How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace in Texas

If you want to sell on Walmart Marketplace in Texas, expect a different start than on most marketplaces. You cannot simply sign up and list: Walmart reviews your business first, and it will not accept a Social Security number in place of a business tax ID. For a Texas business, that means getting your state and federal paperwork in order before you apply, then handling Texas sales tax correctly once orders come in. This guide walks Texas sellers through Walmart’s approval requirements, the Texas documents that satisfy them, the sales tax rules for Walmart orders, fees, and fulfillment options.

Quick Answer

To sell on Walmart Marketplace from Texas, you need a business tax ID (an EIN from the IRS is free) or a business license number, documents that verify your business name and address, a personal ID, an ecommerce or marketplace sales history, GS1 barcodes (GTIN/UPC) for your products, and either a U.S. warehouse that can handle returns or Walmart Fulfillment Services. Many Texas sellers form an LLC first ($300 with Form 205). Signing up is free and Walmart charges no monthly fee, only a referral fee per sale, which is 15% in many categories. Walmart collects Texas sales tax on Marketplace orders, but a Texas-based seller still needs a free Texas sales and use tax permit and must file returns.

In this guide

1. Can your Texas business qualify?
2. Set up the Texas paperwork Walmart checks
3. Texas sales tax on Walmart orders
4. Apply and onboard in Seller Center
5. Fulfillment from Texas: your warehouse or WFS
6. Walmart fees and Texas costs
7. Worked example: pricing with referral fee tiers
8. Common mistakes
9. Tips for Texas Walmart sellers
10. FAQ

Can Your Texas Business Qualify for Walmart Marketplace?

Walmart’s Before you start selling guide lists the minimum requirements every seller must meet. The table below maps each one to what a Texas business typically uses to meet it.

Walmart requirement	What a Texas business usually provides
Copy of a personal ID	Driver license or passport of the person applying
Business tax ID or business license number (SSN not accepted)	EIN from the IRS, issued to your LLC or business
Business entity classification	The structure on your IRS records, such as a single-member LLC
Documents verifying business name and address	IRS EIN letter, Texas Certificate of Formation, a statement in the business name
History of marketplace or ecommerce success	Sales on your own website, Amazon or another marketplace
Products with GTIN/UPC GS1 company prefix numbers	Barcodes licensed from GS1 US for your own products
Catalog that follows the Prohibited Products Policy	A product list checked against Walmart’s policy before you apply
U.S. B2C warehouse with returns capability, or WFS	Your Texas warehouse or 3PL, or Walmart Fulfillment Services

The two items that most often hold Texas applicants back are the ecommerce history and the barcodes. If you have never sold online, building a track record first on your own store or another marketplace puts you in a stronger position. Our guides to starting a Shopify store in Texas and selling on Amazon from Texas cover those routes.

Set Up the Texas Paperwork Walmart Checks

Because Walmart verifies your business against official records, the order you set things up in matters. Every document should show the same legal name and address.

1. Choose a structure and form your LLC

Walmart does not take an SSN, so whatever structure you choose, you need a business tax ID. Many Texas sellers form an LLC so the Walmart account, EIN, bank account and tax filings all sit under one business. A Texas LLC is created by filing Form 205, the Certificate of Formation, with the Texas Secretary of State. The filing fee is $300. You will need a registered agent with a Texas address. Keep a copy of the filed certificate; it is one of the documents you can use to prove your business name.

2. Get your EIN

The IRS issues EINs for free through its online application, usually in one session. Apply after your LLC is formed so the EIN is tied to the LLC’s exact legal name. Walmart’s own onboarding tip is that EIN validation errors usually come from details that do not match your documents exactly, so copy the name as it appears on your IRS letter.

3. Register for a Texas sales and use tax permit

Apply online with the Texas Comptroller or by mail with Form AP-201. There is no fee for the permit, although the Comptroller may ask some businesses to post a security bond. Texas-based Walmart sellers need this permit even if every sale goes through Walmart, as explained in the next section.

4. Plan for the franchise tax information report

Texas LLCs are taxable entities for franchise tax. According to the Comptroller’s 2026 franchise tax instructions, an entity with annualized total revenue at or below $2,650,000 owes no franchise tax and no longer files a No Tax Due Report, but it must still file a Public Information Report or Ownership Information Report. Annual reports are due May 15. Above the threshold, the rate for retail and wholesale businesses is 0.375%.

