Estimate pricing

To calculate the estimate for your shipment from select ports of loading in China, input your cargo ready date, container type and count, and item size. Shipments may contain only standard or oversize items, not both. We use your preference from enrollment to determine if you’ll be using Walmart’s designated broker for customs brokerage services for the shipment. You can update your customs broker preferences at any time.

Before you calculate an estimated price, please keep the following in mind: 

• If you opted for customs brokerage services through Walmart’s designated broker, the estimated price also includes the administrative fee for your import customs declaration. 

• Walmart Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRAs) and estimates do not include your import duties and taxes, government fees, or costs associated with delays to customs clearance (including inspection fees or storage charges incurred while waiting for a customs hold to be resolved.) Walmart does not offer landside services in China, including export customs formality, origin container pickup and return to port.

• For a limited time, we will allocate your standard-size inventory across up to five Walmart fulfillment centers in the U.S. for free to increase your two-day shipping promise coverage. Learn more about WFS Inventory Transfer Service (ITS).

• See the Shipping charges, billing and payment guide for more information. 

Here’s some helpful information to know about rates and how Walmart calculates estimated pricing: 

• Ocean shipments are rated based on the day the carrier receives your cargo (the day your cargo gates into the origin port). 

• The estimated price you see is based on the container arriving at the origin port terminal prior to NRA expiration. Walmart uses the cargo ready date to assign a shipment schedule that falls between cargo ready date and the NRA expiration date. 

• If your cargo ready date falls on or after NRA expiration, check back about a week prior to your ready date for new rates that are valid for when your cargo will be moving. 

• All our NRAs have at least 11 days of validity from the time of estimate to minimize surprise changes in your costs.

• You will see your assigned fulfillment center in Seller Center on the Estimated price calculator. We pick compatible WFS facilities based on your ship-from address and inventory you're sending. If any of your items within a shipment has special handling requirements, such as hazardous materials, we may assign a different facility that can safely store them. 
  
  

Charges

For information about charges and fees, including what is and what is not included in an estimate, see the Shipping charges, billing and payment guide.

Volume and weight limits

Volume and weight requirements by container: 

Most products cannot meet the maximum volume of a container because of the space lost to packaging and load efficiency.  

Not all carriers will accept containers at or close to the max weight for a container, which may delay your transportation plan or extend shipping times.

Custom brokerage services

To manage the customs clearance process, you can choose to use Walmart’s designated customs broker or choose your own. 

About estimated prices

Our estimates are offered port-to-door. For a specific list of what is included and not included, see the Shipping charges, billing and payment guide. 

To review current ocean rates in Seller Center once you are enrolled in Walmart Cross Border, select Send inventory on the Shipments page and choose International. 

Book a shipment

After calculating an estimated price, you’ll need to provide additional information about your cargo, including the items you’ll send, container details and involved parties.  

Items to send

To locate items to send, you can search by item name, SKU, GTIN, UPC or EAN. You can also use the bulk upload feature to add items to containers using a CSV file.  

Here’s what you should keep in mind when booking a shipment: 

• A shipment can contain either standard or oversize items, not both. 

• If you already added a standard-sized item, you won’t be able to add an oversize item to the same container. 

• If you’d like to send both standard and oversize items, you’ll need to create two separate bookings because they may be routed to different sites in the WFS network 

• Items should be loaded into the container by SKU and properly stabilized to avoid damage in transit. 

• Each inbound order is limited to five containers. You will need to create multiple inbound orders if you wish to ship more than five containers at the same time. For example, if you are shipping 11 containers you will need to create at least three bookings. 

• The maximum number of master cases is 15,000 per container. The maximum number of master cases per item is 3,000. If you need more master cases than this, create a support ticket. 

• WERCS will classify your item for safe handling, labelling, shipping, storage and disposal. 

• Items that require special labeling and handling for transportation (classified as fully regulated dangerous goods) cannot be shipped with Walmart Cross Border at this time.  

• Some items not classified as fully regulated dangerous goods still require current safety data sheets prior to shipping. 

• If your item is one of these, it will be flagged in Seller Center when you add it to a container. 

• Some of the items in this category: lithium-ion batteries under 300wh, items with lead-acid batteries, items with chemical components or limited quantities of specific chemicals. 

• For more information on safety data sheets, see WFS Compliance: Safety Data Sheets (SDS). 

When creating an inbound order, keep in mind: 

• You can change container size and add or remove containers. You cannot add or remove containers after a shipment is booked. 

• If you remove a container from an inbound order, all existing items in that container will be removed. 

• Changing container counts and sizes will impact your estimate. The estimated price will refresh as you make edits. 

• You can save your booking as a draft and come back to complete it later. The estimated price will refresh if the current estimate has lapsed.

Container details

You’ll need to provide more information about your container for the ocean carrier to reserve your space on a vessel. These details will also appear on your bill of lading as Description of goods, with total outer boxes as shippers’ load and count. 

Best practices for adding container details: 

• Description of goods should be short phrases, in English, describing the items in that container. 

• An inbound purchase order (PO) number or SKU only in the description is not sufficient. 

• If you’re shipping a branded good, include the brand and the model. 

• Consider entering the material the product is made of and how it is used.  

• Weight and volume inputs should be in metric units (kilograms, cubic meters.) 

If your description of goods does not include enough detail, the carrier or origin team won't accept the inbound order and will contact you for clarification. This can delay reserving space on a vessel and delay the departure date of your shipment.  
 

Here are examples of best practice descriptions and descriptions with not enough detail: 

Involved parties

You must provide contact information for the involved parties related to your inbound order. Learn more about each involved party and their responsibilities in the Involved parties guide. 

To prevent customs issues, the involved parties should be the same for your inbound order, shipping instructions and bill of lading. Verify that the parties provided by your shipper to the carrier match those in your inbound order. The system will save parties you’ve worked with in the past. You can set a default and create new parties as needed for each type. 

We also use involved parties to communicate with you about your inbound order: 

• Each party is a company (company name, address) and a contact person within that company (individual name, phone number, email.)  

• The contact person should be the person responsible for managing shipments and their contact information should be accurate, because we'll contact them between booking and arrival. 

• The consignee will receive inbound order confirmation emails and the transportation schedule when the vessel is assigned. (WFS sellers enter their company name and email contact with the WFS address at booking, so that they receive these email notifications.) 

• The shipper is the contact we contact first for origin transportation planning. We’ll send the arrival notice to your notify party email address about five days prior to ETA. 

Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRA)

The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) regulates how ocean freight to the US can be sold. The FMC requires that the shipper and freight forwarder agree on all prices in advance. Walmart uses an NRA document to confirm this agreement. Walmart presents the NRA after you have finalized all details of your ocean shipment. You will have a chance to review and approve the NRA before submitting your inbound order, signifying you agree to the NRA and the rates and conditions within it. 

The NRA governs all inbound orders associated with it, and all inbound orders must be submitted through Seller Center. Items and containers cannot be added onto an inbound order you previously submitted. In these cases, create a new inbound order to ship additional containers.