The complete guide to selling on Amazon and Walmart as a brand

This guide is for product brands, consumer and B2B2C, deciding how to sell on the two largest US marketplaces. Perhaps you sell through your own store and a few wholesale accounts, or a reseller already lists your products on Amazon at a price you did not set. The question is the same: which account type, which fulfillment model, and in what order.

By the end you should be able to choose between selling to Amazon and Walmart as a supplier (first party, or 1P) and selling through them as a marketplace seller (third party, or 3P), estimate the main fees, pick a fulfillment option, protect your listings and run a 90-day launch. If you sell a handful of units a month and do not plan to grow the channel, a basic listing will do.

Summary

• Amazon offers two relationships: Seller Central (3P, open to anyone) and Vendor Central (1P, by invitation only). Walmart has a parallel split: Marketplace (3P, by application) and supplier (1P, through Retail Link and Supplier One).
• Referral fees on the two marketplaces are close in most categories, often 15%. The real cost differences sit in fulfillment, storage, advertising and Amazon’s $39.99 monthly Professional plan, which Walmart does not charge.
• FBA and Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) buy you fast-delivery badges and hand off returns. They also bring capacity limits, storage fees, peak surcharges and penalties for running low.
• Register your trademark before you launch. Amazon Brand Registry accepts pending trademarks; Walmart Brand Portal requires a registered USPTO mark.
• Both marketplaces compare your price with prices elsewhere and will hide or remove offers that look high. Your lowest price anywhere becomes your ceiling on both.
• Choose 3P if you want control of price, content and inventory. Accept 1P if Amazon or Walmart invites you and you can live with wholesale terms, EDI compliance and less say over retail price.

1. The four ways to sell: 1P, 3P and hybrid

There are two marketplaces and two relationships on each, which makes four basic arrangements.

Amazon: Seller Central and Vendor Central

Seller Central is the third-party (3P) route. You list products, set the price, and either ship orders yourself or pay Amazon to do it. Anyone with a business can open an account. Amazon offers an Individual plan at $0.99 per item sold and a Professional plan at $39.99 per month plus selling fees, as of October 2026.¹1 Source: Amazon, “Selling on Amazon fees and pricing”, accessed Oct 2026. Selling plans, referral fee table by category, $0.30 minimum, and the definition of total price. A brand selling more than a few units a month will be on Professional.

Vendor Central is the first-party (1P) route. Amazon describes it as a first-party vendor relationship in which vendors sell in bulk, at wholesale, to Amazon, which then sells to customers. Amazon also says plainly that Vendor Central is by invitation only.²2 Source: Amazon, “Amazon Seller Central”, accessed Oct 2026. FAQ on Vendor Central. You cannot apply. As general guidance, in a wholesale relationship the retailer buying your goods owns them and decides what to charge for them, so 1P trades retail price control for a single large customer.

Hybrid means some products in Vendor Central and others in Seller Central, usually to keep new, slow or bulky items under the brand’s control while Amazon buys the steady sellers.

The marketplace side is where most volume lives. Third-party sellers accounted for 60% of paid units on Amazon in the first quarter of 2026, down from a 62% peak in late 2024, according to independent tracker Marketplace Pulse, which attributes the small 1P gain largely to Amazon’s grocery growth.³3 Source: Marketplace Pulse, “Amazon Is Regaining 1P Unit Share”, accessed Oct 2026. Published April 30, 2026; based on Amazon’s reported third-party unit share.

Walmart: Marketplace and supplier

Walmart Marketplace is Walmart’s 3P program. It is not open sign-up. Walmart lists minimum requirements that include a business tax ID or business license number (a Social Security number is not accepted), documents verifying your business name and address, a history of marketplace or ecommerce success, GTINs or UPCs backed by a GS1 Company Prefix, and a US warehouse with returns capability, which can be WFS.⁴4 Source: Walmart Marketplace, home page, accessed Oct 2026. Seller requirements, fee statement, and Walmart’s first-party claims on reach and ad returns. ⁵5 Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Before you start selling on Walmart Marketplace”, accessed Oct 2026. The page does not state a review time. A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the number behind your barcode; a GS1 Company Prefix is what proves you own it.

