How Do Walmart Marketplace Payments Work?

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Disclaimer: The following post is based on publicly available information and is subject to change. Payability does not claim to have any inside information into Walmart’s operations or when Walmart Marketplace pays third party sellers.

Selling on third-party marketplaces offers a lot of opportunity — especially when those marketplaces are household names like Walmart or Amazon. 

These sites get a lot of traffic, which means you can maximize reach and make more sales.  

For Walmart specifically, there is even more opportunity because the marketplace is less saturated than Amazon’s. So, you’d likely see less competition there than you would on Amazon for the same product and/or category.

Needless to say, you’re bound to sell a lot. This is great for your bottom line, but when will you actually get paid for your sales? 

In this guide, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about how Walmart payouts work. You’ll have a better understanding of how often you’ll get paid, when and how you get paid, what’s included in (and taken out of) each payout, and more. 

Let’s get started.

Walmart Payment Cycles: How Often You’ll Get Paid

How often you get paid by Walmart is determined upon Seller account approval. Payments are typically made every 14 days, though there is a 7-day payment cycle for some sellers. 

If you’re not sure whether you have a biweekly or weekly payment cycle, check your Walmart Marketplace Retailer Agreement or look at the dates of your Payment History Reports. 

Unlike Amazon’s payout schedule and , Walmart has a fixed Marketplace settlement schedule — i.e. payment cycles don’t depend on your start date as a seller, but rather according to Walmart’s schedule. You can find the 2020 settlement schedule here.

Note that Walmart holds payments for longer than your designated payment cycle if:

• You’re a new seller: For your first 90 days as a seller (and once you’ve sold $5,000 in gross sales), Walmart will impose an additional 14-day waiting period. For example, if you began selling on Walmart.com on Saturday, June 5, 2020 and ship 20 orders between that date and June 19, 2020, you’ll get paid for those sales in the July 7, 2020 settlement, not the expected June 23, 2020 as outlined in their settlement schedule.
• You’re under review: If Walmart identifies any red flags with your account, they’ll impose a risk assessment review and hold payment until the review is complete. Similar to Amazon’s Account Level Reserve, these payment holds vary in length. 

If you notice a hold on your account, you can contact Partner Support within Seller Help. Choose Support >> Payments & Adjustments >> A missing payment.

Walmart Payment Processing: How & When You’ll Get Your Funds

Walmart uses two third-party payment processing partners: Payoneer and Hyperwallet — one of which you select and sign up for as you set up your Walmart seller account.

Regardless of the payment processor you choose, payments are posted on the first Tuesday following a particular settlement cut-off date (i.e. the “Last Day of Cycle” that’s listed on their settlement schedule). Depending on your banking institution, you could receive that payment as early as Wednesday morning.

Three important notes about payment processing:

• What Sales Are Included: The sales that are included in each payment correspond to orders that SHIP within a given settlement period — not on orders that are created within it. Since Walmart doesn’t offer a fulfillment service like Amazon FBA, you likely own the fulfillment and shipping requirements for every order. Shipping out quickly — or outsourcing to a third-party fulfillment company (such as Deliverr) — will only help you get paid faster.
• ACH Processing Fees: For settlements covering USD to US bank ACH payments that are made through payment processors, Walmart bears all settlement costs. Thus, you will receive 100% of the funds you are owed (more on that below). If you don’t want to be paid via ACH, you can opt for a different method from Payoneer or Hyperwallet — just keep in mind that payment processing fees may apply for other methods.
• Impact of Holidays: Certain holidays will impact settlement dates.

Walmart Payment Fees: What Gets Taken Out of Your Payouts

There is no listing fee, setup fee, subscription fee or annual/monthly seller fee when you sell on Walmart. Instead, Walmart will only charge you when you sell a product. How much they charge you — known as their “commission” — depends on an item’s product category. Walmart charges 6% to 20% depending on product category. 

Note that these category-based commissions correspond to your Walmart Marketplace Retailer Agreement. They might not necessarily match up with the actual categorization you select for a product when you set up a new listing. 

Certain categorizations will be obvious — for example, necklaces are undoubtedly “Jewelry”.

