In April 2026, Amazon added a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge to every FBA fulfillment fee in the US and Canada. It landed on top of a January fee increase, a change to when sellers get paid, and the end of Amazon’s own prep services.
Sellers I work with saw their unit economics shift twice in one quarter.
That’s the backdrop for selling on Amazon vs Walmart right now. The question used to be about reach. Amazon had the shoppers, Walmart didn’t, and the math ended there. That’s no longer the honest answer.
Walmart’s third party marketplace GMV grew a record 50% in the quarter ending April 30, 2026, and its ad business grew 37% in the same period.
At Sequence Commerce, we run both platforms for the same brands, so we see the same SKU priced the same way and perform differently on each.
The short version: Amazon still wins on volume, and Walmart wins on what you keep.
By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to calculate your all in take rate on both platforms, and which one your specific catalog belongs on.
Selling on Amazon vs Walmart: The Short Answer
For most mid market brands in 2026, Amazon delivers more revenue and Walmart delivers more margin per dollar of revenue.
Amazon’s total cost of selling runs roughly 10 to 20 percentage points higher once fulfillment, storage, and ads are included.
Walmart Marketplace has far less competition but a smaller customer base, so the right place to sell depends on whether you need volume or profitability first.
| Factor | Amazon | Walmart Marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | $39.99 Professional plan | $0 |
| Referral fee range | 8% to 45%, most categories 15% | 6% to 15% (Walmart, 2026) |
| Active third party sellers | ~2.3 million worldwide | 150,000+ (Walmart Investor Relations) |
| Third party GMV | ~$750 billion | ~$65 billion |
| Ad spend as % of GMV | 8.30% | 4.3% (Nova, Feb 2026) |
| Average ACoS | 22% | 18% (Pacvue Benchmark Report, 2026) |
| Onboarding time | Days to weeks by category | ~10 days average (Walmart, 2026) |
| Best for | Brands needing scale, global reach, and mature ad tooling | Brands protecting margin, launching new SKUs, or diversifying your sales channels |
The choice depends on your products, not on which platform is bigger. A $12 consumable and a $180 appliance produce completely different answers.
What Changed for Amazon and Walmart Sellers in 2026
Five developments since January 2026 changed the Amazon vs Walmart calculation. Most comparison content still hasn’t caught up.
Amazon’s 2026 Cost Increases
Amazon raised the cost of access three separate times this year.
| Change | Date | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| FBA prep and item labeling ended in the US | Jan 1, 2026 | Prep cost moved to sellers or third party providers |
| Proceeds held until 7 days after delivery | Mid March 2026 (CNBC) | Longer cash conversion cycle for FBA sellers |
| 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge | Apr 17, 2026 (Seller Central doc GABBX6GZPA8MSZGW) | Applied to the fulfillment fee, not the sale price |
The surcharge has no stated end date. Amazon ran a similar 5% surcharge in 2022 that was later folded into base rates. On April 15, 2026, a group of Amazon sellers ran a 24 hour ad boycott over the payment changes, which CNBC covered.
Walmart Marketplace Growth and New Seller Incentives
Walmart moved in the opposite direction and subsidized entry. Third party Walmart marketplace GMV grew a record 50% in the quarter ending April 30, 2026.
Walmart Connect ad revenue grew 37% in the same quarter, after growing 46% across fiscal 2026 to reach $6.4 billion. Walmart also launched a New-Seller Savings program running through January 31, 2027.
For context on the Walmart rivalry overall: Amazon closed fiscal 2025 with $716.92 billion in revenue against Walmart’s $713.16 billion for fiscal 2026 (CNBC, February 2026). Amazon grew 12.4% that year. Walmart grew 4.7%.
The pattern matters more than any single line item. Amazon is monetizing its seller base. Walmart is buying one.
Want to know what your blended take rate actually is across both platforms? Get a free marketplace margin audit from Sequence Commerce →
Selling Fees and Margin: The All In Take Rate
Selling fees are the wrong unit of comparison. Referral rates look similar on paper. The gap opens once fulfillment, storage, and advertising are stacked on top.