Walmart supplier is the 1P route: Walmart buys your products for stores, clubs or online. Walmart asks US businesses to register and complete an application, and the account creation link leads to Retail Link, Walmart’s supplier data system. It also states that registering does not guarantee you will be offered an agreement.⁶6 Source: Walmart, “Apply to be a Supplier”, accessed Oct 2026. Drop ship vendor (DSV) and warehouse supplier accounts also sit on the supplier side, managed in Supplier One.⁷7 Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Brand Portal: Overview”, accessed Oct 2026. Also covers Supplier One accounts for DSV and warehouse suppliers.

What 1P means for your data and your systems

A 1P vendor is a wholesale supplier to a very large retailer. That means purchase orders, advance ship notices (ASNs, X12 856), invoices, routing rules and compliance fines, usually exchanged by EDI (electronic data interchange, a standard machine-readable format for business documents). If you are moving toward Vendor Central or Walmart supplier status, budget for an EDI provider and label printing before the first PO.

See also the complete guide to EDI for ecommerce brands. Brands listing on several channels should also read the complete guide to PIM software.

2. What it costs: subscriptions and referral fees

Every sale on either marketplace pays a referral fee, a commission calculated on the total sale price. On Amazon it is a percentage of the total price or a minimum amount, whichever is greater; the minimum is usually $0.30. Amazon counts the list price plus shipping and gift-wrap charges as the total price.¹ Walmart applies its price thresholds to the total sales price as well, including shipping and handling.⁸8 Source: Walmart Marketplace, “Referral fees”, accessed Oct 2026.

The fixed costs differ. Amazon’s Professional plan costs $39.99 a month.¹ Walmart says Marketplace has “zero setup, monthly, or hidden fees.”⁸

Referral fees for common brand categories

List prices as of October 2026, from each marketplace’s published fee page.

Category (closest match)	Amazon referral fee	Walmart referral fee
Home and kitchen	15%	15%
Beauty, health and personal care	8% at $10 or less; 15% above $10	8% at $10 or less; 15% above $10
Baby products	8% at $10 or less; 15% above $10	8% at $10 or less; 15% above $10
Grocery	8% at $15 or less; 15% above $15	8% at $15 or less; 15% above $15
Clothing / apparel	5% up to $15; 10% $15 to $20; 17% above $20	5% at $15 or less; 10% $15 to $20; 15% above $20
Compact appliances	15% up to $300; 8% above $300	12% on the portion up to $300; 8% above
Consumer electronics	8%	8%
Computers	8%	6% (personal computers)
Pet supplies	15% (22% veterinary diets)	15%
Toys and games	15%	15%
Furniture	15% up to $200; 10% above $200	15% on the portion up to $200; 10% above
Jewelry	20% up to $250; 5% above $250	20% on the portion up to $250; 5% above
Everything else	15%	15%
Monthly fee	$39.99 (Professional plan)	None

Sources: Amazon¹ and Walmart⁸ fee pages. Category definitions do not map one to one, so check the exact category your product lands in during listing setup.

For a typical $25 to $40 home, beauty or pet product, the commission is the same 15% on both sites. Apparel above $20 is 2 points cheaper on Walmart, and compact appliances 3 points cheaper on the first $300.

The fees that are not commission

On Amazon, a brand using FBA will also pay fulfillment fees per unit, monthly storage, aged-inventory charges for stock held more than 181 days, returns processing on free-return orders, removal and disposal fees, and an inbound placement fee.⁹9 Source: Amazon, “Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)”, accessed Oct 2026. Fee types (fulfillment, storage, aged inventory over 181 days, returns processing, removal, inbound placement) and Prime eligibility. Amazon raised its 2026 US referral and FBA fees by an average of about $0.08 per unit, effective January 15, 2026.¹⁰10 Source: Amazon Selling Partners, “2026 Amazon Referral & FBA Fee Updates”, accessed Oct 2026. Detailed rate tables are inside Seller Central. A 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfillment fees followed on April 17, 2026, which Amazon estimated at about $0.17 per unit on average for US FBA.¹¹11 Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Fuel and logistics-related surcharge: FBA, MCF, and BWP in US and CA”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement; MCF and Buy with Prime from May 2, 2026. Holiday peak fulfillment fees apply from October 15, 2026, to January 14, 2027, averaging $0.32 per unit over non-peak rates, with the surcharge on top.¹²12 Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Holiday 2026: Same fees, same eligibility, earlier deadlines”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement.

