Walmart’s public seller registration guide, under “What if my business is based outside the U.S.?”, tells international sellers they need to provide a Company PAN card and a GST registration certificate.
A PAN card is an Indian tax identifier. GST registration in that context is Indian too. Neither exists for a UK company, and neither is required of one.
You can see how the error happened — that page is India-targeted content sitting under a generic “international” heading, on a site that also carries a “Sell from India” section. But it’s Walmart’s own marketing site, which is why the claim has propagated into every third-party guide, and why UK founders keep arriving at onboarding looking for documents that don’t exist in their jurisdiction.
Walmart’s actual documentation says something different. Its country-by-country table lists, for the United Kingdom, three items and no others:
- Certificate of Incorporation
- Utility bill or bank statement issued within the past three months, at the business address
- Letter of Authorization, if applicable
That’s the list. Checked against Walmart’s Marketplace Learn documentation on 27 August 2026.
Which tax form you file
This depends on one thing: whether you have a US Employer Identification Number.
| Your situation | Form |
|---|---|
| UK Ltd, no US EIN | W-8BEN-E |
| UK Ltd with a US EIN | W-8ECI |
| US-incorporated with EIN | W-9 |
A US EIN is not required. A UK company without one files W-8BEN-E and supplies its UK tax identifiers — your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and Company Registration Number (CRN). The UK is on Walmart’s supported list for W-8BEN-E.
One thing to diarise: W-8BEN-E must be renewed every three years. W-9s don’t expire; yours does. A lapsed form can hold payouts.
The requirement that disqualifies some UK businesses outright
Walmart excludes several entity types from the US Marketplace: non-profits, Hindu Undivided Family entities, and sole proprietorships — except from India.
A UK sole trader cannot sell on Walmart US Marketplace. You need a limited company. If you’re currently trading as a sole trader and Walmart is on your roadmap, incorporation is step zero, and it takes long enough that it shouldn’t be discovered during onboarding.
What Walmart actually screens for
Beyond documents, Walmart publishes minimum qualifications, and two of them catch people out:
- Business Tax ID or Business Licence Number (an SSN is not accepted)
- Supporting documents verifying business name and address
- A history of marketplace or ecommerce success
- Products with GTIN/UPC numbers from a GS1 Company Prefix
- A Marketplace Wallet or third-party payment provider account
- A catalogue compliant with the Prohibited Products Policy
- Fulfilment through WFS or another US B2C warehouse with returns capability
That third point is a genuine gate. Walmart isn’t an open marketplace in the way Amazon is — self-registering doesn’t guarantee they’ll extend an agreement. A brand with no trading history anywhere is a weak application.
The GTIN point is the one that quietly bites UK brands. Walmart labels must use GTIN or UPC, not EAN. If your barcodes are EAN-13: as most UK brands’ are — that’s a catalogue project, not a checkbox.
Walmart’s UK page also asks for a competitive pricing strategy, products that add to Walmart’s assortment, and “access to a US return warehouse plus either a domestic warehouse or approved 3PL provider.” There’s a dedicated UK contact address, ukseller@wal-mart.com.
Returns: the requirement WFS partially solves
Walmart’s rule is unambiguous: “Your return center address must be located in the U.S. and can’t be located in Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories.” PO boxes: not permitted. Minimum one return centre per account, no international return centres.
Walmart Fulfillment Services handles returns for you, but read WFS’s own international sellers page before assuming it removes the requirement entirely: “you’re required to have a US location where returns can be sent to if needed.”
On phone numbers: Walmart’s documentation requires a business phone number and specifies it must be non-toll-free. It does not explicitly state the number must be American. The widely-repeated “you need a US phone support number” comes from practitioner guides, not Walmart policy. Get one anyway — US customers ringing an international number is a service problem regardless of what the rules require.
WFS for a UK company: two things to plan around
You will need someone to act as ultimate consignee. Walmart’s wording: “If you’re a US entity with an EIN, you should act as the ultimate consignee. If you don’t have an EIN, you’ll need to name another business.”
And you own the import. “You are responsible for clearing US Customs” before goods reach WFS, and “you are responsible for duties and import taxes. Walmart is not the importer of record.” Walmart offers Cross Border – Imports as an optional service for transport from Asia with broker assistance.
WFS fees, current as of Walmart’s May 2026 update, with no monthly or setup fee and no inventory minimums:
| Weight | Fulfilment fee per unit |
|---|---|
| ≤1 lb | $3.45 |
| 2 lb | $4.95 |
| 3 lb | $5.45 |
| 4–20 lb | $5.75 + $0.40/lb over 4 |
Surcharges: apparel +$0.50, hazmat +$0.50, retail price under $10 +$1.00, Oversize 1 +$3.00, Oversize 2 +$20.00. Dimensional weight uses the same divisor as Amazon US, (L × W × H) ÷ 139.
Storage is $0.75 per cubic foot per month January to September, with a peak surcharge of +$1.50 for items held beyond 30 days in October to December. And note a change effective 30 June 2026: items stored 366–450 days cost $2.25 per cubic foot per month, and beyond 450 days $7.50.
Return processing runs $4.70 for a unit under 1 lb up to $7.00 plus $0.40/lb in the 4–20 lb band — waived when the return is Walmart’s fault (lost in transit, damaged, arrived late, wrong item), charged to you for wrong size, poor quality, not as described, or simply no longer wanted.
