Image credit: Mediamodifier Unsplash Dropshipping on Amazon and Walmart is one of the fastest ways to launch a US-facing ecommerce store without buying inventory. Both marketplaces permit it under well-documented rules, and both reward sellers who source from vetted US wholesale suppliers rather tha n improvising fulfillment from other retailers. The problem: you are the seller of record, a proper wholesale platform supplies and ships the products, and your customers receive orders under your branding. The solution: get the supplier layer right from day one and the operational side mostly runs itself – inventory syncs, tracking posts automatically, and your account stays in good standing on both platforms. That is exactly what a platform like TopDawg is built for. It is accepted into the Amazon Service Provider Network and listed as a Walmart Marketplace Approved Solution Provider, which means Amazon and Walmart have both vetted the integration before you plug it in. This guide walks through how the setup works in practice – the policies, the integrations, and the steps that matter when you actually list your first product. Key takeaways Amazon and Walmart both allow dropshipping under strict seller-of-record rules. Retail arbitrage – buying from another retailer and shipping to your customer – is prohibited on both. TopDawg is a US-only wholesale platform with 500,000+ products from 3,000+ American suppliers, connected to Amazon via SP-API and to Walmart through its Approved Solution Provider integration. Branded packing slips, 2-5 day domestic shipping, and real-time inventory sync are the three features that most directly affect marketplace account health. What is TopDawg? TopDawg is a wholesale dropshipping and ecommerce automation platform based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was founded in 2004 as a wholesale distributor and, per the company’s About page, launched its SaaS platform in 2017. Today it connects retailers to over 500,000 wholesale products across 24+ categories from verified US suppliers, with accurate shipping quotes from UPS, USPS, and FedEx. The model is specific: every supplier in the catalog ships from inside the United States. All products in the TopDawg catalog ship from verified suppliers with warehouses or distribution centers located in the US, which is why it markets itself as tariff-insulated. For sellers on Amazon and Walmart, that geographic detail is the whole point. Why US-based fulfillment matters on Amazon and Walmart Both marketplaces rank listings on delivery speed and penalize late orders. TopDawg’s suppliers quote 2-5 day domestic transit, with tracking typically uploaded within 24 hours of order placement. On Amazon, slow shipping drives up your Order Defect Rate and cancellation rate – the two metrics that trigger account reviews. On Walmart, sub-standard on-time delivery costs you Buy Box eligibility and, eventually, your listing visibility. Tariff exposure matters separately. With US-China tariffs oscillating and Section 321 de minimis treatment tightened, overseas suppliers have become harder to price around. A domestic catalog removes that variable – you know your landed cost the day you list. Can you dropship on Amazon? What the policy actually says Amazon’s official Drop Shipping Policy is short, and the rules have not changed materially in years. The practical upshot is four obligations. You must identify yourself as the seller on all packing slips, invoices, external packaging, and other information; remove any packing slips, invoices, external packaging, or other information identifying a third-party drop shipper prior to shipping the order; be responsible for accepting and processing customer returns of your products; and comply with all other terms of your seller agreement and applicable Amazon policies. The clause that catches new sellers is the retail-arbitrage prohibition. Amazon explicitly bars you from purchasing products from another online retailer and having that retailer ship directly to customers if the shipment identifies anyone other than you as the seller. Buying from Walmart.com or another Amazon seller and forwarding the order is the fastest known path to a suspension. Amazon’s own seller-education page adds the positive framing: dropshipping is allowed as long as you own the transaction. You set the price, you record the revenue, you handle sales tax, and you handle returns. Working with a wholesale platform rather than another retailer is what makes that structure clean. How TopDawg fits Amazon’s rules TopDawg is a wholesale distributor, not a retailer, which is the relevant distinction. Its suppliers are authorized wholesale sources, and the platform generates branded packing slips so your business – not the supplier, not TopDawg – appears on the customer-facing paperwork. The Scale and Premier plans include custom-branded packing slips, allowing your customers to receive orders with your branding. The integration connects to Amazon through the official Selling Partner API. Per TopDawg’s December 2025 announcement, TopDawg connects to Amazon through SP-API and continuously syncs inventory levels from US suppliers. When supplier stock changes, Amazon listings update automatically – which matters because stale inventory is another common trigger for account warnings. Acceptance into the Amazon Service Provider Network is not a marketing label. Amazon reviews the provider against its own technical and policy standards. The official press release notes that acceptance signifies TopDawg meets Amazon’s standards for technical capability, operational reliability, and marketplace compliance. How to dropship on Amazon with TopDawg: 5 steps The process is linear, and you can complete most of it in an afternoon. Create a Professional Amazon Seller Central account, or plan to create one during TopDawg onboarding. TopDawg’s dashboard will hand you off to Amazon’s official setup flow if you do not have an account yet. Open a free TopDawg Start-Up account at topdawg.com/sign-up. No card is required to browse the catalog and review pricing. Upgrade to a paid plan before listing. Membership plans start at $34.99 per month, with Scale and Premier tiers adding bulk CSV downloads, deeper wholesale discounts, and API access. You need a paid plan to sync products to Amazon. Connect your Amazon store inside the TopDawg dashboard. official walkthrough video shows the authorization screen – you are authorizing TopDawg to act through Amazon’s SP-API. Import products, set your retail prices, and let the pipeline run. When an Amazon order lands, TopDawg routes it to the correct US supplier, tracking flows back into Seller Central, and the customer receives a package with your branded packing slip. One tactical note: enable Scale or Premier before your first order actually ships. Branded