On Walmart, the referral fee is the only charge if you ship yourself. WFS adds fulfillment and storage fees, covered in the next chapter.

3. Fulfillment: FBA, FBM, Seller Fulfilled Prime, WFS and 3PLs

Fulfillment is the decision that moves your margin and your conversion rate most. There are five realistic options.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

You send inventory to Amazon; Amazon picks, packs, ships, handles customer service and processes returns. FBA products are eligible for Prime two-day shipping.⁹ Amazon charges fulfillment fees per unit “based on the product’s price, weight, and dimensions,” so the same box costs different amounts at different price points.⁹ Use the Revenue Calculator or the Fee Preview report in Seller Central for exact rates; Amazon revises them every year.

Amazon also charges an inbound placement service fee for spreading your inventory across its network. When it was introduced in March 2024, Amazon said it would average $0.27 per unit for standard-size products and $1.58 for large bulky items, with reduced or no fees if you split shipments across multiple locations yourself.¹³13 Source: Amazon Selling Partners, “Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees”, accessed Oct 2026. Dated December 5, 2023; introduced the inbound placement and low-inventory-level fees for 2024.

Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM)

You or your 3PL ship Amazon orders directly. No FBA fees, but you take on Amazon’s delivery standards. Amazon requires a 90% on-time delivery rate (OTDR) for seller-fulfilled listings. From February 28, 2026, falling below it deactivates the listings that drag your rating down most, rather than all of them, though Amazon can still deactivate everything if you are far below or repeatedly miss.¹⁴14 Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Update to OTDR listing deactivation process as of February 28, 2026”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement.

Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP)

SFP puts the Prime badge on orders you ship yourself. You need a Professional account and a domestic US default shipping address, must prequalify on volume and performance, then pass a 30-day trial measured on late shipment, valid tracking and cancellation rates. Amazon reviews performance weekly and can disable Prime offers if you keep missing.¹⁵15 Source: Amazon, “Seller Fulfilled Prime”, accessed Oct 2026. SFP suits brands with a strong warehouse, heavy products, or margins FBA fees would erase. It is not for a brand whose 3PL stops picking at noon on Friday.

Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)

WFS is Walmart’s version of FBA. Walmart says it ships in two days or less, handles customer questions, and accepts returns by mail or in Walmart stores. Eligible products go up to 500 lb, must not need temperature control, and must ship from the US or be cleared through customs. There is no minimum inventory, though Walmart recommends at least 50 items with ongoing replenishment.¹⁶16 Source: Walmart Marketplace, “Walmart Fulfillment Services”, accessed Oct 2026.

WFS list prices as of October 2026:¹⁷17 Source: Walmart Marketplace, “WFS pricing”, accessed Oct 2026. Walmart says fees are subject to change; the page gives no effective date.

WFS charge	List price
Fulfillment, 1 lb or less	$3.45 per unit
Fulfillment, 2 lb	$4.95
Fulfillment, 3 lb	$5.45
Fulfillment, 4 to 20 lb	$5.75 plus $0.40 per lb over 4
Surcharges	+$0.50 apparel; +$0.50 hazmat; +$1 if retail price under $10; +$3 oversize
Storage, January to September	$0.75 per cubic foot per month
Storage, October to December, over 30 days	$0.75 plus $1.50 per cubic foot per month
Long-term storage, 366 to 450 days	$2.25 per cubic foot per month
Long-term storage, over 450 days	$7.50 per cubic foot per month

Walmart also runs a multichannel option that fulfills orders from your own site and other marketplaces in unbranded packaging.¹⁶ Amazon offers a similar service, Multi-Channel Fulfillment, which carries the same 3.5% surcharge.¹¹

A third-party logistics provider (3PL)

A 3PL can ship FBM and Walmart orders, your own store and wholesale from one pool of stock. It is the most flexible option and the most work, and you will not get the Prime badge unless you qualify for SFP.