What Your Take Rate Actually Includes
Your all in take rate is every dollar the platform collects, divided by your gross revenue. It has five components on both platforms: referral fee, fulfillment, storage, advertising, and subscription.
Published estimates put Amazon between 37% and 51% and Walmart between 20% and 32% for comparable catalogs (SellerView, 2026). Marketplace Pulse has estimated Amazon’s effective cut can exceed 50% once ads are counted.
Most sellers only track the first component. That’s why the number surprises them at year end.
Amazon and Walmart Seller Fees Side by Side
Here’s the same $50 unit modeled through both platforms, using a 15% referral category and published 2026 rates.
| Cost component | Amazon | Walmart |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee | $7.50 | $7.50 (before New-Seller Savings) |
| Fulfillment | ~$5.34 base | WFS from $3.45, ~15% below competitors on average |
| Fuel surcharge | +3.5% of fulfillment fee | None |
| Storage fees (Jan to Sep) | $0.87 per cubic foot | $0.75 per cubic foot |
| Advertising at category average ACoS | $11.00 (22%) | $9.00 (18%) |
| Subscription | $39.99/month, amortized | $0 |
Assumptions: single mid weight standard size unit, 15% referral category, category average ACoS applied, storage excluded from the per unit figure. Re-run this per SKU. Weight, dimensions, and category swing the result more than platform choice does.
For category level breakdowns, our Amazon seller fees guide and Walmart marketplace seller fees guide carry the full tables. To model your ad line, run your numbers through the ACoS calculator.
What Walmart’s 2026 New-Seller Savings Changes
Walmart is running a New-Seller Savings program from February 2, 2026 through January 31, 2027, worth up to $75,000. It cuts referral rates on a sliding scale.
| GMV band | Discount off base referral fees |
|---|---|
| First $50,000 | 20% off |
| $50,000 to $500,000 | 30% off |
| Over $500,000 | 40% off |
The program also includes up to $2,000 in WFS credits, $1,000 in Search Engine Marketing credits, and $500 in Walmart Connect credits. Sellers must go live after February 1, 2026, then opt in on the payments page once the store is live. It isn’t automatic.
Profit Margins on the Same $50 Unit
On a 15% referral category, a 30% discount takes the effective rate to 10.5%. Applied across $500,000 in GMV, that’s roughly $22,500 recovered against a seller fee line that’s otherwise fixed.
Marketplace Pulse’s 2026 Seller Index found 49% of Amazon sellers named marketplace fees as their primary margin concern, with 46% naming ad spend. Only 24% were actually reducing their Amazon share. Amazon controls 36% of US ecommerce and 70% of marketplace commerce, so most brands absorb the cost rather than leave.
Better profit margins on Walmart don’t automatically mean more profit dollars. Compare total contribution, not percentages.
Which Marketplace Is Bigger, Amazon or Walmart?
Revenue and Net Sales: The Corporate Answer
Amazon is now bigger by revenue. In June 2026, Amazon took the number one position on the Fortune 500, ending Walmart’s 13 year run at the top.
That headline is partly an artifact. Roughly 90% of Walmart’s revenue still comes from stores and its website, while Amazon draws from AWS, advertising, and seller services. Walmart doesn’t operate a cloud business. Amazon’s third party services revenue grew 11% year over year to $52.8 billion in Q4, about 42% of Amazon’s net sales for the period.
Customer Base: Amazon Shoppers vs Walmart Shoppers
Amazon shoppers are still the larger pool, and Amazon Prime creates conversion behavior Walmart shoppers haven’t fully replicated. Third party sellers reached 62% of units sold on Amazon, an all time high.
More than 270 million customers shop with Walmart each week across in store and online (Walmart first party data). The Walmart store footprint feeds the online catalog through pickup and same day delivery, which Amazon can’t match on fresh and bulk categories.
Seller Competition and Why There’s Less Competition on Walmart
Corporate revenue doesn’t tell you where to list a product. Seller competition density does.
