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Walmart Will Wait for No Dropshipper, Tightens Handling Time

Walmart
Walmart Will Wait for No Dropshipper, Tightens Handling Time

Walmart is making it harder for dropshippers who list on its marketplace by tightening its handling time policy. Sellers had been required to ship orders in 1 day unless they were granted a “lag time exception” by the company. On Thursday, it notified sellers it was in the process of removing that exception.

In its letter to sellers, Walmart said merchants can request a new lag time exception, but on its website, it informed sellers:

Walmart will reject lag time requests if the item(s) submitted are:

  • Sourced from third-party vendors after a customer places an order. (E.g., you do not contractually control the third-party vendor’s inventory levels and processing times.)
  • Cannot ship same- or next-day due to inefficiencies in your fulfillment network.

One reader who forwarded the notice to EcommerceBytes said that based on the wording, he believed Walmart was targeting dropshippers, which are merchants who don’t hold inventory – rather, they order from suppliers upon receiving an order from a customer.

Walmart said, “For most sellers, no action will be required by this change, but we recommend you review your shipping methods and processes to ensure you meet your promised delivery times.”

Sellers commenting on the new policy on an industry discussion board were annoyed, with one asking why sellers should be required to request permission to take two days to ship.

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Ina Steiner
Ina Steiner
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.

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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.

7 thoughts on “Walmart Will Wait for No Dropshipper, Tightens Handling Time”

  1. I purchased item on Ebay years ago. Later (several months) I was put on black list by Uhaul and refused truck rental and I started getting calls from Uhaul debt collectors- it turned out that order I received from Ebay was shipped from Uhaul and the guy that sold me item on Ebay did chargeback with uhaul. I had to go through police report filing submission to collectors. I am unsure if uhual got me off the balcklist as they were impossible to contact.
    I work very hard physically to get my items, i have a lot of expenses related to storage and other like gas tolls etc not just fees
    A guy buys from another seller, ships to his buyer and after that starts dispute either to get partial refund or free item so he may maximize his profit.
    Dropshippers have better online presence and are favored by marketplaces so they get better traffic and more sales.

  2. I also forgot to mention that it is in dropshipper business to lower you in searches (whatever it takes) so they can sell their item first and when you low then they can also purchase your items cheaper from you (since you will be desperate for sale).

    Dropshippers don’t know items: where they originally came from , how to inspect them how to test and so they very often contact me to give away how to do this or that (like wire harness so they can test it) or they ask me what some plugs are there for etc. and it is funny they think I will be undermining my business so they can eliminate me in search.

  3. I didn’t know Uhaul shipped anything. Err unless you bought say boxes or lock and the dropshipper put your name on the ship to. Is that what you mean?

    who was it told you you had to file with PO PO

  4. @fruitylovesyou
    I bought item from Ebay. Ebay seller used his card to buy that item from uhaul and gave them my address as shipping. When i received it that seller did chargeback to Uhual. Uhaul kept me liable when i had nothing to do with it (i paid for an item and received it). Get it now?

  5. @fruitylovesyou

    Go to uhaul.com and see what you can buy there. Yes debt collector told me to file police report so they relive me of that liability but uhal never took me off the black list which means i can’t rent truck or storage with them. This is how you can be screwed up.

  6. Here’s the thing we dropship industrial parts from about 22 different warehouse’s for an same brand of industrial product all business to business type products.
    All of these come with a minimum year warranty some products come with a three year warrant.
    Our supplier uses a first in last out type of policy all come with a warranty at nationwide service centers
    The warranty starts clicking when the product is shipped
    It would also raise the price as we would have shipping in the product twice once to us and once to the end user instead of one shipping charge manufacture to end user
    So all drop shipping ain’t bad !

  7. They assigned you the liability but you didn’t transact with them . that is protected under fair credit reporting act. Debt collectors they will try to collect from anyone. At a certain point people sometimes say things and that allows them to go after you. Whenever a debt collector says you owe, you always say info not recognize this debt, prove this debt. They are required by law to furnish that to you. until they prove you consented to transactn with them via 3rd party (seller) that is all kinds of wrong. Sorry it happened to you!

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