Something unusual is happening in the seller acquisition trenches, and it’s making noise in private Slack channels and closed Facebook groups that Amazon FBA veterans frequent. According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, Walmart Marketplace’s merchant development team has been conducting what insiders are calling a “surgical poaching operation” — directly targeting Amazon sellers doing between $500K and $5M annually in FBA revenue with offers that are, reportedly, difficult to refuse.
The alleged effort, which sources say ramped up significantly in Q1 2026 following Walmart’s internal mandate to close the third-party seller gap with Amazon, involves personalized outreach from Walmart Marketplace account managers who have apparently done their homework — citing specific ASIN-level data, estimated Amazon revenue figures, and category white-space analysis in their pitch decks.
“These aren’t cold calls,” said one seven-figure Amazon seller in the home goods category who asked to remain anonymous. “They came to me with a slide deck that basically showed me my own Amazon business. That’s not something you do unless you’re serious.”
What Are Walmart’s Alleged Fee Concessions Actually Worth to FBA Sellers?
The centerpiece of the alleged campaign, sources say, is a temporary referral fee reduction — reportedly as low as 8% in select categories including home, tools, and pet supplies — for sellers who commit to listing a minimum of 500 SKUs and maintaining in-stock rates above 92% for a 12-month period. For context, Walmart’s standard referral fees in these categories run 15%, the same as Amazon’s.
Sources close to the matter say sellers who’ve accepted the terms are also receiving priority placement in Walmart’s nascent Sponsored Products program, which has been quietly expanding its auction-based CPC model since late 2025. At current Walmart Connect CPCs — which insiders peg at roughly $0.45 to $0.70 versus Amazon’s $1.20-plus average in competitive categories — the math can look compelling for performance-oriented brands.
- Alleged referral fee discount: 8% vs. standard 15% for qualifying sellers
- Minimum SKU commitment reportedly required: 500+ active listings
- In-stock rate threshold: 92% minimum over 12-month term
- Priority Sponsored Products placement reportedly included in some agreements
- Dedicated Walmart Marketplace account manager assigned for 90-day onboarding
Marketplace analytics firm Jungle Scout, whose data teams track cross-platform seller behavior, has reportedly observed a measurable uptick in sellers simultaneously active on both Amazon and Walmart — up an estimated 34% year-over-year in Q1 2026, according to unconfirmed internal figures shared with this publication.
Is Amazon Aware of the Alleged Seller Poaching — and How Is It Responding?
The more combustible question inside the seller community is whether Amazon has caught wind of the effort and is responding. Sources claim the answer is yes — and that Amazon’s Selling Partner Services division has quietly activated what one agency operator described as a “retention mode” for its highest-value third-party accounts.
“We started getting inbound calls from our Amazon account rep in March for the first time in two years. Totally unprompted. Then they offered us a co-op advertising credit. I’ve been selling on Amazon for six years and that has never happened.” — Seven-figure seller in the sporting goods category, identity withheld
Amazon’s Selling Partner Services did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Walmart’s communications team declined to confirm or deny the existence of a structured seller acquisition program, saying only that “Walmart Marketplace is committed to growing its third-party seller base across all categories.”
Unconfirmed reports from two separate agency sources suggest that Amazon has internally flagged sellers who’ve recently expanded to Walmart and placed them on a watchlist for proactive outreach — though the mechanics of how that identification works remain unclear. One possible vector: Amazon’s own Brand Analytics dashboard data, which reportedly gives the company visibility into where sellers are directing their catalog attention.
Which Seller Profiles Is Walmart’s Team Allegedly Targeting Most Aggressively?
Sources close to the matter say Walmart’s outreach isn’t random. The alleged targeting criteria, as pieced together from multiple seller accounts, appears to prioritize a specific profile:
- Amazon sellers with 3.8-star or higher feedback scores and fewer than 0.5% defect rates
- Brands with private label SKUs (not pure resellers) in consumable or replenishment categories
- Sellers currently using Amazon’s FBA program who also have domestic warehouse capability or an existing 3PL relationship — making WFS (Walmart Fulfillment Services) onboarding smoother
- Accounts in the $500K–$5M annual revenue band — large enough to move category metrics, small enough that dedicated support is seen as a meaningful differentiator
Notably, sources say Walmart is explicitly pitching the absence of a Buy Box war as a feature, not a bug. Because Walmart’s algorithm still favors first-to-list and brand ownership more heavily than price parity, private label sellers with clean catalog control reportedly experience significantly less suppression than they do on Amazon.