Amazon has roughly 2.3 million active sellers competing for about $750 billion in third party GMV. Walmart has 150,000+ sellers competing for roughly $65 billion. Run the division and Walmart has close to 40% more GMV available per seller than Amazon does.
That ratio is why competition on Walmart stays manageable. On Amazon, competition is intense because the demand is genuinely there and the seller community has had 25 years to fill every category.
Neither absolute number decides it. The seller to demand ratio does.
Running both platforms with one team beats running them with two. Talk to our marketplace team →
Amazon Advertising vs Walmart Connect
One ratio explains the entire cost gap between the two ad platforms. Amazon’s ad revenue equals 8.3% of its GMV. Walmart’s equals 4.3% (Nova, February 2026). Advertising on Walmart is cheaper because the auction is less saturated, not because the targeting is worse.
Amazon PPC and Ad Platform Maturity
Amazon Advertising is the more developed system. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display each serve a distinct funnel position, and Amazon DSP adds programmatic reach with AMC measurement on top.
Amazon PPC rewards operators who manage at the query level. Placement bidding, dayparting, and portfolio structure all move ACoS in ways Walmart’s platform can’t match yet. That sophistication is the reason Amazon’s higher CPCs are defensible for brands with the team to run them.
Walmart Connect and the Ad Cost Gap
Walmart Connect is younger and closing fast. Advertising and membership fees together made up about a third of Walmart’s operating income in Q4 fiscal 2026, according to CFO John David Rainey. Walmart opened self serve DSP access to mid size sellers in early 2026.
Walmart’s own data shows sellers who advertised with Walmart Connect during fiscal 2025 generated on average seven times the sales of sellers who didn’t. Top Marketplace sellers see an average 4:1 return on seller funded Search Engine Marketing.
ACoS Benchmarks Across Both Platforms
Average ACoS runs about 22% on Amazon and 18% on Walmart (Pacvue Benchmark Report, 2026). That four points spread compounds across a full year of spend.
The practical read: Amazon rewards sophistication, Walmart rewards early entry. Brands building Walmart ad shares now are buying position before auction prices catch up. Our Walmart advertising team and Amazon PPC team run the same brands across both, and the advertising calculator will size your spend against a target.
Buy Box and Price Parity Across Your Listings
How Each Platform Awards the Buy Box
Both platforms award a Buy Box, and both weigh it differently. Amazon’s award blends price, fulfillment method, and seller performance metrics, with Prime eligible offers holding a structural advantage. Walmart weights prices far more heavily.
That means a listing that wins on Amazon through fulfillment speed and review volume can lose on Walmart purely on price.
Walmart Price Parity and Your Shopify Store
Walmart actively monitors whether your item is priced lower on another site. If it is, Walmart can suppress the Buy Box or unpublish the listing entirely.
For a brand running Amazon, Walmart, and a Shopify store, that turns pricing into a cross channel problem. A promotion on your DTC site can quietly cost you Walmart visibility. A subscribe and save discount on Amazon can do the same.
The fix is a single pricing policy governing every channel at once, not three separate pricing decisions. Brands that treat their Shopify store as independent from marketplace pricing tend to find out the hard way. Verify current parity rules in Walmart’s seller help documentation before setting policy, because Walmart updates enforcement thresholds without much notice.
FBA vs WFS: Fulfillment Services Compared
FBA vs WFS comes down to reach against predictability.
| Amazon FBA | Walmart WFS | |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment starting rate | ~$3.22 per unit | ~$3.45 per unit |
| Fuel surcharge | 3.5% since Apr 17, 2026 | None |
| Prep and labeling | Ended Jan 1, 2026 | Handled at intake |
| Storage, Jan to Sep | $0.87 per cubic foot | $0.75 per cubic foot |
| Multi channel | Amazon MCF | Multichannel Solutions, covers Amazon, eBay, Shein, Temu |
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in 2026
Fulfillment by Amazon gives you Prime eligibility and the deepest network in US online retail. Two changes reshaped it this year.
