When a compliance notice shows up in Seller Center, most sellers want the fastest possible path from "what is this" to "how do I fix it." This Walmart seller compliance codes explained guide covers Walmart Marketplace compliance codes issue by issue, verified directly against Walmart's current Seller Center documentation, so you can find your exact notice and see how to fix Walmart account compliance issues without digging through help pages. It also previews how Walmart compliance codes vs Amazon account health codes compare, since many sellers are managing both.
One clarification before the list: Walmart doesn't assign these a numbered code the way a tax notice or an error message does. Each issue is tied to a named performance standard or violation type, such as On-Time Delivery Rate or Regulatory Compliance Violation, and that name is what appears in your Seller Center notice. Sellers still search for "Walmart compliance codes" because that's the language people use when a notice hits their dashboard, so this guide uses "code" and "issue" interchangeably while sticking to Walmart's actual terminology for each entry.
What Do Walmart Marketplace Compliance Codes Mean and How Do I Fix Them?
Walmart Marketplace compliance codes flag specific performance issues such as late shipments, invalid tracking, or order defects, each tied to metrics like On-Time Delivery and Valid Tracking Rate that sellers must resolve to maintain account health. Every issue below breaks down what triggers it, the metric it's tied to, and how to fix it, including Walmart OTD compliance and Walmart VTR compliance specifically, verified against Walmart's Seller Performance Standards page as currently published.
Walmart Seller Performance Standards: Issue by Issue
Issue | What Triggers It | How to Fix It |
Cancellation Rate above 2% | Orders you canceled after receiving them from Walmart, most often for out-of-stock items, pricing errors, or a missed ship window. | Sync inventory in real time so listings go inactive the moment stock runs out, and confirm your ship window against actual supplier lead times before listing. |
On-Time Delivery Rate (OTD) below 90% | Orders not delivered by the Expected Delivery Date (EDD), driven by late carrier handoff, missed carrier scans, carrier delays, or a ship location/method mismatch. | Choose shipping methods and lag times that realistically match your supplier's actual fulfillment speed, and confirm your carrier is scanning packages promptly at handoff. Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) can absorb this requirement for you. |
Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) below 99% | Orders shipped without valid, accurate tracking, or tracking uploaded before the package was actually tendered to the carrier. | Only upload tracking numbers after the carrier has physically taken the package, and confirm your supplier's tracking integration is posting valid numbers on every order, not just most of them. |
Refund Rate above 6% | Refunds tied to seller-responsible issues: damaged items, incorrect items, or late deliveries. | Audit which SKUs are driving refunds, tighten packaging or supplier QC on damage-prone items, and correct any listings where the description doesn't match what's shipping. |
Seller Response Rate below 95% | Customer messages not answered within Walmart's required response window. | Set up Seller Center or email notifications so messages are never sitting unanswered, and build a same-day response habit, especially over weekends. |
Return Rate above 6% | A high share of orders coming back, often tied to inaccurate listings, sizing, or product-quality mismatches with what customers expected. | Tighten listing accuracy, especially images, dimensions, and use-case descriptions, since most returns trace back to a mismatch between expectation and product. |
Item Not Received (INR) Rate above 2% | Customers reporting they never received an order, frequently linked to invalid tracking or carrier delivery failures. | This overlaps heavily with VTR, since accurate tracking is what lets Walmart and the customer confirm delivery actually happened. Fixing tracking accuracy fixes most INR issues at the source. |
Negative Feedback Rate above 2% | A rising share of negative customer feedback tied to your seller account specifically. | Resolve the root operational issue driving complaints (usually shipping speed or item condition) rather than trying to manage the feedback itself. |
Walmart Item-Level Violation Types
Separate from the performance standards above, individual listings can be held or unpublished for policy reasons rather than performance metrics:
Issue | What Triggers It | How to Fix It |
Regulatory Compliance Violation | The listed item is prohibited under product or food safety regulations. | Review Walmart's Prohibited Products Policy before relisting, and provide required certifications (such as a General Certificate of Conformity) if the category requires them. |
Offensive Product Violation | The listing content or product itself was flagged as offensive. | Revise or remove the flagged content, then submit an appeal through Seller Support if you believe the flag was made in error. |
Intellectual Property Violation | The listing infringes a trademark, copyright, or patent. | Provide proof of authorization to sell the branded item, or remove the listing if the claim is valid. |
WFS Compliance Hold | A WFS-fulfilled item containing a chemical, aerosol, or battery is pending a compliance review. | No action typically required beyond waiting out the review window (up to three business days), though documentation may be requested for hazardous materials. |
Trust and Safety Hold | An item was flagged during Walmart's standard trust and safety review process before going live. | Check the Pending Review dashboard in Seller Center for the specific reason, and correct the listing accordingly. |
Walmart Pro-Seller Standards: The Next Level Up
Meeting the minimum Seller Performance Standards keeps your account in good standing, but Walmart's Pro Seller program layers stricter, tiered thresholds on top for sellers who want the visibility and fee benefits that come with it:
Metric | Rising Seller | Advanced Seller | Pro Seller |
On-Time Delivery Rate | ≥90% | ≥92.5% | ≥95% |
Cancellation Rate | ≤2.5% | ≤2.0% | ≤1.5% |
Seller Responsiveness Rate | ≥90% | ≥92.5% | ≥95% |
Shipping Speed Score | ≥5% | ≥25% | ≥50% |
Content Quality Score | ≥65% | ≥70% | ≥75% |
Price Competitiveness Score | ≥65% | ≥70% | ≥75% |
All three tiers also require more than 100 orders in the trailing 90 days, at least 90 days of active selling history, and full policy compliance. Walmart evaluates tier status twice monthly, and using WFS can help satisfy several of the fulfillment-based metrics automatically.
Walmart Compliance Codes vs Amazon Account Health Codes
If you're selling on both platforms, the underlying logic is similar even though the specific standards differ. Our Amazon account health codes guide (link once that post is live) covers the same issue-by-issue breakdown for Amazon's Listing Policy Violations, IP Complaints, and Order Defect Rate. The biggest structural difference: Walmart evaluates eight formal performance standards regularly and can suppress or suspend on any one of them, while Amazon's suspension risk concentrates more heavily around Order Defect Rate specifically. A supplier with consistent, accurate tracking data solves most compliance issues on both platforms at once.
Doba's vetted supplier network gives you the fulfillment consistency that keeps these metrics in range before an issue ever posts, so you're managing performance proactively instead of chasing notices after they land. Bookmark this Walmart seller compliance codes explained reference and check it any time a new notice hits your dashboard, and if you're still stuck on how to fix Walmart account compliance issues after working through the table, Walmart's Seller Performance dashboard shows the exact 30- or 60-day data behind each metric.
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