Walmart's own shipping labels are now inside ShipStation. Five rules for deciding which orders get them
Since October 6, Walmart Marketplace sellers on ShipStation can buy Ship with Walmart labels next to their own carrier accounts. Those labels come with lost-package protection your own account doesn't. They also come with conditions. Five plain rules for which orders should get which label before peak.
ShipStation added Ship with Walmart on October 6, 2026, so Walmart Marketplace sellers can buy Walmart-rate labels inside their existing ShipStation workflow, US domestic only. Walmart's protections apply only to orders on a Ship with Walmart label, shipped by the Ship By date, from an account in good standing set up for seamless returns. Lost orders are covered up to $100 and won't hurt on-time metrics; damage isn't covered, and labels bought on your own carrier account don't qualify. So the default for Walmart orders should be the Walmart label, with clear exceptions.
What changed on October 6
Walmart runs its own label program for Marketplace sellers, called Ship with Walmart. You buy USPS, FedEx or UPS labels at Walmart-negotiated rates, and for eligible orders Walmart takes on some of the risk when a package goes missing. Until recently, using it meant buying labels in Walmart's Seller Center or through one of a few approved partners.
On October 6, ShipStation added Ship with Walmart to its platform. If you already run your Walmart, Amazon, Shopify and eBay orders through ShipStation, you can now activate it and buy Walmart labels in the same screen, next to your own carrier accounts. Walmart lists ShipStation as one of four approved solution providers, alongside Rithum, Goflow and Threecolts. ShipStation's version is US domestic only for now, and new ShipStation customers who activate it get 20% off their subscription for a year.
That puts a choice in front of whoever buys labels: for each Walmart order, the Walmart label or your own account. With peak season coming, the choice will be made thousands of times by whoever's at the packing bench. It's worth writing the rules down.
What the Walmart label protects, and what it doesn't
Here's the part that drives the decision. According to Walmart's seller protection policy, when you ship on a Ship with Walmart label and meet the conditions, two things happen if the package is lost in transit or after delivery. Walmart refunds the customer and won't seek reimbursement from you for up to $100 per qualifying order, and Walmart handles the claim with the carrier. And the late or lost package won't count against your on-time delivery metric. ShipStation adds that you can request a review of negative feedback for approved lost-item claims.
The conditions are specific. You must ship on or before the Ship By date. Your account must be in good standing and set up for seamless returns. And you must not be disputing that return with the customer.
The exclusions matter just as much. Walmart doesn't cover packages damaged in transit, orders packed or labeled incorrectly, prohibited or restricted items, or the label cost itself. It doesn't cover orders on labels bought through your own carrier account inside Ship with Walmart, which Walmart calls Bring Your Own Account. And Walmart says these protections are a discretionary benefit, not insurance, and can be changed or withdrawn. If a refund is over $100, you may be charged the difference.
The protection belongs to the label, not to the order. Buy the wrong label and the order is on its own.
Decision guide
What the Walmart label covers
| Consideration | Covered (if conditions met) | Not covered |
|---|---|---|
| Lost in transit | Up to $100; Walmart handles the carrier claim. | Labels on your own account. |
| Lost after delivery | Up to $100; on-time metric protected. | Orders shipped after the Ship By date. |
| Damage | Not part of the program. | Damaged in transit, on any label. |
| High-value orders | First $100 only. | Difference may be charged; buy carrier cover. |
The protection belongs to the label, not to the order. Buy the wrong label and the order is on its own.
Five rules for which order gets which label
These are illustrative rules for a typical small seller. Adjust the thresholds to your own products.
Rule 1: Walmart orders get the Walmart label by default. If the order can ship by its Ship By date, buy the Ship with Walmart label. You get Walmart's rates and the protections, and you protect your on-time metric through peak, when carriers run late.
Rule 2: If it'll miss the Ship By date, fix the date problem first. A late ship voids the protection. Don't switch labels to save a few cents on an order that's already late. Escalate it, ship it as fast as you can, and expect to own the outcome.
Rule 3: Over $100, add carrier protection. Walmart's cover tops out at $100. For orders above that, Walmart says you can buy optional declared value protection from the carrier, up to $500, depending on the carrier. Decide your threshold once, say every order over $150, and make it part of the label step, not a judgment call.
Rule 4: Fragile goods need packing rules, not a label rule. Damage isn't covered by Walmart's protection on any label. If you sell glass, ceramics or anything that breaks, the protection plan is your packaging and your carrier's declared value, not the program.
Rule 5: Your own account is for non-Walmart orders and special cases. Keep your negotiated carrier accounts for Shopify, Amazon and eBay orders, and for Walmart orders where you have a specific reason, like a carrier service the program doesn't offer. Write those reasons down. Labels bought on your own account, even through the Walmart program, don't get the protection.
How the work moves
Picking a label for a Walmart order
- Ships by the Ship By date?
If not, escalate first.
- Buy the Walmart label
Default for Walmart orders.
- Over your value threshold?
Add carrier declared value.
- Fragile?
Pack to your fragile standard.
- Speed matches promise
Three-day promise, three-day label.
Let the delivery promise pick the speed
ShipStation's release says its simplified shipping settings show Walmart's recommended carrier and service level based on your delivery promise. Use it, because there's money in matching the two. Walmart says eligible Pro, Rising and Advanced sellers can get up to 15% off three-day and up to 35% off two-day Ship with Walmart labels when the delivery promise matches the shipping speed.
The practical version is simple. Look at the delivery promises you've set in Seller Center for each shipping template. If you promise three-day delivery, ship three-day, not ground, and not two-day to be safe. A mismatch costs you the discount in one direction and risks your on-time metric in the other. And if you need a signature, Walmart notes that's available for FedEx and UPS shipments only.
Before you activate it
Check three settings first. Confirm your Walmart account is configured for seamless returns, because the protection depends on it. Check that your ShipStation automation rules won't keep assigning your own carrier account to Walmart orders after you activate, since an old rule will quietly route around the new labels. And tell the packing team what changed and why. The person holding the label printer is the one who makes rule 1 happen.
Then watch the first two weeks. Pull every Walmart order shipped on a non-Walmart label and ask why. Most of the time it'll be an automation rule nobody updated.
It's also worth a look at the first lost-package case when it comes. Note the order, the label, the ship date and how long the claim took to resolve. One real example tells your team more about how the program behaves than any policy page, and it tells you whether the rules above need adjusting before the busiest week, not after it.
We wrote about who pays shipping on a marketplace return and why your delivery promise starts at the first carrier scan. Both apply here. If you'd like help setting label rules across channels, cleaning up ShipStation automations or getting ready for peak, that's the work our fulfillment operations team does. Talk to us before your busiest weeks start.
Related work: Spin Market.
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