As general guidance: use FBA and WFS for best-selling, small, non-fragile items, and keep heavy, slow or seasonal products on a 3PL until you know their sell-through.

4. Brand protection: Brand Registry and Walmart Brand Portal

Listings on both marketplaces are shared, so a reseller who lists your product first can shape what shoppers see. Brand programs let the trademark owner take that back.

Amazon Brand Registry

Brand Registry is free. You need a pending or registered trademark from a government trademark office in a country where Amazon operates a store, and your brand name must be permanently affixed to products or packaging. You must be the trademark owner; agents can be added as users afterward.¹⁸18 Source: Amazon, “Amazon Brand Registry”, accessed Oct 2026.

What it includes, according to Amazon: A+ Content (richer images, video and comparison charts on the product page), Sponsored Brands ads, Brand Analytics search and purchase data, Project Zero for removing counterfeit listings directly, Transparency serial codes, and a single Report a Violation tool for IP and policy complaints.¹⁸ Brand Analytics alone justifies the paperwork.

Walmart Brand Portal

Walmart is stricter. Brand Portal requires a trademark fully registered with the USPTO, with a seven-digit registration number in active status. An eight-digit serial number usually means a pending application, which does not qualify. Applicants must be based in one of eight listed countries, and Walmart does not accept applications from third-party sellers or brand protection agencies.⁷ Once approved, you can file copyright, trademark, patent and counterfeit claims, and the acting brand owner gets content ownership over other sellers’ versions of the listing. Sponsored Brands on Walmart also requires Brand Portal registration.¹⁹19 Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Walmart Connect solutions: Sponsored Search”, accessed Oct 2026.

The practical consequence: if your US trademark is still pending, you can protect your Amazon listings today but not your Walmart listings. File early.

5. Advertising: how marketplace ads are priced

On both sites, organic rank and paid placement feed each other; a new listing rarely ranks without ads.

Amazon Ads

Sponsored Products are cost-per-click (CPC) ads: you set a maximum bid, pay only when a shopper clicks, and control spend with a daily budget. There are no monthly or upfront fees. Professional sellers and vendors can both use them. Targeting can be automatic, where Amazon picks keywords, or manual by keyword and product. Ads appear in and beside search results, on product pages, and on some sites beyond Amazon. The product must be eligible for the Featured Offer, the offer shown with the main Add to Cart button.²⁰20 Source: Amazon Ads, “Sponsored Products”, accessed Oct 2026. Sponsored Brands, which feature your logo and several products, require Brand Registry.¹⁸

Walmart Connect

Walmart’s ad business sells Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Videos, all on a CPC basis. Walmart says the most relevant product with the highest bid wins the placement. Sponsored Products require the item to be in stock, published and winning the Buy Box. Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Videos require USPTO registration and Brand Portal onboarding.¹⁹ Walmart claims advertisers see an average 5

return on ad spend, based on its own data; treat that as a vendor figure, not a forecast for your product.⁴

Running it sensibly

As general guidance, set a target advertising cost of sale (ACoS, ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales) per product before launch, based on margin after referral and fulfillment fees, and cut keywords that exceed it after a fair test. Expect a high ACoS in the first month while new listings buy their first reviews and rank.

See also the complete guide to AI search visibility, since shoppers increasingly start product research in AI assistants before they reach a marketplace.

6. Inventory and operations: capacity, inbound, returns and standards

The operational rules are where new marketplace brands lose money quietly.

Amazon capacity limits and IPI

Amazon sets a monthly FBA capacity limit, measured in cubic feet, which controls how much you can send in and store. Limits for the next month are announced in the third full week of each month, with estimates for the two months after. The Inventory Performance Index (IPI), Amazon’s score for how efficiently you manage FBA stock, is one input, along with sales forecasts, shipment lead time and fulfillment center capacity. Sellers who need more space can bid a reservation fee in Capacity Manager; performance credits can offset up to 100% of that fee if the inventory sells through.²¹21 Source: Amazon, “Amazon announces new streamlined FBA capacity management system”, accessed Oct 2026. Published January 17, 2023; the monthly cubic-foot model is still the basis of FBA capacity limits. In practice, slow inventory lowers your IPI, which shrinks the space you get for stock that does sell.

