So how is it that Walmart expects us to ship out same day when order comes in late afternoon when there is no chance to do that? I get notification around 4:30pm PST and it shows I need to ship out same day. Both on the email and account shows same date. Is there a way to avoid this issue? I mean with Amazon anything that comes after 12:01am we can ship the next day. Why is Walmart defaulting to 0 day handling and how to change it?
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We just had this come up last week. I got an email that we had to ship an order “same day” it came in at 9pm. As it turned out our ShipStation software got the order at 2:30pm, and one of our team members saw it. She shipped it, and I was concerned about nothing.
When we started with them 5+ years ago, it appeared our only choice was same day. We now make changes to the listings to add a day or two for special products that need more time.
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So how do we do that to increase handling time to 1 business day instead of the 0 day it seems to be defaulting to?
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I am out of our facility this weekend working on our farm. I can check on Monday when I can get in front of a workstation. @doilyboutique444 may know from memory, she introduced us to Walmart.
I wonder if the @WALMART.COM_EXPERT would also know.
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You can increase lag time by using a spreadsheet upload. The max if I remember is 3 days.
In the beginning of time, Walmart let you set your daily cut off time to say 7 am local time. So anything coming in after that needs to be shipped the next day. They recently changed that.
In the catalog tab, you’ll find this:
Choose this:
It is a simple excel spreadsheet with two columns.
So, you’ll need to download a report so that you can clip copy those skus into the first column.
To get to 3 days, you’ll have to request an exemption and reason.
On the flip side, for those of mine that need 3 days, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. They had no answer, so I simply don’t rely on it any more. That was years ago, maybe they got better, who knows. I’m not testing the waters anymore. If it’s listed and I don’t have one on hand, I stop the world and sew it up. Thankfully my sales for handmade are slow and so far so good.
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Just a little tidbit on the lag time report. Our lag time was just fine until the beginning of this year. We have had to submit the report every other week because the change in lag time doesn’t seem to save. We have many cases that have been opened and closed because every time we think it’s fixed, it reverts back to zero days.
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Our experience is not to rely on Walmart emails to start.
Usually 11:30 am seems to be the cutoff time for us.
We never see a same day ship date after 11:30am.
As for Lag times I though everyone is forced into 1 day unless getting a RARE grant.
I’m downloading a lag time report to see what ours says:
..Robot or human?
I’ll report back
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We got approved for 2 days because we have to collaborate with the freight carriers (heavy/bulk category).
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@SDguy Walmart defaults the cutoff time to 5PM local time. If you want to change cutoff time, log into Seller Center, click the settings icon, go to Seller Fulfillment, then click the three dots next to our seller center. This allows you to change the cutoff time.
Lag time is separate from cutoff time. Lag time can only go up to 1 or else you must request a lag time exemption.
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While you’re there might as well set your “Additional Days Off” Or Holday’s
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Unless you have already used them, in which case you must work every day no matter what. Because Walmart decides how many days per year you will run your business. 
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I did not know that.
Help says "You are limited to 15 days off per fulfillment center per calendar year. These days are when operations are closed, including holidays. " 
Oddly it says (i)
We’ve pre-populated your additional days off based on your default FC. Please make any required updates.
I don’t see anything pre-populated for 2025 other than Jan 1.
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Yup, you are allowed 15 non shipping days per year, including national holidays when shipping services don’t run. There is no vacation setting.
This is one area where Amazon is miles ahead of Walmart. The only advantage is that you can plan these days in advance, where on Amazon you can’t.
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I guess you could always create a fulfillment center (or multiple) name Vacation , Hurricane, Tornado, blizzard, Wild Fire, Wacken festival 
, family emergency, etc. Set the dates & move your items with an upload when it’s time.
Aint that right Walmart.com_expert?
Or the other option is to zero out your inventory for vacation time.
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Amazon predefines set holidays true. You can remove (or add back in if you had removed prior) holidays as operating days.
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When I said these days, I was referring to the non holiday vacation days, where Amazon requires you manually flip the switch between vacation mode and active. Walmart gives you the ability to schedule your non-shipping days months in advance.
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Another big difference is that if I take two days off on Walmart, the customer still sees my items.
If I take two days off on Amazon, my shop disappears..
SO…If I need my shop to disappear on Walmart, I have a spreadsheet that sets the inventory to zero pre-prepaired. When I get back, I have a spreadsheet that sets my inventory back to normal. On Amazon, it’s one click of a button called vacation. (On Etsy, I hit one button and go on vacation, same at Ebay).
If I don’t want my store to disappear but I need two days off…On Amazon, I upload a spreadsheet that increases lag time. Again, I have three pre-prepared ready to go. Lag time “normal”, 4 days, and 7 days. On Walmart, I have to mark days off (limited to 15). I have to give Walmart credit because they USED to make us include Federal Holidays but that’s no longer the case. And Amazon also automatically recognizes Federal Holiday. Etsy and Ebay seem to as well. For those two, I simply have to update one shipping template and then put it back.
Unless Walmart has improved recently (and they do make improvements) more than one day needs a waiver. I have handmade, so I identified those by SKU and got a waiver of no more than 3 days. So I was happy. But it didn’t seem to stick. Once I sold and item, when I relisted it, it sold to ship the next day instead of 3 days. Walmart couldn’t figure it out, so I threw my hands up and said until I sew another, it’s not being relisted, OR I simply live with STOP THE WORLD, everything planned is off the table, I gotta sew. sew far sew good.
Another point today that I was sharing with my son in law…I keep telling him I have four bosses and each boss can do the same thing, only they call it something different AND they get there a different way. He’ll learn…Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m still around.
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Make him read some of the SAS threads, he will get an education for sure.
It was the case the last time I set up non-shipping days. When did they start exempting Federal Holidays from the 15?
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If you search for my posts here…you’ll find where I complained about it and it was about then. VERY recently on a scale of 1-10…like in the last year?
I remember asking them WHO was open on Christmas Day for me to ship? And Thanksgiving Day…
Their point of view as global…and I’m like dang it program the computer. And that’s not so easy peasy to do, but I believe it’s done.
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