Texas Sales Tax on Walmart Orders

The Texas Comptroller names Walmart Marketplace as an example of a marketplace provider. Marketplace providers engaged in business in Texas must collect and remit state and local sales tax on sales made through their marketplace, and they must certify to sellers that they are doing so. The certification does not need a special form; it can be part of the provider’s terms or seller agreement. Once Walmart has certified it, you do not collect tax on your Walmart orders.

What changes for a Texas seller is the paperwork on your side. The Comptroller’s remote seller and marketplace FAQ says a seller who lives in Texas has physical presence in the state and must hold an active sales and use tax permit, even when the only sales are through a certified marketplace. In practice:

• Report Walmart sales on your return. Include them in Total Texas Sales and exclude them from Taxable Sales, so you do not pay the tax Walmart already remitted.
• Collect tax on everything else. Sales on your own website, at events or wholesale are yours to collect on. Texas charges 6.25% statewide, and local jurisdictions can add up to 2%, for a maximum of 8.25%.
• Buy inventory tax-free for resale. As a permit holder, you can give suppliers a Texas resale certificate (Form 01-339) for products you will resell on Walmart.
• Keep records for at least four years. That includes Walmart’s sales reports and the certification.

Out-of-state sellers are treated differently: a remote seller under $500,000 in Texas revenue that sells only through a certified marketplace does not need a Texas permit. Our Amazon Texas guide walks through the return lines in more detail, and the same reporting applies to Walmart orders.

Apply and Onboard in Seller Center

Signing up as a Walmart Marketplace seller is free. Once your Texas documents are ready, the process runs in this order:

1. Create your seller account and accept the Marketplace agreement.
2. Complete business verification. Enter your legal business name, Texas address, tax ID and entity classification exactly as they appear on your documents, and upload supporting files. Walmart says the initial verification can take up to five days, and you cannot move on to store setup until it is complete.
3. Set up your store. Add your payment details, shipping settings, return policy and contact information.
4. Build your catalog. List items with their GTINs, or import a catalog from another marketplace. Check each item’s assigned category, because that sets its referral fee.
5. Protect your brand. If you own registered trademarks, the Walmart Brand Portal lets you manage brands and submit intellectual property claims.

If you would rather have a team prepare your application, catalog and Texas compliance calendar, you can book a consultation with Msharf and talk through your launch plan.

Fulfillment from Texas: Your Warehouse or WFS

Walmart requires either a U.S. warehouse that ships to consumers and handles returns, plus the ability to meet its Seller Performance Standards, or enrollment in Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS).

• Ship from your own Texas location or 3PL if you already have space, carrier accounts and someone to process returns. You control packaging and inventory, but on-time shipping and tracking count toward your performance metrics. Texas is a big state, so set handling and transit times that hold for customers in El Paso as well as Houston.
• Use WFS if you would rather not run fulfillment. Walmart picks, packs and ships Walmart.com orders on your behalf and handles customer support and returns for those orders. You pay fulfillment and storage fees, so model them per product with Walmart’s WFS tools before you send inventory.

Walmart Fees and Texas Costs

Walmart has no setup or monthly fee. You pay a referral fee on each item sold, based on its contract category, and Walmart calculates it on the total sales price, which includes the item price plus shipping, handling, gift wrap and other charges. Selected rates from Walmart’s referral fee schedule are below.

Item	Cost	Notes
Texas LLC Certificate of Formation (Form 205)	$300	One-time state filing fee
EIN	$0	Apply directly with the IRS
Texas sales and use tax permit	$0	Security bond possible in some cases
Franchise tax (revenue at or below $2,650,000)	$0 tax	Information report still due May 15
Walmart account setup and monthly fee	$0	No subscription
Referral fee: Home, Kitchen, Decor and Garden; Toys and Games; Pet Supplies	15%	Also the “everything else” rate
Referral fee: Apparel and Accessories	5% / 10% / 15%	$15 or less / $15 to $20 / over $20
Referral fee: Beauty, Health and Personal Care; Baby	8% / 15%	$10 or less / over $10
Referral fee: Consumer Electronics; Camera and Photo	8%	Flat rate
Referral fee: Personal Computers	6%	Flat rate
Referral fee: Jewelry and Precious Metals	20% / 5%	20% on the portion up to $250, 5% above
WFS fulfillment and storage	Varies	Only if you use WFS

Worked Example: Pricing with Referral Fee Tiers

These numbers are illustrative only, not real results or a forecast. Imagine a Texas LLC that ships T-shirts and a home decor item from its own warehouse in Texas.

