Introduction: The Guide to Walmart’s New Marketplace Policies with RootAMZ
In the fast-paced online eCommerce world we're in, understanding platform policy changes is as critical as significant change. For many sellers, they have successfully pivoted to Walmart Marketplace & it has become a viable alternative to the Amazon Marketplace. However, Walmart is progressing its digital initiatives & marketplace & will be tightening the bolt-on seller policy related to customer satisfaction & credibility for its marketplace.
In the rapidly evolving online business landscape, Walmart Marketplace is a crucial option for e-commerce businesses. Walmart has many shopping options, such as price, digital infrastructure & customer base. Because of these benefits, selling on Walmart is no longer an excellent option, but a strategic one. However, 2025 brings significant updates to the seller policies Walmart has in place for sellers. As an existing seller or brand who is seeking opportunities in online selling, it is pertinent to stay current & informed on updates to the policies on sellers in the marketplace.
.png)
Walmart Marketplace seller policies
The updates set to take effect in 2025 will encompass all facets of Walmart Marketplace seller policies- everything from listing rules to order fulfillment & pricing compliance. These policies are part of Walmart's strategic position to compete with Amazon better & provide shoppers with the most efficient experience possible. The updates present new opportunities & new risks for sellers in the marketplace. Walmart Marketplace has several scheduled updates planned for 2025 that will affect all aspects of seller policies, including listing rules, order fulfillment & pricing compliance. These updates are part of Walmart's new strategic initiative to better compete with Amazon & provide shoppers with the most efficient experience. While new updates present opportunities, they also carry risks for marketplace sellers.
This is where RootAMZ, a leading eCommerce growth partner, can assist. RootAMZ helps sellers navigate Walmart’s current policy changes, ensuring compliance & competitiveness. Their support goes beyond compliance; they aim to leverage these policy updates to fuel your growth! This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of Walmart’s new policy updates, the challenges sellers may face & real-world market intelligence. Additionally, we will outline the strategic solutions RootAMZ offers to support you through every step of your eCommerce journey.
Why Walmart Marketplace Will Matter in 2025
Growth of Walmart’s digital business & increased competition
● Walmart's e-commerce sales will hit $100 billion in 2024 - a 20% increase from 2023.
● Walmart Marketplace is now the second-largest marketplace in the U.S., overtaking eBay.
● Walmart will continue to innovate on its omnichannel strategy focused on in-store pickup, faster shipping & hassle-free returns.
● With top brands attracted to Walmart due to AI-driven personalization & smarter ad placements, sellers will do very well.
● Walmart's streamlined logistics are enticing to DTC brands.
● Walmart's platform is going to directly compete with Amazon - Walmart has all of the elements (lower fees, higher traffic).
Key advantages for sellers in Walmart Marketplace
● Lower commission rates in comparison to Amazon & indeed Shopify.
● Happy to have access to or steal a valuable Walmart shopper who only cares about value pricing.
● Orders placed via Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) create visibility & may attract more buyer conversions.
● Walmart brand gives sellers & their products credibility.
The need for compliance in an increasingly competitive market
● Compliance is a major factor for winning a Buy Box.
● Violations & policy non-compliance can cost you listings, suppress products , or suspend your selling account on Walmart.
● Having appropriate compliance procedures in place should improve your customer satisfaction scores & overall seller success.
In-Depth Review of New Walmart Policy Updates
Listing Requirements, Content Policies, Listing Restrictions
● Walmart means business when it comes to listing clarity & transparency.
● Better content policies. Titles, bullets & images must be straight facts.
● SEO related keywords must be in natural language.
● Preliminary banned claims (unscientific medical claims) will have expedited enforcement.
● Ensure relevant keywords are different, avoid spamming & human description.
● RootAMZ includes Walmart-specific keyword mapping.
● A bad title format can result in auto-suppression, so a title must include brand, main product attributes, quantity & variant if applicable.
● No promotional terms (i.e., "Best Seller", "Free Shipping") & 75-character limit.
● Sellers must list GTIN, brand name & manufacturer part number.
● If using bullets in description, list 5 different unique benefits of the product.
● Minimum 1500 x 1500 image resolution to enable zoom.
Listed Pricing & Pricing Parity Policy
Walmart wants all merchandisers to have the lowest price possible.
● Price checking products on Amazon, eBay, and/or Shopify.
● Use of dynamic pricing tools is suggested.
● Sellers flagged for excessive pricing will have a 7-day listing blackout.
● Walmart's AI also tracks increased prices after holidays or in any state of emergency protocol.
● Walmart will allow MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) enforcement by brands if legally submitted.
● The capability to report chart violations & discipline violators.
Inventory & Fulfillment Standards
This standard is higher for quicker & more reliable attributed delivery times.