Amazon discontinued its own prep and labeling services in the US on January 1, 2026, pushing that cost onto sellers or third party prep providers. Then the fuel surcharge arrived in April with no end date. An FBA seller moving 10,000 units a month is looking at roughly $1,700 in additional monthly cost from the surcharge alone.
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) in 2026
Walmart Fulfillment Services gives you flatter costs and the Fulfilled by Walmart tag. Walmart says WFS runs about 15% below most competitors on cost per item, with no inventory minimums or maximums.
Walmart’s own data shows WFS items carrying the Fulfilled by Walmart tag with two day delivery promises see 50% GMV growth on average. Multichannel Solutions also lets WFS fulfill orders from Amazon, eBay, Shein, and Temu, which makes WFS viable as a primary network rather than a secondary one.
Storage Fees, Return Shipping, and Customer Support
Walmart’s storage runs $0.75 per cubic foot from January through September against Amazon’s $0.87, with both rising in Q4. Return shipping and customer support are handled by the platform under both programs, though Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee produces a higher claim rate.
Details on the Walmart side live on our Walmart Fulfillment Services page. For brands running their own network alongside marketplaces, our DTC fulfillment and FBA prep service covers both.
Seller Account Approval: Is Amazon or Walmart Easier?
Amazon is easier to join and harder to stay on. Walmart is harder to join and more forgiving once you’re in.
Opening an Amazon Seller Account
Amazon accepts individual sellers and businesses, and most seller account registrations complete quickly. Category and brand gating is where Amazon gets restrictive. Getting ungated usually requires distributor invoices rather than retail receipts, and an Amazon seller sourcing from retail arbitrage will hit that wall immediately.
Our Amazon Seller Central guide covers the full registration and ungating process.
Walmart Seller Requirements in Seller Center
Walmart screens at the door. Here’s what a new Walmart seller needs:
- Business Tax ID. A Social Security Number is not accepted. A Business License Number also works.
- Verification documents confirming business name and address.
- A track record. Walmart asks for a history of marketplace or ecommerce success.
- GS1 issued GTINs. Products need UPCs tied to a GS1 Company Prefix. Resold barcodes get rejected, and this blocks more applications than anything else on the list.
- A compliant catalog under Walmart’s Prohibited Products Policy.
- US fulfillment capability. Either WFS or another B2C US warehouse that can process returns.
Seller Center walks through business verification, shipping setup, payments, and catalog upload. Walmart says onboarding averages about 10 days when documentation is accurate.
Walmart’s US Marketplace is open to sellers based in 14 countries: Canada, Chile, China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. That opens Walmart as a global marketplace entry point for brands that previously treated it as US only.
Seller Support After You’re Approved
Seller support is where the two diverge most in daily operation. Walmart resolves cases through direct communication more often than Amazon does at comparable account sizes. Amazon’s enforcement is faster and less negotiable, which is the tradeoff for its lower barrier to entry.
Selling on Amazon and Walmart: Should You Run Both?
Yes, and most brands above roughly $1 million in online sales should. The question isn’t whether to run both. It’s sequencing.
Three Variables That Decide Your Sequence
Catalog readiness
If your GTINs aren’t GS1 issued, Walmart is blocked regardless of revenue. Fix that first.
Cash conversion cycle
Amazon’s March 2026 change to hold proceeds until seven days after delivery lengthened the gap between paying for inventory and getting paid. If working capital is tight, adding Amazon second gives you Walmart’s cash flow as a cushion.
Ad budget floor
Running two ad platforms badly is worse than running one well. If you can’t fund a real test budget on the second platform, sequence rather than parallel.
Review Velocity for a New Seller
Review count is the other launch variable. On Amazon, the Vine program generates early reviews on new ASINs. Walmart runs Review Syndication and post purchase review programs that let a new seller carry existing review equity across.
Selling products into a marketplace with zero social proof is the slowest possible start on either platform.
Diversifying Your Sales Channels Without Duplicating Work
For brands running three or more channels, the operational answer is consolidation rather than duplication. One team, one pricing policy, one reporting cadence.