• A $14 T-shirt with free shipping: the total sales price is $15 or less, so the apparel fee is 5%, or $0.70.
• The same T-shirt at $14 plus $3 shipping: the total sales price is now $17, so the fee rises to 10%, or $1.70. Adding shipping more than doubled the fee.
• A $22 T-shirt: over $20, so 15%, or $3.30.
• A $40 home decor item: Home, Kitchen, Decor and Garden is 15%, so $6.00 per unit. If the seller sells 150 in a month, that is $6,000 in sales and $900 in referral fees.

Now the Texas side. Say 60 of those 150 decor orders ($2,400) ship to Texas addresses. Walmart collects the sales tax on them. On the seller’s Texas return, the $2,400 goes into Total Texas Sales and stays out of Taxable Sales, so no sales tax is owed on those orders, but the return is still filed. The lesson for pricing: around the $15 and $20 apparel breakpoints, and the $10 breakpoint for beauty and baby items, how you split price and shipping changes your fee.

Common Mistakes Texas Walmart Sellers Make

• Applying with an SSN. Walmart will not accept it. Get the EIN first.
• Mismatched details. An address on your Walmart application that differs from your Certificate of Formation or IRS letter is a common reason verification stalls.
• Applying with no sales history. Walmart looks for marketplace or ecommerce success. Build a track record first if you have none.
• Using barcodes that are not from GS1. Walmart asks for GTIN/UPC GS1 company prefix numbers.
• Skipping the Texas permit. The marketplace exemption is for out-of-state remote sellers, not sellers based in Texas.
• Ignoring the category assignment. Your fee follows the category Walmart assigns during item setup, not the one you expected.

Tips for Texas Walmart Sellers

• Prepare a document folder before you apply: ID, IRS EIN letter, filed Certificate of Formation, a recent statement with your business address, and your Texas permit.
• Check your statements after the first sales to confirm each item’s contract category and commission rate.
• Price around fee breakpoints in apparel, beauty, baby and grocery, where the total sales price changes the rate.
• Read the general guide too. Our Walmart Marketplace seller guide covers listings and growth beyond the first sale.
• Get hands-on help. Msharf’s Walmart Marketplace services cover store setup and ongoing management for sellers who want to scale.

FAQ

Do I need an LLC to sell on Walmart Marketplace in Texas?

Walmart requires a business tax ID or business license number and does not accept an SSN. An LLC is not the only route, but forming one ($300 in Texas) and getting an EIN in its name is a common way to meet the requirement and keep your records consistent.

Does Walmart collect Texas sales tax for me?

Yes, on orders placed through Walmart Marketplace once Walmart has certified that it collects on your behalf. You still report those sales on your Texas return as non-taxable marketplace sales.

Do I need a Texas sales tax permit if I only sell on Walmart?

Yes, if your business is in Texas. The Comptroller requires Texas sellers to hold a permit and file returns even when all sales go through a marketplace provider. The permit is free.

How much does it cost to sell on Walmart from Texas?

Walmart charges no setup or monthly fee, only a referral fee per sale (15% in many categories, lower in some), plus WFS fees if you use it. On the Texas side, the EIN and permit are free and an LLC costs $300 to form.

How long does Walmart seller approval take?

Walmart says initial business verification can take up to five days. Having your documents match exactly helps avoid delays.

Can I use Walmart Fulfillment Services from Texas?

Yes. WFS is one of the two ways to meet Walmart’s fulfillment requirement. Walmart then ships your Walmart.com orders and handles customer support and returns for them.

Do I owe Texas franchise tax as a Walmart seller?

If your LLC’s annualized total revenue is at or below $2,650,000, you owe no franchise tax for 2026 and 2027 reports, but you still file a Public Information Report or Ownership Information Report by May 15.

Final Thoughts

Selling on Walmart Marketplace from Texas comes down to preparation. Form your business, get the EIN and Texas permit, line up a sales history, barcodes and a fulfillment plan, and make every document match before you apply. After approval, Walmart collects sales tax on your Marketplace orders while you keep filing Texas returns and your annual franchise information report. For more seller guides, visit the Msharf blog.

Information in this guide is based on official sources from Walmart Marketplace, the Texas Secretary of State, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the IRS as of November 2026, and can change. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.