Whereas others might cause confusion. For instance, computer monitors could fall under “Office Products” or “Personal Computers.” As you can see in the chart above, those categories have different commission rates. Using this example, tagging a computer monitor incorrectly could result in the wrong commission fee. 

Selecting the right category is important for a number of reasons. First, you’ll get the right commission rate (and possibly prevent yourself from getting charged MORE for selecting the wrong category). 

Second, your products will end up in the right search results, thus increasing your chances of making sales. To select the right categories, follow Walmart’s Categorization Guide here and pay close attention to their common categorizing mistakes.

If you think you’re being charged incorrectly and need a categorization or commission rate adjustment, open a case with Partner Support. Select “Disputes” under Issue Category then “Commission” under Sub Category 1 and provide the following information:

• Settlement date for your miscategorized item (this would be the date of your Payment Details report that includes the item you’re disputing). For your review to be considered, you must submit it within 90 days of the settlement date.
• File name of said Payment Details report. It’s usually formatted as follows: <partner_name>_MMDDYYYY_reconciliationreport.csv
• A copy of the report containing ONLY the disputed items/orders. Make sure to highlight ItemID, Item Name, SpecCategory, ContractCategory, and Commission Rate (%).
• The ContractCategory you believe this item should fall under with a brief explanation for why

Decisions are typically made within 14 days of Walmart acknowledging your request. If it’s approved, you should see the adjustment on your Payment Details report within 30 days of approval.

Understanding Walmart Net Payable Amounts

In addition to commission rates, you might see other deductions in your payments. In the “Net Payable” column of your Payment Report, you can see how your net payable amount was calculated. It will show the following:

• Product Price
• Shipping
• Product Tax
• Shipping Tax
• Other Taxes (Fees)
• Net Amount collected from Buyer
• Product Tax Withheld
• Shipping Tax Withheld
• Other Taxes (Fees) Withheld
• Commission Rate
• Commission on Product Price
• Commission on Shipping
• Net Payable Amount

Pro Tip: If you are not yet selling on Walmart, check out this post on how to become a Walmart marketplace seller. 

Payoneer vs. Hyperwallet for Walmart Sellers

Hyperwallet and Payoneer are both popular choices for Walmart sellers. The main distinction between the two is that Hyperwallet offers low transaction fees and a wide range of payment options in more places, but less fraud protection. Payoneer not only offers substantial fraud protection, but also comes with a rewards card. It’s important to weigh all the pros and cons for your Walmart business before deciding between Payoneer and Hyperwallet.

How to Get Paid Faster for Your Walmart Marketplace Sales

Waiting for marketplace payouts can do a number on your business, especially if you have to wait to buy more inventory, invest in marketing, stock up on shipping supplies, and the list goes on. If you’d like to get paid sooner so you can turn inventory more quickly, invest in other growth areas, and keep your sales momentum going, you might want to consider Instant Access from Payability. 

Instant Access gets you paid the next day, every day on your Walmart marketplace sales and/or your sales on other marketplaces that pay on terms such as Amazon, Tophatter, Newegg, and more. The application process is fast and simple. Just fill out a 10 minute application and connect your marketplace(s). Since approval is based on account health and sales performance, there are absolutely no credit checks and you can get approved in just 24 hours. 

Here’s how Instant Access works: Each day Payability advances you up to 80% of your marketplace sales, the remaining 20% is put on reserve to cover returns and chargebacks and released to you once Walmart or the marketplace you sell on releases your payout. The standard fee for Instant Access is 2% of sales. High volume businesses with $100,000+/month in sales may qualify for reduced fees. Apply here to get started. As mentioned above, there are no credit checks or obligations associated with applying. 

In addition to Instant Access, Payability also offers Instant Advance, a capital advance based on your future Walmart, Amazon, Shopify, or eCommerce sales. You’ll receive up to a month’s worth of sales upfront with an Instant Advance (up to $250,000 in 24 hours). Like with Instant Access, there are no credit checks and a friction-free application process. Unlike similar products like Shopify Capital or Amazon Lending that hold you to the full fee no matter if the pay back is early, Instant Advance customers receive a fee rebate for early collection.