Diversifying your sales channels fails when each channel gets its own siloed operator making independent pricing calls. Our global marketplace accelerator is built for exactly that problem.
The Bottom Line
Amazon and Walmart are no longer separated by reach. They’re separated by what each one costs you to access. Amazon still delivers the larger online retail audience and the deeper ad tooling, and its fee structure has moved in one direction for six straight years.
Walmart delivers a smaller audience with meaningfully lower fees, a subsidized entry window closing January 31, 2027, and roughly 40% more GMV available per seller.
Sequence Commerce is a performance driven Amazon advertising and ecommerce growth agency, and our team runs Amazon and Walmart accounts for the same brands.
The pattern we see consistently: brands that sequence deliberately outperform brands launching everywhere at once, usually by protecting margin through the first two quarters rather than chasing revenue on both platforms at the same time.
If you want a clear picture of your all in take rate across both marketplaces before Q4 planning locks, get a free marketplace margin audit from Sequence Commerce →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to sell on Amazon or Walmart Marketplace?
Amazon is better for volume and Walmart is better for margin. Amazon’s larger customer base produces more orders, while Walmart’s lower fees and lighter seller competition protect more profit per order.
What are the biggest differences between selling on Amazon and Walmart?
Cost structure, competition density, and approval standards. Amazon charges a $39.99 monthly subscription and higher effective fees, and hosts roughly 2.3 million sellers. Walmart charges no subscription, caps referral fees lower, and hosts about 150,000 sellers.
Which marketplace has lower seller fees, Amazon or Walmart
Walmart has lower seller fees in most categories. Walmart’s referral fees run 6% to 15%, while Amazon’s run 8% to 45% with a 15% median, plus a $39.99 monthly subscription and a 3.5% fuel surcharge on fulfillment added in April 2026. The gap widens once advertising is included.
Which platform offers better profit margins, Amazon or Walmart?
Walmart generally produces better profit margins on the same product. Published estimates put Amazon’s all in take rate between 37% and 51% and Walmart’s between 20% and 32%. Amazon’s higher order volume can offset the difference, so compare total profit dollars rather than margin percentage alone.
Do I need a GS1 UPC to sell on Walmart Marketplace?
Yes. Walmart requires GTINs issued under your own GS1 Company Prefix. Resold barcodes from third party resellers are commonly rejected, and this blocks more Walmart applications than any other requirement.
How long does Walmart Marketplace approval take?
About 10 days on average, according to Walmart. Timelines stretch when documentation is incomplete or when Walmart requests additional business verification. Providing accurate tax and address documents at signup and responding quickly to follow up requests is the main way to keep it short.
Should I hire an agency to manage both marketplaces?
It depends on channel count rather than revenue. Brands running one marketplace can usually manage in house. Once you’re running Amazon, Walmart, and a DTC store, pricing conflicts and duplicated ad management start costing more than the agency fee. Sequence Commerce runs both platforms under one team and one pricing policy.
Jake Gilbert serves as the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Sequence Commerce, where he spearheads all lead generation initiatives and drives the agency’s growth strategy. With a keen analytical mindset, Jake transforms complex marketplace data into actionable insights that deliver measurable results for clients. His expertise spans conversion rate optimization, customer acquisition funnels, and performance marketing specifically tailored to Amazon and e-commerce ecosystems.
At Sequence Commerce, Jake has developed proprietary reporting frameworks that accurately track and attribute revenue across multiple marketing channels, allowing clients to optimize their ad spend with precision. His data-driven approach to revenue optimization has helped numerous brands scale their Amazon presence while maintaining profitable growth metrics. Jake regularly analyzes emerging marketplace trends and platform algorithm changes to refine client strategies and maintain competitive advantages in the increasingly complex e-commerce landscape.
Before joining Sequence Commerce, Jake built successful sales operations for SaaS companies targeting the e-commerce sector, giving him unique insights into both the technical and strategic aspects of online selling. He holds certifications in advanced analytics and digital marketing, and frequently shares his expertise through the Sequence Commerce blog and industry webinars.