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Guide
Lag time exemption policy
Last updated on Jun 23, 2025
Reading time: 2 min
Overview

Lag time is the number of operational days it takes for you to ship an order after it’s been placed by a customer. Walmart Marketplace requires sellers to ship orders within two operational days after receiving an order. In this guide, you’ll learn how to request an exemption to exceed that timeframe if needed.  

Pro tip

Walmart recommends setting a fulfillment lag time of 0 days to help improve your customer conversion rates and your eligibility for expedited delivery programs.

What is the policy?

For made-to-order and print-on-demand items that are made in your facility, the lag time exemption request must not exceed five operational days. For all other items, including items shipped by freight or less than truckload (LTL), the lag time exemption request must not exceed 10 operational days.

If an order comes in after your fulfillment center’s cutoff time, Walmart will count the following operational day as day one. Additional Days Off aren’t counted as operational days. 

Notes

Operational days are the active days specified in your fulfillment center settings, defaulting to Monday through Friday while allowing for adjustments.

Lag time exemption limits are subject to change at the discretion of Walmart. Walmart reserves the right to update the seller’s lag time limits as well as individual item lag time settings. Without limiting this discretion, Walmart may reject your request if the information is incomplete or misrepresents your business or the assortment offered on Walmart Marketplace.

Common lag time rejection reasons also include:

  • You sourced the item from a third-party vendor (a vendor whose inventory levels and processing times are not contractually controlled by you).
  • You’re not able to ship the item with same-day or next-day shipping due to inefficiencies in your fulfillment process.
  • The item is on preorder or backorder.
  • The item is to be personalized.

Additional guidelines

To submit a lag time exemption request, select the Help button in the Seller Center menu bar to contact Support. Choose Contact support and enter the phrase: submit lag time exemption request. Select Next and then select Confirm. Then, select the Get in touch with us link and provide your answers to the prompts.

If you’ve already set up your item prior to your request being approved, Walmart recommends that you temporarily unpublish the item or zero out your inventory to ensure that customers can’t place an order while the exemption request is being reviewed.

Pro tip

You can select more than one category for multiple lag time exemption requests. Each request must include an example of the item, such as its SKU, product category or item page URL.

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