So, you’ve found yourself in a bit of a pickle, huh? Your Walmart seller account has been suspended, and you’re feeling the weight of the situation. Well, fear not! Help is on the way.
In this article, we’ll delve into the world of Walmart suspensions and the reasons behind them. We’ll explore the legal issues surrounding these suspensions and the dreaded holding of funds.
And don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the possibility of your account being terminated altogether. But don’t despair just yet! We’ll also provide you with some valuable tips on what to do if you find yourself in this unfortunate situation.
And if you’re feeling overwhelmed and in need of some expert assistance, we’ve got you covered. So, sit tight and let’s navigate the challenging world of Walmart suspensions together.
Key Takeaways
- Walmart suspends accounts for reasons such as regulatory compliance, return abuse, intellectual property violations, and offensive products.
- Seller performance metrics, such as return rate, cancellation rate, on-time delivery rate, and valid tracking rate, are important factors in account suspension.
- Sellers must adhere to the terms of the Marketplace Retail Agreement to avoid breaching it and facing suspension.
- Violations of trust and safety standards, including offensive material, intellectual property issues, and failure to comply with regulatory compliance, can lead to account suspension.
Reasons Behind Walmart Suspensions
Walmart Marketplace is a highly respected platform, and it expects sellers to maintain the highest level of integrity, customer service, and product quality.
They have rules and guidelines in place to ensure a top-class customer experience. Sellers who fail to comply with these rules can face account suspension. Below are some reasons why sellers may get suspended on Walmart:
Performance Metrics
Walmart evaluates sellers based on performance metrics, which include on-time delivery, order defect rate, order cancellation rate, and return rate.
When it comes to performance standards, Walmart expects sellers to meet certain standards in these metrics.
– A cancellation rate of less than 2% in a 14-day period
– A refund rate of less than 6% in 90 days
– An on-time delivery rate of greater than 95% in a 14-day period
– And a valid tracking rate of greater than 99% in a 14-day period
Failure to meet these seller performance standards can result in account suspension.
Trust and Safety Violation
Walmart’s commitment to trust and safety has led to a firm set of regulations for sellers. These rules help maintain a reliable, law-abiding marketplace. There are three types of safety violations which include regulatory compliance violations, offensive product violations, and intellectual property violations.
As a seller on the Walmart marketplace, you violate regulatory compliance when you sell products that pose a threat to Walmart’s product and food safety regulations. You must respect all relevant laws and regulations both in the US and international regions. This is why Walmart has provided a list of prohibited products for both domestic and international selling. Examples include surveillance products, specific weapons or hazardous materials, and so on.
The sale of offensive products is also against Walmart’s trust and safety policies. Items promoting hate speech, discrimination, violence, or explicit content are strictly forbidden. Sellers trading such goods risk immediate suspension.
Intellectual Property Violations are equally taken seriously. The sale of counterfeit goods or those infringing on copyrights, patents, or trademarks is unacceptable. Walmart will suspend sellers who violate these rules, whether intentional or not, to protect original creators and ensure customers receive genuine products.
Note: If you want to keep track of trust and safety violations on your account, do the following:
– Log in to your Walmart seller center account
– On the seller center dashboard, scroll down and click ‘Performance’ under Analytics.
– Then click ‘Trust & Safety’
Poor Customer Service
Poor customer service is another significant reason why Walmart might suspend a seller’s account. Walmart places immense value on delivering top-class customer services and ensuring optimum customer satisfaction.
If a seller fails to respond promptly to a high percentage of customer inquiries or consistently provides inaccurate or incomplete responses, it can lead to a negative customer experience. This kind of poor seller response rate directly contradicts Walmart’s dedication to meeting and exceeding customer expectations at all points of the shopping journey.
Furthermore, unhelpful customer service, such as failure to resolve issues promptly or not honoring return policies, can cause further dissatisfaction among customers. Walmart closely monitors these factors, and sellers who consistently underperform in customer service risk account suspension.
Walmart expects all sellers to strive towards helpful customer service, respond to customer inquiries promptly, and put in genuine efforts to resolve any customer issues to maintain optimum customer satisfaction. Failure to do so may result in suspension or even termination of the seller’s account.
To avoid Walmart seller account suspension, you should familiarize yourself with Walmart marketplace policies and expectations, stay in constant communication with Walmart’s team, and strive for excellence in customer service, product quality, and delivery times. If suspended, you are required to submit a comprehensive business plan of action outlining the steps they will take to address the issues that led to the suspension.
What to Do if You Get Suspended or Terminated on Walmart
If you find yourself suspended or terminated on Walmart, it’s important to take immediate action and/or seek professional assistance to successfully navigate the reinstatement process. Dealing with a suspension or termination can be overwhelming, but with the right guidance, you can increase your chances of getting your account reinstated.
The first step is to understand the reason for your suspension or termination. It could be due to performance issues, non-compliance with the marketplace retailer agreement, neglecting operational standards, or violating trust and safety standards.
Once you have identified the reason, you can start working on a plan to address the issues and improve your performance.
One way to go is to file an appeal by opening a support case in Walmart. You can do this by selecting the following on your Walmart seller center dashboard
‘Help’ icon > Contact Partner Support > My Account > Performance Issues > Appealing Account Suspension
You would be asked to contact them via email. However, sometimes, this is not the case. You might not be able to contact them at all, depending on the severity of your case. That is when you should try seeking professional assistance that can help with Walmart account suspensions.
