valid Tracking Rate: greater than 99%
Cancellation Rate: less than 2%
Refund Rate: less than 6%
Seller Response Rate: greater than 95%
To become seller-managed, sellers must click on the Request Access button in the Shipping settings page in Seller Central. Next, Walmart will review the seller’s performance and ODR. Walmart typically approves sellers within 48 hours. Once approved, sellers will be able to set up fulfillment within the TwoDay shipping page or integrate the API.
Third-Party Managed
Third-party managed fulfillment simply means the seller utilizes Walmart’s partners, Deliverr or ShipBob. Deliverr has its own fulfillment centers and is available to every Marketplace seller regardless of performance. However, there are a few requirements that sellers’ products must meet to eligible for Deliverr’s fulfillment:
Each product cannot weigh more than 75 US pounds.
Each product must conform to the following measurements:
The longest side cannot be more than 40 US inches.
The median side must be less than 30 US inches.
The shortest side must be less than 15 US inches.
The product must not be on Deliverr’s restricted product list.
Sellers can sign up with Deliverr and connect to their Seller Central accounts to set up their items. Deliverr will display each item’s delivery cost and ways to manage the seller’s account.
Walmart Managed
For sellers who want to offload the complexity of fulfillment, Walmart offers a fulfillment services program known as “Walmart Fulfillment Services” (WFS) that’s directly integrated with the Walmart Marketplace. Through WFS, sellers can store inventory in Walmart operated fulfillment centers where Walmart will be responsible for picking, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns.
To participate in WFS, sellers must already be approved for Walmart Marketplace and must meet product eligibility.
Products that are not eligible for WFS include:
Perishable or temperature sensitive goods.
Items listed as prohibited by Walmart (i.e. Fully regulated hazardous items, live plants, pesticides, alcoholic beverages, etc.).
Packages that weigh over 500lbs or exceed 120” x 105” x 93” when fully packaged.
Once approved, sellers can opt into the program by adding their WFS information in Seller Center. After setup, eligible products will be displayed with a “Fulfilled by Walmart” tag and 2-Day Shipping badge, both of which can help improve product visibility and conversion rates on Walmart.com.
WFS offers a straightforward fee structure with no monthly subscription or sign-up costs. Instead, sellers are charged based on the item’s weight and dimensions:
A fixed monthly storage fee
A fulfillment fee per unit shipped
Additional fees may apply to apparel, oversized products, low-priced items, or hazardous materials. Items that move slowly during peak seasons may also incur higher storage costs.
The Different Shipping Methods Available
Free Value Shipping
The default shipping method for all Marketplace sellers is Free Value Shipping. This method offers free delivery to the customer in all 50 states, including Washington D.C, with a transit time of 6-7 business days.
The advantage of this method is that it allows sellers to take their time in fulfilling the order, and the cost is lower for the customer. However, this means that sellers may not charge the customer for shipping, regardless of the seller’s costs. This option may be disabled by creating a Paid Standard Shipping template or sellers may exclude items during set up from Free Value Shipping by using the same item spec sheet.
Standard Shipping
Standard shipping is an optional method sellers can set up in Seller Center and has a transit time of 3-5 days. When setting up standard shipping, sellers can choose to charge their customers a shipping fee or not. The disadvantage of charging customers, however, is that if a fee is applied the item will not be eligible for Buy Box incentive as well as boosts in search results.
OneDay & TwoDay Shipping
Unlike Standard and Value shipping that is available to all sellers, OneDay and TwoDay shipping are only available for select sellers who’ve met the performance criteria (more in chapter 5).
TwoDay shipping allows for customers to create orders for free delivery within 1-2 days. These orders are unlimited, with no membership requirements or order limits. The TwoDay shipping program offers two options for fulfillment: Seller-Managed and Third-Party via Deliver.
Freight Shipping
Walmart utilizes less-than-truckload (LTL) freight shipping for items that are too large to ship via basic ground or air carrier services, such as UPS. Sellers must configure freight shipping via shipping overrides in Seller Central, not through the shipping settings page.
This option is available for all shipping regions, and sellers set the item’s delivery price individually, including free delivery. Walmart presets the transit time to 6-10 business days for all regions, including Alaska, Hawai’i, APO/FPOs, etc.
Walmart Marketplace Shipping Standards
Walmart has implemented specific shipping standards for each option, including fulfillment times and schedules. These standards are as follows:
Processing Schedule
Order Cutoff Time
Item-Level Fulfillment Lag Time
Expected Ship Date (ESD) and Expected Delivery Date (EDD)
Processing Schedule
Walmart defines the seller processing schedule as the days of the week that the seller chooses to fulfill orders. Walmart requires sellers to process orders Monday through Friday (i.e., business days). Walmart does not consider Saturdays and Sundays as business days and has chosen to disable these days.
