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How to Get Approved for Walmart Marketplace

Getting approved to sell on Walmart Marketplace is a gate, not a growth plan. Brands doing $1M to $20M often treat the application as a form they will finish after the ads are built. Walmart reviews the business first. A campaign on an account that is not open, or an item the catalog has not accepted, does not teach you anything. It spends.

This is the application and the Seller Center setup. What to do in the months after you are live, including listings that are not a paste of Amazon and the first 90 days, is how to expand an Amazon brand to Walmart. If you want that work done with you, the service page is Walmart marketplace agency: approval, listings, WFS, Walmart Connect, then reviews.

We do not guarantee approval. Walmart decides. The requirements below are Walmart's, from their Marketplace Learn guide "Before you start selling on Walmart Marketplace" (updated September 2, 2026) and the business verification guide. Read those pages before you upload anything. This post is the order we use so a $1M to $20M brand does not stall on a document mismatch.

What Walmart requires before you apply

Walmart's own guide says signing up is free and that you pay a referral fee on each item sold. It also says there are minimum requirements, because they want a smaller set of sellers than an open bazaar. For a US application, plan on all of the following. If one is missing, fix it before you start the form.

• A business tax ID or a business license number. Walmart says a Social Security number is not accepted.
• A copy of a personal ID for the person verifying the business.
• The business entity type, and documents that match the legal name and address.
• A history of selling on a marketplace or through another ecommerce channel. A brand new company with no orders anywhere is a harder file. We do not pretend otherwise.
• Products that use GTIN or UPC barcodes with a GS1 company prefix. Made-up barcodes are a common reason a catalog fails later, even if the company is approved.
• A catalog that fits Walmart's prohibited products policy. If a hero SKU is on the wrong side of that policy, do not build the application around it.
• A way to fulfill: Walmart Fulfillment Services, or your own US warehouse that sells to consumers, can process returns, and can meet their seller performance standards.

Category gates sit on top of that list. Some products need an extra review after the company is approved. The application will tell you. Do not assume a grocery item, a supplement, or anything with a compliance document is approved because the seller account opened. Check the category before you promise a launch date to anyone inside the company.

Business verification in Seller Center

You apply at Walmart Marketplace and finish onboarding in Seller Center. Verification is the first step Walmart describes: they check the business against federal, state, and, where it applies, international records. The form asks for the country or region of incorporation, the state registration number or business license number, the entity type, and a business phone.

Then it asks for the primary contact and the role, such as owner or authorized signatory. Then it asks for the identity document. Walmart's verification guide is blunt about this part: type the name and the residential address exactly as they appear on the ID, including punctuation. A nickname, a suite number you use on invoices but not on the license, or a legal name that does not match the tax ID is how applications sit. If you get an EIN validation error, their tip is the same: match the documents, then use Help in Seller Center if it still fails.

Uploads come next. Their guide asks for a photo ID, front and back, clear and without flash glare, as a PNG, JPG, or PDF. A business license or registration certificate should show the company name, address, and date in a way a reviewer can read. They may also ask for proof of address, such as a utility bill or a letter of authorization. They cap each file at 5MB. A scan you cannot read on your own phone will not get more generous on their side.

GTINs, the catalog, and items you should not submit

Company approval and item setup are different reviews. You can be a seller and still be unable to publish a SKU. Walmart wants GS1-prefixed barcodes, not a code bought from a random reseller that does not trace to your brand. If your Amazon listings use barcodes you cannot defend, fix that before you map the catalog across. The expand guide covers why a pasted Amazon title is the expensive mistake after you are in. The barcode problem happens earlier, at the spreadsheet.

Pull the prohibited products policy and read it against the actual assortment, not against the brand story. One restricted SKU in an otherwise ordinary catalog can stall the items around it if you submit them as a single feed. For a brand in the $1M to $20M range, the right first catalog is the SKUs that already sell and that you can fulfill, not the full Amazon assortment on day one.

Have the product facts the item template will ask for: title, brand, images, key attributes, and the identifier. Missing attributes are why an item looks "submitted" and never becomes buyable. That is a content problem, and it is also why we do not jump from "we got the email" to "turn on ads."

