WFS vs FBA: fees, storage, surcharges and penalties

WFS vs FBA comes down to this: Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) publishes one simple fee table, with a flat per-unit fee by shipping weight, a few fixed surcharges and $0.75 per cubic foot storage for most of the year. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) has more fee types, including an aged inventory surcharge after 181 days, a low-inventory-level fee and an inbound placement fee. Which costs less depends on your product's size, price and how fast it sells. Below, every Walmart number comes from Walmart's WFS fee page. Where we couldn't confirm an Amazon number on an Amazon page, we link to Amazon instead of guessing.

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 calculates WFS fees for you on any Walmart listing. For the full fee picture beyond fulfillment, see Walmart seller fees and how to calculate Walmart profit.

WFS vs FBA at a glance

Amazon's selling plan isn't an FBA fee, but you pay it to use FBA at volume, so it belongs in the comparison. Walmart has no equivalent monthly charge. For the bigger picture beyond fulfillment, see Walmart vs Amazon for sellers.

WFS vs FBA surcharges

WFS surcharges are fixed, per unit, and added to the base fulfillment fee:

• Retail price under $10: +$1.00
• Apparel: +$0.50
• Hazardous materials: +$0.50
• Oversize 1: +$3.00
• Oversize 2: +$20.00, with the unit priced from the 90 lb rate

These standard surcharges don't apply to big & bulky items. Amazon builds price, size and product type into its fee tiers rather than listing a short surcharge table, so compare a specific item in Amazon's Revenue Calculator rather than trusting a blog's summary.

WFS storage fees vs FBA storage

WFS storage is charged per cubic foot per month (length × width × height in inches ÷ 1,728). It's $0.75 from January to September. From October to December, inventory stored more than 30 days pays an extra $1.50, so $2.25 total. A shoebox-size item of about 0.11 cubic feet costs roughly $0.08 a month most of the year.

FBA storage also changes by season and size tier, and Amazon notes that going over your restock limit can increase storage costs. Amazon's current rates are on its storage costs page.

WFS big and bulky fees

WFS standard items go up to 150 lb with the longest side up to 108 inches. Bigger items ship as big & bulky by freight: $155 plus $0.80 per lb over 90 lb, up to 500 lb. Returns on big & bulky items use the same formula. Amazon handles large items through its own oversize and bulky tiers; check its fee table for your dimensions.

WFS hazmat fees

Hazmat items in WFS pay +$0.50 per unit on fulfillment, and +$0.50 more on disposal. Not every hazmat product is accepted, though: Walmart keeps a separate WFS prohibited products policy, so check it before you send aerosols, batteries or chemicals. Amazon has its own dangerous goods review and fees.

WFS vs FBA penalties and slow-moving inventory

Neither program calls these "penalties," but these are the charges that punish mistakes or slow sellers:

• Prep chargebacks (WFS): $0.65 per unit for a missing or wrong label, $0.80 for a missing or wrong poly bag.
• Peak storage (WFS): the extra $1.50 per cubic foot for stock held more than 30 days in October–December.
• Aged inventory (WFS): from June 30, 2026, $2.25 per cubic foot at 366–450 days and $7.50 after 450 days.
• Aged inventory surcharge (FBA): starts on items stored more than 181 days.
• Low-inventory-level fee (FBA): charged on some standard-size items when your stock runs low relative to demand.

Is there a WFS slow-moving inventory fee? Walmart's WFS fee page doesn't list a separate fee by that name. The charges that hit slow-moving stock are the aged inventory rates above and peak-season storage. In practice, WFS gives you a much longer runway (a year) than FBA's 181 days before aging kicks in.

When WFS wins, and when FBA wins

WFS tends to win when you sell on Walmart and want simple, predictable fees; your items are small and light; you don't want a monthly plan fee; or your stock sells slowly enough that FBA's aged inventory surcharge would bite before a year.

FBA tends to win when your item already sells well on Amazon; you need Amazon's far larger customer base; or Amazon's fee for your specific size and price tier comes out lower. The only honest way to know is to price the same item in both.

Many sellers use both. For Walmart, the Walmart profit calculator and the Margenos Chrome extension apply the current WFS fulfillment, storage and referral fees to any listing, including storage months. For Amazon, use Amazon's Revenue Calculator.

Sources: Walmart Marketplace Learn: WFS fees (updated May 27, 2026) · Walmart Marketplace pricing and referral fees · WFS prohibited products policy · Amazon selling plans and referral fees · Amazon FBA costs overview · Amazon: 2026 US referral and FBA fee update · Retail Dive on Amazon's low-inventory-level fee. Walmart and Amazon change fees; confirm in Seller Center before you ship inventory.