The two-sided inventory penalty

Amazon penalizes both too much and too little stock. Too much draws monthly storage and aged-inventory fees.⁹ Too little triggers the low-inventory-level fee, which Amazon introduced in April 2024 for sellers who carry consistently low inventory relative to sales; it says you avoid it by keeping more than four weeks of supply.¹³ As general guidance, four to eight weeks of cover for steady sellers is a reasonable starting band, adjusted for lead time.

Inbound and peak deadlines

Amazon publishes holiday inbound cutoffs. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026, inventory needed to arrive by October 21 for FBA shipments with minimal splits and by October 28 for Amazon-optimized splits.¹² On Walmart, WFS peak storage applies from October 1 to December 31, and units stored more than 30 days in that window pay $1.50 per cubic foot per month on top of the base rate.¹⁷ Peak is when you most need stock in place and when holding too much costs the most.

Returns

FBA and WFS both handle returns for you. On Amazon, a returns processing fee applies when Amazon gives the customer free return shipping.⁹ WFS returns can come back by mail or through Walmart stores.¹⁶ If you fulfill yourself, you handle returns, and Walmart requires a US warehouse with returns capability before it approves you.⁵

Walmart seller performance standards

Walmart measures self-fulfilling sellers over rolling 30- or 60-day windows. The core targets are a cancellation rate of 2% or below, an on-time delivery rate of 90% or above, and a valid tracking rate of 99% or above. Others include a seller response rate of at least 95%, a return rate of 6% or below, and a late shipment rate of 5% or below. Missing them can lead to suppression, suspension or termination.²²22 Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Seller Performance Standards: Overview”, accessed Oct 2026.

See also the complete guide to building a B2B revenue stack for how marketplace operations fit with your other channels and systems.

7. Pricing control, MAP and channel conflict

Both marketplaces police price against the rest of the web

Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy has Amazon monitor prices, including shipping, and compare them with prices available elsewhere. An offer priced above the Competitive External Price, the lowest recent price Amazon finds at another reputable retailer, can lose Featured Offer eligibility. Amazon staff advise keeping the total price at or below that reference.²³23 Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Fair Pricing Policy”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon staff reply quoting the policy; the full policy page sits behind the Seller Central login. Without Featured Offer eligibility, your Sponsored Products ads are no longer eligible to run.²⁰

Walmart’s Pricing Rule does the same thing more bluntly. Offers priced “egregiously higher” than recent prices on Walmart.com or a competing website are automatically unpublished. Offers priced substantially higher, but below that threshold, lose the Add to Cart button and become Buy Box ineligible.²⁴24 Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Pricing rules”, accessed Oct 2026.

MAP and why it matters more here

MAP (minimum advertised price) is a policy in which a brand sets the lowest price at which authorized resellers may advertise its products. Neither marketplace enforces your MAP policy for you; the brand tools described in chapter 4 handle intellectual property, counterfeits and listing content, and price is not on their lists.¹⁸⁷ So MAP enforcement is your job, done through reseller agreements and by limiting who can buy your products wholesale. This is not legal advice; pricing policies raise legal questions, so involve counsel before writing one.

Channel conflict

Conflicts show up in three places: as a 1P vendor also selling 3P, you compete with your buyer for the same listing; a wholesale partner’s clearance sale can pull marketplace prices down through the external checks above; and promotions on your own site may be read as lower prices. The fix is boring: one price list, one promotions calendar, and a short list of authorized resellers.