Referral fees
Walmart’s schedule runs 2.35% to 20%, with most categories in a 6–15% band. A representative selection:
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Personal Computers | 6% |
| Consumer Electronics, Camera & Photo, Video Game Consoles | 8% |
| Automotive, Industrial & Scientific, Musical Instruments | 12% |
| Home, Kitchen, Decor & Garden; Toys & Games; Tools; Pet Supplies | 15% |
| Apparel & Accessories | 5% ≤$15 / 10% $15–20 / 15% >$20 |
| Jewelry & Precious Metals | 20% to $250, 5% above |
| Everything Else | 15% |
The fee applies to the total sales price: item price plus shipping, handling, gift wrap and other charges — not the item price alone. That catches people modelling against Amazon, where the basis differs.
One claim to be careful with: you may see reports that Walmart quietly cut referral fees across 14 categories in June 2026. That isn’t reflected on Walmart’s live fee schedule, which shows a last-updated date of 9 March 2026. Don’t model against it without confirmation from Walmart.
The Brand Portal trap
This is the one that genuinely blocks UK brands, and it’s rarely mentioned.
Walmart Brand Portal requires a registered US trademark. A UK IPO or EUIPO registration does not qualify. Eligibility is stated as holding “a valid U.S. trademark.”
And registered means registered, not pending: “Your trademark registration must have a seven-digit registration number and be in active status.” An eight-digit serial number indicates a pending application and is ineligible. The brand name must match the registration exactly.
USPTO registration takes the better part of a year from filing. If Walmart is on your roadmap and you don’t hold a US mark, file now — long before you plan to sell, because without Brand Portal you have no meaningful route to remove counterfeit or unauthorised listings.
Seller countries eligible to enrol in Brand Portal include the UK, US, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea and Vietnam.
Timeline, and the deadline that kills applications
Business verification takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few business days. Documents go in as PNG, JPG or PDF, maximum 5 MB each: photo ID front and back, a business licence or registration certificate, and proof of address. Company name, address and date must be legible on each.
The hard deadline: after registration you must complete business verification and add a payment method within 30 days, or the account is declined. That’s Walmart’s own wording, and it’s the most common avoidable failure.
If verification fails, resubmission may be permitted depending on country of incorporation. Walmart’s guidance is worth reading literally: “your business details must be entered exactly as they appear in your IRS records or other government issued documents.” Mismatched formatting between your Certificate of Incorporation, your utility bill and what you typed into the form is enough to fail it. If a resubmission also fails, the decision is final.
Items sit as Draft until account setup completes, going live up to four hours after inventory and price are added. A New Seller Payment Hold applies after launch, with duration varying by country of incorporation.
The incentive that makes 2026 the year to do it
Walmart’s New Seller Savings Program is unusually generous, the UK is eligible, and it’s time-limited:
- 20% off base referral fees on your first $50,000 of GMV
- 30% off between $50,000 and $500,000
- 40% off above $500,000
- 10% off WFS fulfilment fees until $2,000 in savings is reached
- 50% rebate up to $1,000 in search engine marketing credits, plus up to $500 in Walmart Connect ad credits
- Maximum combined benefit: $75,000
Auto-enrolment for up to 12 months. The programme runs through 31 January 2027, and sellers must go live after 1 February 2026 to participate.
Set against context: Walmart Marketplace crossed 200,000 active sellers in 2025, up from around 160,000 at the end of 2024, with over 420 million products on Walmart.com of which 95% come from marketplace sellers. Walmart has been actively recruiting UK businesses since a seller summit in London in September 2025, and opened a dedicated London seller office.
The 40% referral fee discount above $500,000 of GMV is the sort of margin advantage that doesn’t stay available. Run it through the same break-even arithmetic you’d use on Amazon before committing stock. If you’re going to test Walmart, the arithmetic favours doing it before the window closes rather than after.
FAQ
Do UK sellers need a PAN card and GST certificate for Walmart Marketplace? No. Both are Indian documents. Walmart’s own registration guide states this under an “international sellers” heading, which is where the confusion comes from, but Walmart’s country documentation lists only a Certificate of Incorporation, a utility bill or bank statement from the past three months, and a Letter of Authorization if applicable.
Do I need a US EIN to sell on Walmart from the UK? No. A UK company without an EIN files form W-8BEN-E and supplies its UK tax identifiers, the UTR and Company Registration Number. W-8BEN-E must be renewed every three years.
Can a UK sole trader sell on Walmart Marketplace? No. Walmart excludes sole proprietorships from the US Marketplace except from India. You need a limited company.
Do I need a US trademark for Walmart Brand Portal? Yes. A UK IPO or EUIPO registration does not qualify. The registration must be active with a seven-digit USPTO registration number — an eight-digit serial number means the application is still pending and is ineligible.
What are Walmart’s referral fees? Between 2.35% and 20%, with most categories at 6–15%. The fee applies to the total sales price including shipping and handling, not the item price alone.
Sami Sultan runs Ecom Enable, an Amazon growth partner for DTC brands. Every requirement above was verified against Walmart’s own Marketplace Learn documentation on 27 August 2026, including the contradiction on Walmart’s registration guide.
Sources: Walmart Marketplace Learn — tax classifications and documentation, business verification, seller-fulfilled return centre settings, WFS for international sellers/Getting%20started%20with%20WFS/WFS-international-sellers), WFS fees/WFS%20basics/WFS-fees), referral fee schedule, Brand Portal, New Seller Savings; Walmart seller registration guide; Walmart UK sellers; Walmart recruits UK sellers.