Walmart Sponsored Products: how Walmart Connect ads work for sellers

Walmart Sponsored Products are pay-per-click ads that put one of your items in Walmart.com search results, browse pages and item pages, marked as sponsored. They are part of Walmart Connect, Walmart's advertising business, and Marketplace sellers run them from the Advertising section of Seller Center. Walmart's Sponsored Search guide (updated Oct 1, 2026) says an item can only be advertised if it's in stock, published and winning the Buy Box. You set a bid and a budget, and you pay only when a shopper clicks.

Margenos is a Walmart reseller tool (Chrome extension and Android app) that shows whether a product is worth selling on Walmart Marketplace: fees, profit, ROI, sales estimates, every competing seller with stock, the Buy Box winner and the product's price and Buy Box history. It doesn't run or manage ads. It helps with the question that comes first: is there enough margin, and do you win the Buy Box often enough, for ads to pay off?

What is Walmart Connect?

Walmart Connect is the name for Walmart's advertising products. For Marketplace sellers, the main one is Sponsored Search, which Walmart's Sponsored Search page describes as ads in "search results and high-traffic browse areas across the Walmart site and app." Walmart Connect also sells Onsite Display, Brand Shop and Shelf, search engine marketing on Google, and a referral program called Sales Rewards and Attribution. Display ads are bought differently and aimed at bigger brand budgets. Sponsored Search is what most sellers mean by "Walmart seller ads."

Walmart Connect ad types and placements

Sponsored Search has three ad types. All three are cost-per-click, and Walmart says the ad shown is picked by relevance and bid: "the most relevant product with the highest bid wins the placement."

Walmart's guide limits Sponsored Brands and Videos to brand owners based in the US, China, Hong Kong, the UK or India. Most resellers can only run Sponsored Products. See Walmart Brand Portal if you own a brand.

How Marketplace sellers start advertising

Walmart Connect's campaign setup guide says you sign in to Walmart Connect Ad Center with your Seller Center login, or work through an approved ad partner. A first campaign looks like this:

1. Open Ad Center. Go to Advertising in Seller Center and sign in with the same credentials.
2. Create a Sponsored Products campaign. Set start and end dates and choose automatic or manual targeting.
3. Set a budget and bids. Choose a daily and total budget. Ad Center suggests bids; Walmart Connect suggests using them as your starting point.
4. Pick items. Walmart Connect recommends starting with a group of best sellers that have strong listings.
5. Run it, then adjust. Walmart Connect suggests giving a first campaign at least 30 days and judging it on impressions, clicks and relevance before return on ad spend.

Automatic vs manual campaigns

In an automatic campaign, Walmart picks the keywords and tests search terms for you, and suggests bids by product type. In a manual campaign, you choose keywords and bid on each one, using match types such as exact and broad. Walmart's Sponsored Products best practices suggest running automatic campaigns, finding the search terms that convert in the Item Keyword Report, then moving those into manual campaigns with higher exact-match bids. Our Walmart keyword research guide covers finding those terms.

Is there a minimum spend?

Walmart's Sponsored Search page says there are no setup or monthly fees: you set the budget and pay per click. Walmart Connect's setup guide recommends a daily budget of $100 so ads stay visible at peak hours, but that is a recommendation, not a stated minimum. Check Ad Center for the current minimum budget and bid when you build the campaign.

What does Walmart advertising cost?

Walmart doesn't publish an average cost per click. Your cost depends on your bids, the keywords and how many sellers compete for them. Ad Center shows suggested bids when you set up a campaign. Walmart Connect lists relevance, bid, review count and score, and TwoDay shipping eligibility among the factors that decide placement, so a better listing can win clicks without the highest bid.

The question for a reseller is simpler: how much can you spend per sale and still make money? If an item leaves you, say, $6 profit after fees and cost, then ad clicks that cost more than $6 per sale lose money. The profit before ads is your ceiling. The Walmart profit calculator shows how to work it out.

Do ads help win the Buy Box?

No. It works the other way around. Walmart's guide says a Sponsored Products ad only runs for an item that is already winning the Buy Box. Walmart's Buy Box guide says the winner is picked on price, shipping fee, delivery speed, seller performance and customer experience. Ad spend isn't on that list. If you lose the Buy Box, your ad stops serving. Read how the Walmart Buy Box works before you spend on ads.

When are Walmart Sponsored Products worth it on a resale listing?

Most resellers sell on listings they share with other sellers, and often with Walmart itself. Ads only pay off when three things line up:

• You hold the Buy Box most of the time. If the Buy Box rotates between several sellers, your ad only runs while you have it.
• The margin covers the clicks. Thin-margin items rarely survive ad costs.
• There is real demand. Ads can bring shoppers to a listing; they can't create demand for an item nobody searches for.

Margenos helps you check all three before you buy stock. It shows the referral and WFS fees, profit and ROI, a sales estimate, every competing seller with their stock, who usually wins the Buy Box and the Buy Box history from Margenos's own daily snapshots. A listing where Walmart holds the Buy Box most days is a poor place for both your offer and your ad budget. For ad management software itself, see best Walmart seller tools; Helium 10, for example, offers Ads for Walmart Connect.

Walmart Connect ads certification

Walmart Connect Academy offers an Ad Certification program with nine certifications: retail media, Sponsored Products, measurement and reporting, creative essentials, Walmart DSP, Onsite Display, Sponsored Videos, Sponsored Brands, and Brand Shop and Shelf. When Walmart Connect launched the program in 2023, it said you need an 80% score on a timed assessment and that the credential is valid for one year. We don't publish assessment answers. Take the coursework instead; it's the same material you'll use in Ad Center. For Walmart's seller courses, see Walmart seller training.

Walmart Connect vs Amazon Ads

The basic model is the same. Amazon's Sponsored Products are also cost-per-click with no monthly fee, offer automatic or manual targeting, and require the item to be eligible for the Featured Offer (Amazon's term for its Buy Box). The differences that matter to resellers:

• Ad types. On Walmart, Sponsored Brands and Videos need USPTO registration and Brand Portal, so most resellers only get Sponsored Products.
• Competition. Walmart often sells the same item itself. If Walmart holds the Buy Box, a third-party seller can't advertise that item.
• Tools. More ad software supports Amazon than Walmart. Check that a tool supports Walmart Connect before you pay for it.

For a broader comparison of the two marketplaces, see Walmart vs Amazon.

Sources: Walmart: Advertise with Walmart Connect Sponsored Search (updated Oct 1, 2026) · Walmart Marketplace: Sponsored Search · Walmart Connect: Easy campaign set-up · Walmart Marketplace: Sponsored Products best practices · Walmart: Product detail page, the Buy Box · Walmart Connect Academy Ad Certification · Walmart Connect: Academy Ad Certification launch (Oct 11, 2023) · Amazon Ads: Sponsored Products. Walmart changes its rules; confirm in Seller Center.