“The Walmart rep literally said to me, ‘You won’t spend the first three months fighting hijackers.’ That landed.” — Private label seller, kitchen category
What Do Amazon Aggregators and Agency Leaders Think About the Shift?
The alleged Walmart campaign is landing at a complicated moment for the Amazon aggregator ecosystem, which spent 2023 and 2024 absorbing brutal write-downs and is now in a cautious rebuild phase. Thrasio, which emerged from bankruptcy in late 2024 and is reportedly operating a leaner 180-brand portfolio under restructured leadership, is said to be actively evaluating Walmart channel expansion as a valuation lever ahead of an anticipated refinancing event.
Perch, the Boston-based aggregator that has maintained relative operational discipline through the downturn, is unconfirmed to have already migrated roughly 60% of its catalog to Walmart Marketplace, according to a source with indirect knowledge of the company’s channel mix. Perch did not respond to a request for comment.
On the agency side, reactions are mixed. Tinuiti’s Amazon practice — one of the largest in the managed services space — has reportedly begun building out a dedicated Walmart Connect media team in anticipation of client demand, according to a source familiar with the firm’s 2026 hiring roadmap. Meanwhile, smaller boutique agencies that built their entire P&L around Amazon PPC management are quietly nervous.
“If the fee gap is real and it holds, you’re going to see a meaningful chunk of catalog shift. Not all of it — Amazon is still Amazon — but enough to compress margins on the PPC side for the agencies that never diversified.” — Agency founder, identity withheld at source’s request
Could Walmart’s Alleged Concessions Actually Stick Long-Term?
The skeptics in the seller community have a reasonable counterargument: Walmart has run seller incentive programs before, and the history of those programs includes fee normalization once the acquisition goal is met. The 2021-era Walmart Marketplace growth push, which included waived referral fees for new category entrants, was widely seen as a success in building GMV — but sellers who stuck around reported fee structures normalizing to standard rates within 18 months.
“Walmart needs catalog density right now more than it needs margin,” said one multichannel consulting operator who works with brands across Amazon, Walmart, and Target Plus. “The question is whether they’ve built enough retention infrastructure — search relevance, ad tools, customer trust — to keep sellers after the concession period ends. That’s the part I’m not sure about.”
Walmart’s conversion rate for marketplace listings continues to lag Amazon’s by an estimated 40-60% depending on category, according to data from Helium 10’s cross-platform benchmarking tool, which launched Walmart tracking capabilities in late 2025. Until that gap closes, even aggressive fee discounts may struggle to fully compensate for lower sell-through velocity on big-ticket or impulse-sensitive SKUs.
What Should Amazon Sellers Do With This Information Right Now?
For the operational seller reading this, the alleged Walmart campaign — whether it proves to be as structured as sources describe or simply reflects an aggressive individual manager’s playbook — raises a legitimate strategic question: is now the moment to negotiate with both platforms simultaneously?
Several experienced multichannel operators suggest the answer is yes, with caveats. Inventory allocation and WFS prep fees (currently $0.27 per unit for standard-size items) need to be modeled carefully before committing catalog at scale. And sellers should be explicit in any Walmart conversations about locking fee terms in writing — verbal commitments from marketplace development reps, sources note, have historically proven difficult to enforce.
- Request any fee concession in a formal Walmart Marketplace Program Agreement addendum, not email
- Model WFS prep + fulfillment costs against your FBA cost-per-unit before migrating high-velocity SKUs
- Treat Walmart expansion as additive, not replacement — Amazon’s traffic volume still has no peer for discovery-stage products
- Watch your Amazon listing suppression metrics carefully if you’re simultaneously running identical SKUs on both platforms — pricing algorithm crossfire is a real operational risk
The broader story here may be less about Walmart winning and more about Amazon being forced to compete for the seller relationship in a way it hasn’t had to in years. Whether that competition ultimately benefits FBA merchants — or simply becomes a new form of leverage both platforms use — remains to be seen. But for now, sources say, the phones in seller communities are ringing with offers. And that, at minimum, is new.
