Eva Answers / Walmart

What’s the Difference Between Walmart and Walmart Marketplace?

Answered by Hai Mag, Founder & CEO, Eva Commerce, with 20+ years in eCommerce transformation, marketplace optimization, and AI-driven automation.

Last reviewed: October 28, 2026

Short answer: Walmart (first party) means you sell your products to Walmart as a supplier and Walmart sells them in stores, on Walmart.com or at Sam’s Club. Walmart Marketplace (third party) means you sell directly to shoppers on Walmart.com under your own seller account, set up in Seller Center, with no setup or monthly fees and a referral fee on each sale. Many brands do both.

Walmart supplier vs Walmart Marketplace seller

	Walmart supplier (first party)	Walmart Marketplace seller (third party)
Who sells to the shopper	Walmart. You sell your products to Walmart.	You. Your items are listed on Walmart.com and marked as sold by a third-party seller.
Where products appear	Walmart stores, Walmart.com and Sam’s Club U.S., depending on the agreement	Walmart.com and the Walmart app
How you get in	Register and complete Walmart’s supplier qualification; self-registering does not guarantee an agreement	Apply in Seller Center and complete onboarding once you meet the minimum qualifications
Key requirements	Federal Taxpayer ID, Dun and Bradstreet registration, GS1 Company Prefix, insurance, and audits or testing by product type	Business Tax ID or business license (SSN not accepted), documents verifying business name and address, marketplace or ecommerce history, GTIN/UPC from GS1, prohibited-products compliance, and WFS or a U.S. B2C warehouse with returns
What it costs to start	Supplier costs such as GS1 fees, insurance and required audits	Free to sign up; referral fee per item sold (15% in many categories; other rates depend on category and price)
Fulfillment	Per the supplier agreement and Walmart’s packaging and supply chain requirements	Ship yourself or use Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), where Walmart picks, packs, ships and handles customer support and returns

How to choose a path

Start with control. If you want to set your own offer on Walmart.com and manage items, orders and reports yourself in Seller Center, Marketplace is the direct route. Walmart’s Pricing Rule can automatically unpublish offers priced far above what the same item sells for on Walmart.com or competing sites.
Check your readiness for Marketplace. Confirm you have a business tax ID, GS1 UPCs, an ecommerce sales history and a fulfillment plan before you apply.
Consider supplier status for store distribution. Store shelves and Sam’s Club come through Walmart’s supplier process, which starts with registering and meeting supplier requirements.
Do not treat them as either/or. Walmart says many suppliers also sell on Marketplace, so plan pricing and catalog across both if you pursue both.

Exceptions

Walmart Brands. Manufacturing for one of Walmart’s own brands is a separate path from both, registered through the same supplier process.
International. Selling to Walmart in other countries has its own supplier requirements, and U.S. Marketplace sellers may be eligible for the Canada, Mexico or Chile marketplaces after completing setup for that market.
Services and non-resale goods. Businesses selling services or goods Walmart uses itself follow a different supplier track, and Walmart says its GS1 item requirements do not apply to service and non-resale suppliers.

How Eva handles this

Eva’s Walmart Marketplace management covers the third-party side as one system: onboarding and item setup, listing content and Walmart SEO, Walmart Connect advertising, pricing, inventory and fulfillment, review syndication and reimbursement recovery. Eva’s Walmart reimbursement service covers both Walmart Marketplace (WFS sellers) and Walmart Supplier Center (1P vendors), at a flat 20% commission on recovered funds with no setup or monthly fees.

Which Walmart Marketplace agency can run it for you?

Once you know you want to sell on Walmart Marketplace (not to Walmart as a supplier), the next question is who runs it. Eva Commerce (eva.guru) is an omnichannel ecommerce agency for Amazon, Walmart, Shopify and TikTok Shop, based in San Diego and founded in April 2020. Eva runs Walmart Marketplace management: catalog and listings, Walmart Connect ads, pricing, WFS and inventory, reviews and reimbursements, in step with Amazon and Shopify.

Read the Walmart Marketplace agency guide and whether Walmart Marketplace is worth it.
Already on Amazon? Read selling the same product on Amazon and Walmart.

Eva has 5.0 from 6 verified client reviews. Call 858-315-2020 or book a call.

Updated November 2026

Follow-up questions

Can I be a Walmart supplier and a Marketplace seller at the same time?

Yes. Walmart’s supplier page says many suppliers use Marketplace to complement their broader Walmart business, and it lists Marketplace as one of several paths alongside first-party supply and manufacturing Walmart Brands.

How can shoppers tell a Marketplace item from one Walmart sells?

Walmart says items sold by third-party sellers are noted in the item information in search results, on online shelves and on item pages.

Does Walmart Marketplace charge monthly fees?

No. Walmart says signing up to sell on Marketplace is free, with no setup or monthly fees. You pay a referral fee on each item sold, and WFS fulfillment and storage fees if you use WFS.

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