8. How to choose, and a 90-day launch plan

The decision framework

Factor	Amazon 3P (Seller Central)	Amazon 1P (Vendor Central)	Walmart Marketplace	Walmart supplier (1P)
How you get in	Open sign-up	Invitation only2	Application and approval5	Registration and application; no guarantee6
Who sets retail price	You	The retailer (general guidance)	You	The retailer (general guidance)
Fixed fee	$39.99/month Professional1	None published	None8	None published
Main variable cost	Referral fee plus FBA or own shipping	Wholesale margin, allowances, compliance fines	Referral fee plus WFS or own shipping	Wholesale margin, compliance fines
Fulfillment	FBA, FBM, SFP	You ship to the retailer	WFS or own warehouse/3PL	You ship to the retailer, or drop ship as DSV
Systems needed	Seller Central, inventory tool	EDI, labels, routing compliance	Seller Center, inventory tool	Retail Link, Supplier One, EDI
Brand program	Brand Registry (pending TM ok)18	Brand Registry	Brand Portal (registered USPTO TM)7	Brand Portal
Best for	Most brands, most of the time	Invited brands with stable, high-volume lines	Brands already working on Amazon 3P	Brands ready for stores and big POs

The short version: start 3P on Amazon, add Walmart Marketplace once Amazon operations are stable, and treat 1P on either site as an offer you evaluate when it arrives, not a goal you plan around.

Days 1 to 30: foundations

1. File or confirm your trademark. Check whether it is registered or still pending, which decides your Walmart timing.
2. Buy GS1 barcodes for every product. Walmart requires GS1-backed GTINs.⁵
3. Open Seller Central on the Professional plan and enroll in Brand Registry.¹¹⁸
4. Pick five to fifteen hero products. Do not launch the full catalog.
5. Build unit economics per product, including referral, fulfillment and ad costs. Drop any product that misses your margin floor.
6. Fix price gaps across your site and wholesale accounts before the marketplace checks find them.

Days 31 to 60: Amazon live

1. Create listings with full content and A+ Content.
2. Send a first FBA shipment sized for about six to eight weeks of expected sales, keeping in mind capacity limits and the low-inventory fee.¹³²¹
3. Launch Sponsored Products with automatic and manual campaigns, a daily budget and a target ACoS per product.²⁰
4. Apply to Walmart Marketplace in parallel; approval and onboarding take time.⁵
5. Watch the Featured Offer status daily. If it drops, check external prices first.²³

Days 61 to 90: Walmart live, first review

1. Once approved, register in Brand Portal if your trademark qualifies.⁷
2. List the same hero products. Start with WFS for small, fast movers, or self-fulfill if you can meet Walmart’s standards.¹⁶²²
3. Launch Walmart Connect Sponsored Products on the items winning the Buy Box.¹⁹
4. At day 90, review sell-through, ACoS, returns, fees as a share of price and Buy Box share per product. Expand what works; pull what does not.
5. Book holiday inbound dates now; Amazon’s 2026 Black Friday cutoffs fell in late October.¹²

Common mistakes

• Launching the whole catalog. Fees and ads punish long tails. Start narrow.
• Ignoring dimensions. Fulfillment fees depend on size and weight, so packaging can matter more than price.
• Overstocking the first shipment. Slow inventory lowers IPI, draws storage and aged fees, and shrinks next month’s capacity.⁹²¹
• Understocking after a good month. The low-inventory-level fee and stockouts both cost you rank.¹³
• Letting a reseller set your price. One discounted listing elsewhere can push your offers out of the Buy Box on both sites.²³²⁴
• Waiting on a pending trademark for Walmart. Brand Portal will not accept it.⁷
• Treating a 1P invitation as a reward. It is a wholesale contract with EDI, routing and fines. Model it like any big retail account.

For the listing side of launch, including the 75-character title rule and the tools that audit listings against it, see the best Amazon SEO tools in 2026.

9. The verdict

Amazon and Walmart charge similar commissions, so the choice comes down to control and operations. 3P lets you set price, own the listing and decide what to stock. 1P hands those decisions to the retailer in exchange for large orders, and you cannot apply for Vendor Central anyway. Begin with 3P on Amazon, add Walmart once you can meet its standards, and put the effort into pricing discipline.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply for Amazon Vendor Central?

No. Amazon says Vendor Central is by invitation only.² Brands that want to sell on Amazon without an invitation use Seller Central, which is open to any business.

Does Walmart Marketplace charge a monthly fee?