Fulfillment: WFS or your own warehouse

Walmart's requirement is practical. You either ship from a US consumer warehouse that can take returns and hold seller performance standards, or you use Walmart Fulfillment Services. WFS is Walmart storing and shipping the unit, and handling customer support and returns on those orders. It is the closest thing to FBA, and it is not automatic. Enrollment, item setup, and inbound are their own project.

How we run that project is on Walmart WFS management. The longer comparison with FBA fees and the decision of which SKUs belong in the program is the WFS guide. Do not split your Amazon inventory into WFS just because the application asked how you will ship. The Walmart item has to justify a second pile of stock, and the replenishment has to feed both channels.

If you will seller-fulfill, the shipping template and the returns address have to exist before the item is buyable. A delivery promise you cannot keep becomes a performance problem, and performance problems are how new accounts get restricted after the celebration email. Set the promise to something the warehouse has already hit, not to the promise you hope to grow into.

What to finish after the account opens

Approval is the start of setup, not the start of scale. In Seller Center, finish payments, tax settings, fulfillment, and returns before you publish a pile of items. Then publish a short list. Then check that a shopper can actually buy the item: price, inventory, and a delivery date that matches the template.

Brand owners with a registered trademark should look at Walmart Brand Portal once the account is real. Walmart describes it as the place to manage brands and intellectual property claims. It is not a substitute for a clean item page. It is also not Amazon Brand Registry with a new logo. Do not skip the item template because the brand portal login worked.

The operating plan for the first months, including why an account manager inside Walmart is a different lever from an agency login, lives in the expand guide. Read it after the account is open. Reading it instead of the application is how teams write a 90-day plan for a seller account they do not have.

When not to turn on Walmart Connect

Walmart Connect is the ad platform: Sponsored Search, onsite display, and brand placements, once the account is allowed to use them. It is the wrong first click. An item that is unpublished, out of stock, or missing the attributes Walmart uses as filters will not teach you a bid. Wait until the offer can be bought.

The management of that auction, after the item is ready, is Walmart Connect ads agency. The 3x Year 1 growth figure on that page is a result we stand behind for the accounts in that set. It is not what approval produces, and it is not a promise for a new seller in week one. Costs and the calculator live on the pages linked from that service. Use them when you are ready to fund a test, not while the ID photo is still uploading.

Reviews are the other reason to wait. A zero-review item can be approved and still be a bad place to spend. The review programs Walmart allows are a separate guide. Build a base, then buy traffic. There is no step in the application where an agency is supposed to invent reviews.

A simple order for a brand that already sells on Amazon

1. Confirm the legal entity, the tax ID, and the address match on every document you will upload.
2. Confirm GS1 barcodes and drop any SKU the prohibited products policy will reject.
3. Decide WFS or your own warehouse for the first items, and make sure that path can take a return.
4. Apply, then answer Seller Center exactly. Do not "clean up" a legal name so it looks nicer.
5. After approval, payments, shipping, and a short catalog. Then content that is written for Walmart search.
6. Only then, Connect, on items a shopper can buy.

If you want a person to run that list with you, say on the call whether the blocker is the application, the item feed, or the ads. We would rather spend the 30 minutes on the blocker than on a tour of the channel.

FAQ

Is it free to apply to Walmart Marketplace?

Walmart says signing up to sell is free, and that you pay a referral fee on each item sold. That is their pricing, not a SellTru fee. Agency help, if you want it, is a separate scope quoted after we see where the application stands.

Can I apply with a Social Security number?

No. Walmart's requirements say a Social Security number is not accepted. They want a business tax ID or a business license number, plus documents that verify the business name and address, and a personal ID for verification.

Do I need GS1 barcodes?

Walmart asks for products that have GTIN or UPC numbers with a GS1 company prefix. If the barcodes on your Amazon listings do not trace to your company, fix that before you submit the catalog. Approval of the business does not approve a bad identifier.

Can SellTru guarantee Walmart will approve us?

No. Walmart decides. We can assemble the file, match the legal name across the documents, and answer the follow-up they send. We do not promise a date, and we do not promise an approval.

Should I launch Walmart Connect the day I am approved?

Not if the item cannot be purchased yet. Finish payments, fulfillment, and a live offer first. Connect is the step after a shopper can buy the product. The 3x Year 1 figure on our Connect page is not a week-one result.

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Get the documents to match, then get one item buyable, then advertise. Approval is the first of those, and it is the one teams skip because it feels like paperwork.