● Sellers using a 3PL will have a requirement to be at least 95% on-time delivery rate.
● Delays from a 3PL are now considered to impact the seller metrics.
● Walmart has an existing encouragement to carry buffer stock so they do not have to call out "out-of-stock".
● If your inventory performance score is below 75, you are subject to review.
● WFS sellers must legally provide a 2-day delivery time.
● Inventory must be replenished within 48 hours of notice.
● All sellers must have recent changes in the seller center synced in real time.
Consumer service is the biggest policy focus area in 2025.
● All sellers must reply to the message within 24 hours on a weekday.
● Automated messages do not constitute a response.
● RootAMZ offers a customer service dashboard so sellers can remain compliant with SLAs.
● Minimum 30-day return period for most product categories & some electronics now on a 60-day return policy.
● New resolution system for price disputes on high-value orders.
● Sellers must provide supporting evidence promptly (within 72 hours).
Problems Sellers Have Experienced Since Policy Implementation
Challenge of Keeping Up with Rapid Changes
● Walmart often has multiple releases in a single quarter.
● Sellers do not recognize minor tweaks to details in the FAQs or support documents.
● Walmart & outside products frequently don't sync correctly
● The agent cannot solve an issue that leads to an error message.
● Price should be synced in real-time across multiple systems.
● A fresh discount on Amazon might trigger an automatic suppression of the product on Walmart.
● A few negative reviews can drop the conversion rate significantly.
● The rate of client order fulfillment is tied directly to WFS/Walmart fulfillment.
Full-spectrum seller support from RootAMZ
RootAMZ Compliance Suite
● Automated listing audit tool to find policy violations & live alerts on suppressed listings
● Walmart-specific compliance reporting
● RootAMZ integrates with Walmart, Amazon, Shopify & 3PLs
● Order, inventory & messaging management in one location & avoid overselling & understocking
● Automatically adjust Walmart prices according to competitor movement
● Helps maintain price equality & suppresses the chance of repression
● Alerts that support MAP enforcement
● Flag negative sentiment in reviews
● Alerts recommend seller responses or use custom scripts to auto-respond.
Data-Driven Insights & Seller Success Stories
Seller Sentiment Survey (Q1 2025)
● 62% of sellers did not know about the 24-hour (from a customer) to meet their customer service response window
● 38% lost listings due to keyword spam or keyword stuffing violations
● 80% prefer to use third-party tools in their management (like RootAMZ)
Case Study: Brand X Turnaround Utilizing RootAMZ
● Pre-RootAMZ, 12 listings had been suppressed because of SEO mistakes
● Post-RootAMZ, content optimized, compliance metrics restored.
● Monthly revenue jumped from $8K to $21K.
Compliance vs. Performance Matrix
● Sellers who scored a compliance level of 95+ scored 33% better than their cohorts without a compliance score.
● An inventory accuracy rating of >98% yielded the top rankings in WFS.
● Amazon has more tools, but associated suspension penalties are more severe.
Suggested Moves for Sellers in 2025
Build a Walmart Compliance Tracker
● Use either a Spreadsheet or a RootAMZ dashboard.
● Track listing compliance, pricing & review data.
● Update documents to Walmart's Item Spec 4.0 format.
● Utilize professional imagery & A+ content.
Using RootAMZ modules to train staff
● Contains a step-by-step breakdown of policies
● SLAs, messaging templates & refund resolution workflows
RootAMZ: Your Partner for eCommerce Success Across the Long-haul
Marketplace Strategy Consulting
● Walmart focused growth roadmaps & category-type launch & scale playbooks
● High-volume brands receive individualized support with monthly audits with bi-weekly performance calls
● Predictive sales forecasts with ever-evolving AI insights
● Benchmark against competitors within the same category
● Slack community comprises sellers, marketers & growth managers
● Access to RootAMZ Academy, offering 100+ training videos
Final Thoughts: Crush it on Walmart with RootAMZ
The New Rules, the New Game
Walmart Marketplace is no longer a test alternative to Amazon-it is now a serious, fast-moving ecosystem with its own unique rules, ecosystem dynamics & algorithm infrastructure. Walmart is making it clear with their 2025 updates: sellers must start thinking like "real" businesses with technology, data & operational excellence.
From real-time pricing enforcement to image compliance, from fulfillment metrics to the automated potential listing suppression aspect of selling on Walmart is now measurable, enforceable & tied directly to your visibility & revenue.
For many sellers, compliance is seen as a pain point. The best sellers-the top-ranking, Buy Box-movers, repeat customer-drivers-the best sellers see Walmart's [policies] as a pathway for growth. If done well, it creates clarity, structure & alignment around performance.