No. Walmart says Marketplace and WFS have no setup, monthly or hidden fees as of October 2026.⁸ You pay referral fees per sale, plus WFS fees if you use Walmart’s fulfillment.

Do I need a trademark to sell on Amazon or Walmart?

Not to sell, but you need one to control your listings. Amazon Brand Registry accepts pending or registered trademarks.¹⁸ Walmart Brand Portal requires a registered USPTO trademark with a seven-digit registration number.⁷

Should I use FBA and WFS or my own 3PL?

Use FBA and WFS for small, fast-selling items where the fast-delivery badge helps conversion. Use a 3PL, or Seller Fulfilled Prime on Amazon, for heavy, bulky or slow products, and when you want one inventory pool across all channels.

Why did my product lose the Buy Box when I am the only seller?

Usually because of external price checks. Amazon can remove Featured Offer eligibility when your price is above the lowest recent price it finds elsewhere, and Walmart can remove Add to Cart or unpublish the offer for the same reason.²³²⁴ Check your own site, wholesale partners and resellers for lower prices.

Do I need EDI to sell on Amazon or Walmart?

Not as a marketplace seller. You will need it as a 1P vendor or Walmart supplier, where purchase orders, ship notices and invoices move electronically.

Sources and notes

1. Source: Amazon, “Selling on Amazon fees and pricing”, accessed Oct 2026. Selling plans, referral fee table by category, $0.30 minimum, and the definition of total price. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Source: Amazon, “Amazon Seller Central”, accessed Oct 2026. FAQ on Vendor Central. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Source: Marketplace Pulse, “Amazon Is Regaining 1P Unit Share”, accessed Oct 2026. Published April 30, 2026; based on Amazon’s reported third-party unit share. ↩

4. Source: Walmart Marketplace, home page, accessed Oct 2026. Seller requirements, fee statement, and Walmart’s first-party claims on reach and ad returns. ↩ ↩²

5. Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Before you start selling on Walmart Marketplace”, accessed Oct 2026. The page does not state a review time. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Source: Walmart, “Apply to be a Supplier”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩²

7. Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Brand Portal: Overview”, accessed Oct 2026. Also covers Supplier One accounts for DSV and warehouse suppliers. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. Source: Walmart Marketplace, “Referral fees”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

9. Source: Amazon, “Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)”, accessed Oct 2026. Fee types (fulfillment, storage, aged inventory over 181 days, returns processing, removal, inbound placement) and Prime eligibility. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

10. Source: Amazon Selling Partners, “2026 Amazon Referral & FBA Fee Updates”, accessed Oct 2026. Detailed rate tables are inside Seller Central. ↩

11. Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Fuel and logistics-related surcharge: FBA, MCF, and BWP in US and CA”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement; MCF and Buy with Prime from May 2, 2026. ↩ ↩²

12. Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Holiday 2026: Same fees, same eligibility, earlier deadlines”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement. ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. Source: Amazon Selling Partners, “Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees”, accessed Oct 2026. Dated December 5, 2023; introduced the inbound placement and low-inventory-level fees for 2024. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

14. Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Update to OTDR listing deactivation process as of February 28, 2026”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon announcement. ↩

15. Source: Amazon, “Seller Fulfilled Prime”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩

16. Source: Walmart Marketplace, “Walmart Fulfillment Services”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

17. Source: Walmart Marketplace, “WFS pricing”, accessed Oct 2026. Walmart says fees are subject to change; the page gives no effective date. ↩ ↩²

18. Source: Amazon, “Amazon Brand Registry”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

19. Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Walmart Connect solutions: Sponsored Search”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

20. Source: Amazon Ads, “Sponsored Products”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. Source: Amazon, “Amazon announces new streamlined FBA capacity management system”, accessed Oct 2026. Published January 17, 2023; the monthly cubic-foot model is still the basis of FBA capacity limits. ↩ ↩² ↩³

22. Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Seller Performance Standards: Overview”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩²

23. Source: Amazon Seller Forums, “Fair Pricing Policy”, accessed Oct 2026. Amazon staff reply quoting the policy; the full policy page sits behind the Seller Central login. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

24. Source: Walmart Marketplace Learn, “Pricing rules”, accessed Oct 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