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Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)
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When items arrive at a Walmart fulfillment center, they go through the receiving process: we inspect, verify and put items away to make them available to sell. Items that have been properly packed and labeled are usually received within 2 business days. However, some items may have unexpected issues that delay receiving. In this guide, we'll cover common WFS receiving issues and how to avoid them.
Common receiving issues
Here are common reasons why your shipment or item may be stuck in receiving. These are some, but not all, issues that you may encounter.
- Damage: Items arrived at a fulfillment center damaged and can’t be received.
- Incorrect prep: Items didn’t meet WFS packing and labeling requirements. This includes missing poly bags and unscannable barcodes.
- Unexpected item: Your shipment had items that weren’t part of the inbound order.
- Incorrect item setup: Items have incorrect information that’s delaying receiving. This could be due to an item not matching the GTIN in our system or an item that may not have been converted to Walmart-fulfilled.
- Overage: There were more units in your shipment than listed in the inbound order.
How to avoid common issues
Follow these tips to avoid receiving delays and help make your inventory available faster:
- Take advantage of WFS Prep Services for inventory preparation. This can help you avoid receiving delays and unplanned fees.
- Double-check that your inbound order matches the items and units you’re sending us. You can do this by going to the Shipments page and selecting the 3 dots for View order. Then select View summary for a list of items and units.
- Make sure your items are published and Walmart-fulfilled. You can check these on the Items page by looking at the Status and Fulfillment columns.
Track receiving issues
You now have real-time visibility into receiving issues directly from the WFS Shipments page in Seller Center. This enhanced shipment tracking experience makes it easier than ever to remain informed, understand the impact on your receiving timelines and quantities, and take action to resolve these issues.
To check on your shipment’s receiving progress, follow these steps:
- Log into Seller Center and go to Shipments.
- Search for your shipment ID or filter the status by Receiving.
- If there’s an issue during receiving, you’ll see an icon next to the Received units column. Select the Received units number to view a summary of the issues.
Select Action required to view more details, then follow instructions to resolve the issue(s).
This view is only for items that have unexpected issues during receiving. We’ll update the Shipments page as we receive items, including any new issues.
We recommend waiting until receiving is complete and the shipment’s status is closed to compare your shipped and received units.
You can track your shipment’s progress at any time by going to Shipments, then selecting the 3 dots and choosing Track shipment.
How to resolve issues
We’ll investigate the issue within 7 business days, and we’ll usually try to solve it for you. For example:
- If your items are damaged or expired, we’ll look at your return rules to handle damaged and expired items.
- If your items have incorrect prep, we may relabel or repackage them to meet WFS requirements.
Some WFS fees may apply to cover labor and shipping costs.
We’ll let you know the different steps we take through the Track items page and email, so keep checking back for updates. In some cases, we may need more information from you to solve the issue. For example, if you’ve chosen to have items shipped back to you, we may ask you to add an address.
For more complex issues, Support will reach to you for next steps. Make sure to check your email. For example, if an item isn’t in our system, we may ask you to convert the item to Walmart-fulfilled so we can correctly receive it.
Get more help
We can solve most receiving issues with your help, but you should still expect some delays as we correct or reroute items. You can always follow up on the issue by replying to Support’s email or from My Cases.
If we resolve the issue, but you still see discrepancies in your received units, open a dispute claim. It must be between 10 and 50 days from the time of shipment delivery, as confirmed by tracking information.