Sellers may disable processing days via the Additional Days Off portal on the Partner Profile page for company holidays or days where fulfillment is not possible (e.g., severe weather conditions or closings due to COVID-19). Walmart restricts these days off and still requires sellers to provide exceptional customer service even on these days. Sellers should take care not to use days off excessively, or Walmart may choose to delist their products due to performance standards.
Order Cutoff Time
The order cutoff time refers to the time during which a customer places an order. This time determines when Walmart expects the seller to process the order. For all shipping options, the order cutoff time is 2 PM local time, Monday through Friday.
So, if a customer places an order at 1:59 PM within the same time zone as the seller on a business day, the seller must begin processing that order that day. If, however, a customer places the order at 2:01 PM, then the seller may start to process the order the next business day.
Order cutoff times are subject to the seller’s processing schedule, so sellers may begin processing orders placed on holidays, etc., on the next scheduled business day.
For sellers with fulfillment centers in different time zones, they can configure order cutoff times to match their FC’s local time. The allowed time zones for order cutoff times are EST, CST, MST, and PST.
Item-Level Fulfillment Lag Time
Sellers determine fulfillment lag time at the item level, depending on the number of days it takes to prepare that particular item for shipment to the customer. Sellers may create lag time exceptions to individual items in Item Setup product categories. Changes to fulfillment lag time may take up to 24 hours to appear on the Marketplace.
Sellers should be careful utilizing lag time, as it can negatively impact the customer’s experience and cause low performance scores. By default, Walmart requires that sellers have a lag time of less than one business day to remain on their specified order processing schedule.
Walmart limits approval of lag time exceptions based on the type of product. Once approved, the seller will be able to add the lag time within the allowed product category by uploading the “Lag Time Feed.” Typically, Walmart accepts exceptions to lag time for categories that require additional time, such as made-to-order products, customized items, and print-on-demand services. Additionally, Walmart will approve up to 10 business days of lag time for Freight/LTL shipping.
Walmart will reject lag time exceptions for sellers who use third-party vendors for fulfillment or processing. Additionally, Walmart will not approve exceptions for SKUs or categories that are preordered, are on backorder, or need extra time to ship due to issues with the seller’s supply chain.
Expected Ship Date (ESD) and Expected Delivery Date (EDD)
Every order placed on Walmart’s Marketplace comes with an Expected Delivery Date (EDD), which Walmart determines using the total fulfillment time. With each order, Walmart will give the seller an Expected Ship Date (ESD) that the seller must adhere to or else face a decrease in OTD.
Expected Ship Date (ESD)
Walmart determines the Expected Ship Date (ESD) of an order by calculating the product’s fulfillment lag time and the order cutoff time. Walmart expects sellers to provide an order’s shipping confirmation and tracking number by the ESD to mark the order as “Shipped On-Time.”
Walmart breaks down the ESD for orders as follows:
Fulfillment Lag Time | Date the Order Must Be Shipped |
0 | Same day |
1 day | Next day |
2 days | The day after next |
Order cutoff times apply as well. So, if an order has a fulfillment lag time of zero days, and the seller receives the order at 2:01 PM local time, Walmart will expect the seller to ship the order the next day.
Expected Delivery Date (EDD)
When a seller receives an order, Walmart will calculate the Expected Delivery Date (EDD) based on the ESD and send it to the customer. The EDD is the date on which the customer must receive the order for Walmart to consider the order “Delivered On-Time.” Walmart calculates this date using several factors, including your set order cutoff time, fulfillment lag, operational days, and the transit times you’ve configured for each item in Seller Center. While the EDD reflects the timeline based on your setup, the Estimated Delivery Date shown to Walmart.com shoppers may differ slightly.
To stay in good standing, sellers are required to maintain an on-time delivery (OTD) rate of 95% or higher. Falling below that threshold can negatively impact your listing’s performance and overall account health. If an item is five days past the expected delivery date and the tracking data shows no movement within the last three days, Walmart may classify the order as stalled. In these cases, Walmart has the right to cancel the order and issue a refund to the customer. Any related costs are the seller’s responsibility. Frequent issues with meeting delivery timelines may result in account warnings or even selling restrictions.
Behind the scenes, Walmart assigns the EDD by adding the maximum transit time for the selected shipping method and destination. This calculation is reviewed regularly to assess potential delays and determine whether refund or cancellation action is necessary.