Walmart Print On Demand - How To Get Approved To Sell On Walmart Marketplace

About this video

RJ Martinez interviews Travis Ross about selling print on demand on Walmart Marketplace, which Ross calls the number-two e-commerce platform behind Amazon. Ross recounts his path from retail arbitrage and Merch by Amazon into running his own print facility with six printing methods (sublimation, UV, vinyl, laser engraving, embroidery, and DTG), fulfilling hundreds of units a day. He says his Walmart catalog is about 85% coffee mugs (11 and 15 oz) and 15% t-shirts, with roughly 15,000 products live on Walmart versus about 45,000 on Amazon. Walmart requires a two-day fulfillment lag time (sellers can apply for up to five days) and an EIN from an established business: Ross says Walmart once wanted to see $1 million in sales, though he has since seen people approved with as little as $100,000. Listings are built in three sections (item content, imagery and media, and offer) or via Excel flat files, though a 10,000-product upload produced errors on around 40% of items, so his VAs now upload 400-500 at a time. Every variation needs its own SKU and a real UPC — there is no GTIN exemption like Amazon’s, and Fulfilled by Walmart will not accept Amazon FNSKU barcodes. He prices items $1 less on Walmart than Amazon because of Walmart’s lowest-price terms. He advises applicants never to say ‘print on demand’ but to describe customizable products, and to just apply, comparing Walmart now to Amazon in 2012. He also tells how a customer phone call turned into a bulk order of 108 mugs for a retreat in Texas.

Key takeaways

• Walmart targets established businesses, not beginners: an EIN is required, and Ross says approval expectations have dropped from around $1 million in sales to as little as $100,000.
• Sellers must meet a two-day shipping lag time by default but can apply for up to five days — useful cover if relying on a third-party print provider, especially in Q4.
• Every product variation needs its own SKU and UPC, and Walmart offers no GTIN exemption; Fulfilled by Walmart also rejects Amazon FNSKU barcodes, requiring UPC stickers instead.
• Ross’s Walmart sales skew heavily to drinkware (about 85% 11/15 oz coffee mugs), partly because a mug listing needs only two UPCs versus 25 for a five-size, five-color shirt.
• When applying, describe the products as customizable rather than print on demand, and price at or below your prices elsewhere — Ross prices $1 under his Amazon prices.

Episode details: published February 12, 2021 · 41:09 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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