There are a couple of companies that specialize in helping sellers reinstate their accounts and unblock listings. They have the expertise and knowledge to navigate the complex appeals process and increase your chances of success.
However, make sure to do your own research so you know which of them are legit.
Walmart Seller Account Terminations
Account terminations result in the immediate deactivation of the seller’s account and the suspension of all product listings.
Once an account is terminated, sellers lose their ability to send appeal letters, making it extremely challenging to regain their selling privileges. To prevent account termination, sellers must avoid serious or repeated issues.
For example, some things which can cause termination include not abiding by state laws requiring certain business or identity information to be on your marketplace account, using fake tracking numbers, dropshipping from other retailers (especially Amazon), too many intellectual property claims or issues, selling fake or counterfeit items, or other fraudulent or even seemingly fraudulent behavior.
Generally speaking, terminations occur when Walmart is quite sure that the seller has done something wrong.
Legal Issues Surrounding the Suspensions and Terminations
When it comes to Walmart suspensions, there are several legal aspects that sellers need to be aware of. From their perspective, Walmart likely suspends accounts that they view to be causing a bad user experience and terminates accounts that might have legal issues.
This is what’s behind the Trust and Safety department and Walmart’s standards. So with that in mind, it might make more sense why some behaviors result in suspensions and others lead to terminations.
Suspensions typically deal with marketplace “trust” issues such as late shipments, invalid tracking, high rate of returns, and other seller metrics.
Terminations typically include things more like offensive material in product listings, failure to cite original creators for intellectual property, and distributing unauthorized products. Walmart takes these violations very seriously because they could also be legally liable in some situations. They don’t want the headache, and neither should you.
Additionally, regulatory compliance is crucial to avoid terminations. Selling prohibited products, such as prescription drugs or non-certified baby products, can lead to more than account suspension (which is why Walmart deals harshly here). Sellers need to understand the policies and regulations in place to avoid any violations.
By staying knowledgeable about these legal issues, sellers can navigate the Walmart marketplace more effectively and minimize the risk of account suspension or termination. It is important to always comply with the terms and policies, read and understand the fine print, and seek expert assistance, if needed, to ensure a smooth selling experience on the Walmart marketplace.
Walmart Holding of Funds
When your Walmart account gets suspended, one of the consequences is the holding of funds. This means that the funds from your sales will not be disbursed to your account until the suspension is lifted.
The duration of the fund holding period can vary depending on the reason for the suspension and the actions you take to resolve the issue.
We’ve seen suspensions as low as 14 days and as high as 53 days. In the case of terminations, it is important to note that the funds will not be released automatically. Typically Walmart will hold the money for 180 days and then they will send a release letter that absolves them of liability for you to sign.
You will need to sign it and provide them with any other necessary information and documentation to release the funds. Fortunately, they have updated this process and it now can be done via digitally signing instead of wet-signing and returning the doc.
This process can take some time, so it is crucial to plan and manage your finances accordingly and to be prepared beforehand with lines of credit or sources of funding that can get you through the hold if you don’t have reserves.
In extreme cases, you might also need to communicate with your suppliers and partners about the situation to avoid any disruptions in your supply chain.
By understanding the impact of fund holding on your business and taking proactive steps to resolve the suspension, you can minimize the financial impact and work towards reinstating your selling privileges on Walmart.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take for Walmart to review an appeal for account reinstatement?
Walmart typically takes around 2 days to review an appeal for account reinstatement. However, it can take 3+ weeks in busy time when Walmart or their automated systems suspend or terminate hundreds or thousands of sellers.
Can sellers appeal a Walmart suspension if they have violated Trust and Safety Standards?
Yes, sellers can appeal a Walmart suspension even if they have violated trust and safety standards. It’s like getting a second chance to prove that you can adhere to the standards and provide a safe shopping experience for customers.
How do I appeal a Termination?
To appeal a termination, log out of your Walmart Seller Central account. Then go to Seller Help Support and go to Support and then click Support in the menu at the top and then go to “Password or other access Issue” where you can still send in a ticket. Be sure to use the account owner email of the account to submit your appeal.
What are some examples of operational standards that sellers must adhere to in order to avoid suspension?
To avoid suspension, sellers must adhere to operational standards such as providing excellent customer service, maintaining transparency in communication, promptly responding to queries, and shipping items on time.
Is there a specific percentage threshold for the Order Defect Rate that can lead to account suspension?
Yep, but at the moment, it seems arbitrary. Technically, Walmart could probably suspend you for any bad metrics, but suspensions seem to mostly come from invalid tracking (assuming this is because it could be fraud), for too many returns which could indicate incorrect or bad items (possible fraud), etc. Typically late shipping doesn’t lead to suspensions at this point unless it is egregious.
What steps can sellers take to maintain progress and improve their performance after reinstatement?
To maintain progress and improve performance after reinstatement, sellers should stick to their action plan, diligently follow guidelines for strict compliance, and take proactive steps to bring their account back to good standing.
How many sellers has Walmart terminated?
It’s hard to say exactly, but Walmart did a purge of accounts in 2021 which was rumored to be between 10,000 and 50,000 seller accounts. Since then there have been other, smaller waves of terminations.
