Walmart Affiliate Program for YouTubers: Requirements and Commissions

Yes, you can earn money from Walmart links in your YouTube videos. Walmart runs two programs for this. The Walmart Affiliate Program is the older one, made for websites. Walmart Creator is the newer one, made for creators on social platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Both are free, and both pay you through Impact, the affiliate platform Walmart uses.

If you live in the United States and make videos, Walmart Creator is usually the better fit. It gives you a browser plugin to make links, a storefront page for your favorite products, and a dashboard where you can sort products by commission. The rest of this guide explains the requirements, the commissions and the rules, using only what Walmart itself publishes.

• 01Two programs: the Walmart Affiliate Program (affiliates.walmart.com) and Walmart Creator (creator.walmart.com). Both are free to join.
• 02Who can join Walmart Creator: you must be 18 or older, live in the United States, have an active Walmart.com account, link at least one public social media account, and not work for Walmart.
• 03Who can join the Walmart Affiliate Program: you must be an adult where you live (18 or older in most states) and not work for Walmart. Walmart reviews every application and decides at its own discretion.
• 04Commission: the Walmart Affiliate Program lists 1% to 4%. Walmart Creator says each product has its own rate, and you can search products by their percentage in your dashboard.
• 05How long a click counts: the Walmart Affiliate Program lists three days. Walmart Creator shows its window in its Payout Terms, which you see after signing in.
• 06When you get paid: the Walmart Affiliate Program pays about 90 days after the end of each month. Walmart Creator pays through Impact, to a US bank account only.
• 07Not every purchase earns: Sam’s Club, Walmart Pharmacy, Travel, Financial Services, tires and gift cards do not pay commission.

The Walmart Affiliate Program describes itself as a way to earn by placing banners or text links on your website. Members get a weekly newsletter with banners and links, access to a member center where they can make links to anything on Walmart.com, and product data feeds. It was clearly built for blogs and deal sites.

Walmart Creator is built for people who make content. Its own page says it welcomes creators of every niche and platform, whether you are already well known or still growing your audience. You make links with a browser plugin, build a storefront with collections of products, and track your earnings and best-selling items in one place.

Walmart Creator does not list a minimum number of subscribers or followers. Its guide says it accepts creators of all backgrounds, experience levels and follower sizes, as long as they follow its influencer and community guidelines. When you apply, you connect at least one public social media account, and Walmart may look at your public accounts to check that they fit the brand.

• 01Make sure you have a Walmart.com account. You need an active one to apply.
• 02Go to creator.walmart.com and select Apply now.
• 03Fill in the application and connect your YouTube channel or another public social account.
• 04Wait for the review. Walmart says review times vary and it will email you once you are approved.
• 05Once approved, complete the identity check on Impact, so you can receive payments.

If you live outside the United States, Walmart Creator is not open to you. The Walmart Affiliate Program’s terms do not list a country requirement, but Walmart reviews every application and does not say it accepts creators from other countries, so do not assume you will get in.

If Walmart turns down your application, its terms say you can apply again at any time. Walmart also says you should not link to Walmart until you are approved, so wait for the email before adding links to your videos.

Walmart pays a percentage of the sale price. The sale price does not include shipping, taxes, returns or cancellations. On the Walmart Affiliate Program, Walmart lists rates of 1% to 4%. On Walmart Creator, each product has its own referral fee, and the dashboard lets you search for products with higher rates.

Walmart also says it can change its rates at any time, and the current rates are always the ones shown in your account. So treat any number you read online, including here, as a starting point, and check your own dashboard before you choose which products to link.

Some purchases never earn commission. Walmart lists Sam’s Club, Walmart Pharmacy, Travel, Financial Services, tires and gift card purchases. If a customer returns a product, the commission is taken back. On Walmart Creator this applies to returns within 30 days; on the Walmart Affiliate Program the period is 60 days.

When a viewer clicks your Walmart link, you earn on what they buy within a set time window. The Walmart Affiliate Program lists three days. For Walmart Creator, the window is written in the Payout Terms inside your account.

The click only counts if the viewer comes back to Walmart directly. If they later click another creator’s Walmart link, that creator gets the credit instead. For comparison, Amazon usually gives you 24 hours. You can read more about that in how long the Amazon affiliate cookie lasts.

On the Walmart Affiliate Program, Walmart says it pays about 90 days after the end of each month, for products shipped in that month. For example, money from items shipped in January would arrive around the end of April.

Walmart Creator pays through Impact, under its own Payout Terms. Before you can be paid, you must verify your identity on Impact, and Walmart Creator only pays to a US bank account. You are also responsible for your own taxes on what you earn.

• 01Disclose your links. Walmart asks for a clear disclosure that viewers cannot miss, and the Walmart Affiliate Program asks for it to sit next to the links. Its terms also point to the FTC guide for influencers. The same habits as in our Amazon affiliate disclosure guide work here.
• 02Do not hide where a link goes. Walmart does not allow you to shorten or hide a link in a way that may mislead or confuse a viewer. Label every link with the product name.
• 03Show the real product. If you show a product that Walmart does not sell, do not link to a similar product on Walmart instead. Walmart counts that as misleading.
• 04Follow YouTube’s rules too. Walmart’s terms say you must also follow the policies of each platform you post on, including YouTube.
• 05Walmart may use your content. Walmart Creator’s terms let Walmart use the content you make for the program, and your name and image, to promote Walmart on its websites, apps and social media, without paying you extra.

Links in the description of a regular YouTube video can be clicked. In Shorts, links in the description cannot be clicked, so Walmart links work best under your long videos.

You do not have to choose. Walmart and Amazon are separate programs, so you can put both links in the same description. Many viewers have a favorite store, and giving them a choice can mean more sales.

Amazon pays from 1% to 10% for most categories, see Amazon affiliate commission rates, and almost any product is on Amazon. Walmart lists 1% to 4% on its Affiliate Program, but a click counts for three days instead of one, and a product that is sold out on Amazon may still be in stock at Walmart. Compare the rate for the products you actually talk about, in each dashboard.

If you also work with brands directly, our comparison of ShopMy and Amazon Associates covers another option many creators use.

Walmart links break for the same reasons Amazon links do. A product sells out and the page says it is unavailable. A product is removed and the link opens an error page. A short link stops pointing at the product and sends viewers to a search page or the homepage instead. In each case, the link in your old video quietly stops earning, and you never hear about it.

If you have many videos, checking every description by hand is slow. AffiliScan scans your YouTube videos and channels for Walmart and Amazon links, including short links, and shows you which ones are broken, out of stock or redirected, even on videos you published years ago. You get one list of the links that need fixing, so you can replace them before they cost you more sales. You can start by checking a single link for free.

If you are in the United States, Walmart Creator is an easy way to earn from the products you already show, with no follower minimum and a longer click window than Amazon. Apply, link your channel, and compare the rates in your dashboard with what you earn on Amazon.

Whichever stores you use, your links only earn while they lead to products people can buy, so check them now and then, especially on your older videos.