RootAMZ turns compliance from a point of cost & a reactive center to a real point of growth. With its intelligent automation suite, compliance alerts, real-time dashboards & dedicated account manager(s), you don't have to ever be afraid of new policies anymore-you get to utilize them.
RootAMZ provides not only the ability to fix problems but, more importantly, to build systems to prevent them. As sellers are launching with perfect listings, utilizing smart pricing engines, syncing their inventory with WFS, generating compliant creative content & managing their Walmart Connect campaigns, RootAMZ creates expertise in managing the entire Walmart Marketplace.
The AI features in the Root Platform will save you time, but they will also reveal insights that would have never been possible to pull together manually, giving sellers a genuine competitive advantage.
To be on the winning side of this new Walmart world, sellers will need to adapt each of the three pillars of
● Strategy: Understand the policies, nuances, best practices & optimized listings & get on the same page as Walmart.
● Speed: Respond to notices/alerts, adjust pricing as required & keep the inventory flowing.
● Scale: Leverage automation & experts, like RootAMZ, to grow your company without being burned out.
Anyone who can master the three will get the shelf space, traffic & ultimately, customer allegiance.
Conclusion
For sellers ready to transform, shift & lead, now is the best time in history to stake their claim on Walmart’s digital shelves.
And with RootAMZ as your partner, the pathway to growth is not only clearer but faster, easier & much more profitable.RootAMZ is not just a partner, but your partner in success with Walmart.
The recent policy update from Walmart is clear: use a professionalized account or perish.
The four pillars of compliance, speed, visibility & customer satisfaction are no longer optional. With AI tools & Automation & our team of experts at RootAMZ, we embrace the challenges & will help unleash growth.
Whether you are compliance-challenged, struggling to generate good ad performance, or looking to scale quickly beyond 6 figures, RootAMZ offers everything under one roof. Let Walmart's transformations be the competitive advantage you possess instead of the impediments they create.
Grow confidently. Sell powerfully. Scale fearlessly with RootAMZ by your side.
Are you ready to dominate Walmart in 2025? RootAMZ is your competitive edge.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What should sellers be aware of as the biggest 2025 change?
The most significant change is that listings can now be automatically suppressed in real time for policy violations. For sellers, the most important of those policy violations are pricing violations & content non-compliance. Walmart has adopted the use of AI & is now scanning across platforms every hour. This means that listings can now be taken down quickly without warnings.
2. Can I still manually manage listings?
Manual listing management is quickly becoming obsolete. The current policy of Walmart does not tell not allow you to manage the items manually. If you have API integration to Walmart Marketplace, it allows management that's more reliable, in real-time & allows for compliance. Managing a listing manually is still an option, but it creates delays & mistakes that can lead to suppression.
3. How does RootAMZ help me avoid suppression?
RootAMZ allows sellers to monitor compliance in real-time, automates alerts if needed & provides proactive listings audits. Its AI engine identifies, fixes & resolves issues with price, title, image, etc., before those issues result in penalties from Walmart. Sends alerts, resolves issues & audits before penalties occur.
4. Is Walmart Connect worth it?
Yup, if you're using a data-driven approach to do so. Our team at RootAMZ optimizes Walmart Connect campaigns, measuring ROAS, CTRs & sales attribution. Our proprietary ad engine intelligently assembles the budget to maximize returns.
5. Can RootAMZ help with Walmart onboarding?
Definitely! RootAMZ accelerates onboarding with templates that have been pre-approved, checklists & documentation review & tailored support to assist sellers in onboarding in days & not weeks.
6. Will RootAMZ help with fulfillment, too?
Yes indeed. RootAMZ can integrate directly with Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) & certified 3PLs. We will manage inventory syncing, shipping performance metrics & predictive restocking thresholds to streamline fulfillment.
7. What is a good dealer(seller) Quality Index (SQI) score?
You should qualify with a score greater than 90. This helps you maintain your listing's visibility, reduces the likelihood of deactivation & helps you with how many Buy Box wins or promotions you can qualify for. RootAMZ will continually cover & help in perfecting this score.
8. Do I need a team to run Walmart?
Not at all. With RootAMZ's automation tools & support services, you can manage Walmart like a massive operation without an employee to handle your data entry. Salaried team is not a problem, but with RootAMZ, you can go from a solo seller to scaling like the big brands.
9. Does RootAMZ support Amazon & Shopify as well?
Certainly. RootAMZ is a multi-channel beast of a platform. Multi-channel support with your dashboard, inventory tracking & reporting set up & synced with Walmart, Amazon, Shopify, etc.
10. Will RootAMZ be good for Startups?
RootAMZ has been built for growth at every stage. From onboarding to compliance tools for reporting & systems that grow with you. Startups are seeing upwards of $10K - $100K in sales in a matter of months using our strategic playbook & RootAMZ's capabilities.
.jpg)
