How to ship a Walmart order with your own label

Before you start

• A carrier on Walmart's approved parcel carrier list, checked before you buy anything.
• A tracked service, because there is no untracked route on Walmart.
• The order acknowledged in Seller Center.
• A drop-off or collection that gets a carrier scan the same day.

Steps

1. Check your carrier against Walmart's approved list

   In Walmart's Shipping methods guide, read the approved parcel shipping carriers list and find your carrier by name. USPS and UPS are both on it, alongside about fifty others.

   You should see your carrier named on the list, or a reason to switch before you spend anything.

2. Buy a tracked label from that carrier

   Buy the label wherever you like, as long as the carrier is the one you just found and the service carries tracking.

3. Open the order in Seller Center

   On the Orders page, find the order using the Order # drop-down menu or the Purchase order# column, then select the purchase order number link.

4. Select Ship items

   On the order, select Ship items.

   You should see drop-down menus against each item.

5. Set the quantity going out

   In the drop-down menus, select Ship and the quantity in the parcel.

6. Enter the carrier and tracking number

   In the Shipping details section, select the same carrier you bought from and enter the tracking number.

7. Select Mark as shipped

   Select Mark as shipped.

   You should see the order status change to Shipped.

8. Get the parcel scanned the same day

   Hand it over in time for a scan, because a valid tracking number needs "at least one valid carrier scan on record".

If it goes wrong

The carrier is the part Walmart refuses

Walmart answers the question directly: "Shipping a Walmart order using a non-approved carrier is not recommended and may result in suppression, suspension or termination because the tracking information cannot be validated by Walmart." The label's source is not the issue. The carrier's name is.

Stamps and prepaid envelopes are refused

Asked whether stamps or prepaid envelopes can be used, Walmart's answer is no, for one reason: "All orders must have a valid tracking number." A cheap untracked route is a policy problem, not a saving.

You give up the $100 cover

Ship with Walmart protections exclude "Orders not shipped with a Ship with Walmart label" and "Orders with labels produced using Bring Your Own Account". On those labels Walmart says "You need to file a claim directly with the carrier for cases of lost in transit and lost after delivery."

What happens next

Your tracking now has to clear Walmart's bar: valid tracking information "for at least 99% of your shipments", with On-Time Delivery Rate at 90% or above, Late Shipment Rate at 5% or below and Cancellation Rate at 2% or below. Two protections stay behind with the Ship with Walmart label.

Walmart "won't seek reimbursement from you for up to $100 per qualifying order", and "Late deliveries or lost packages won't count against your seller On-time delivery performance metric". On your own label both of those land on you, so pick a service whose scans arrive early rather than one that saves a day of transit on paper.