packing slips are what keep you compliant with Amazon’s “identify yourself as the seller” requirement. Skipping this step is a cheap mistake with expensive consequences. Can you dropship on Walmart Marketplace? What the policy says Walmart is stricter at the entry door but similar in substance once you are in. The application requires a registered US business entity with an EIN, proof of ecommerce or marketplace selling history, and products that clear Walmart’sprohibited items list. Sole proprietorships are not accepted in the US program. Walmart’s Comprehensive Marketplace Retailer Agreement governs everything else. It does not use the word “dropshipping” explicitly, but it assigns full seller-of-record responsibility to you: fulfillment performance, return processing, authorized reseller status, and customer experience. The same retail-arbitrage rule applies here, with teeth. You cannot list items on Walmart.com that you plan to source from Amazon, and you cannot list Walmart products on another marketplace and fulfill them by forwarding to Walmart.com. Both practices are grounds for termination. Fee structure is generally gentler than Amazon’s. Walmart charges no monthly subscription and no listing fees – referral fees run from 6% to 15% on most categories per the official fee schedule. For new sellers going live after February 1, 2026, Walmart’s New-Seller Savings program layers on up to $75K, including discounts on referral fees and credits on fulfillment and advertising fees, automatically applied for the first 12 months. How TopDawg fits Walmart’s rules TopDawg is listed on Walmart’s solution-provider directory, which is Walmart’s vetted marketplace of tooling partners. That designation is only awarded to providers that meet Walmart’s technical and compliance bar, and it removes much of the due-diligence work a new seller would otherwise do. The integration pattern mirrors the Amazon one: you authorize TopDawg inside the Walmart Marketplace environment, inventory and pricing sync both directions, orders flow to US suppliers, and tracking pushes back to Walmart in real time. Branded packing slips on Scale and Premier plans keep you, not TopDawg or the supplier, visible to the customer. Because every supplier ships from inside the US, most orders fall within the 2-3 day transit bands Walmart rewards with Fast Shipping tags. That tag drives measurable lifts in click-through and Buy Box share – it is not cosmetic. How to dropship on Walmart with TopDawg: 6 steps The Walmart flow has one extra step because of the seller-application review. Apply to become a Walmart Marketplace seller via the official signup page. Expect to provide an EIN, a US business address, a customer service email and phone number, and evidence of prior ecommerce sales. Onboarding averages about 10 days once your application is approved. Create a free TopDawg Start-Up account at topdawg.com while you wait. Browse the catalog, review wholesale pricing, and plan the initial 50-200 SKUs you want to test. Upgrade to a Business, Scale, or Premier plan. Scale and Premier are more commonly used for Walmart because of the branded packing slip and larger SKU allowances. Premier adds API access for heavier automation. Connect your Walmart store from the TopDawg dashboard. Click “Connect Existing Store” under the Walmart tile and authorize the integration with your Walmart credentials. Build your import list and publish. Filter TopDawg’s catalog by shipping origin and margin, set retail prices that respect Walmart’s competitive-pricing algorithm, and push listings live. Monitor your Seller Scorecard. Walmart terminates accounts that drop below its performance thresholds, so the first 60 days matter more than they look. Because TopDawg handles fulfillment through domestic suppliers, most of the scorecard metrics track automatically. Amazon vs Walmart with TopDawg: which should you launch first? Amazon has the traffic. Walmart has the margin and less competition. Most founders who do both eventually concede they should have started with Walmart and added Amazon once cash flow stabilized. Walmart’s barrier to entry is the application itself. If you are a new LLC with no sales history, you will likely be rejected – which makes the sequencing decision easier, because you may have to build on Amazon or Shopify first anyway. Once you clear the bar, Walmart’s lower fees, lighter competition, and New-Seller Savings credits compound quickly. Amazon is faster to start but less forgiving. Its policies are enforced algorithmically and its suspension appeals are slow. The value of a Service Provider Network partner like TopDawg is mostly defensive – reducing the number of ways you accidentally break a rule. A reasonable sequence for a founder starting today: Shopify or your own store first to establish sales history, Walmart second once you can apply with real metrics, Amazon third for scale. TopDawg’s multi-channel dashboard handles all three from one account, and the retailer FAQ confirms TopDawg supports integration with Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon, WooCommerce, Walmart and eBay, with a separate membership plan required per connection. Pricing, margins, and the mistakes that erase both Dropshipping margins are thinner than they look on a spreadsheet. Your landed cost includes the wholesale price, TopDawg’s order processing fee (which decreases on higher-tier plans), shipping calculated at UPS/USPS/FedEx rates, and the marketplace’s referral fee. Amazon and Walmart both take 8-15% on most categories. Price your listings against that full stack, not against the wholesale cost alone. A product with a $12 wholesale cost and $9 carrier shipping that you sell at $29.99 keeps roughly $5-6 after fees, before advertising – which is workable but narrow. TopDawg’s shipping calculator surfaces real rates before you publish, which prevents the most common pricing mistake. The second common mistake is ignoring restricted brands. Some Amazon categories require ungating, and some brands have filed IP complaints against unauthorized resellers regardless of where the product was sourced. Check category approvals before you list – the wholesale invoice you will get from a TopDawg order is exactly what Amazon asks for during an ungating review, which is one practical reason for the wholesale-invoice paper trail. The third is refund policy confusion. TopDawg issues refunds for out-of-stock items as account credits under its published refund policy, not as card refunds. If you are thin on working capital, model that timing into your cash flow. Shipping times, returns, and branding Once you are live, three operational details matter more than any product selection decision. Shipping speed is your main competitive lever. Orders processed through TopDawg typically ship within two business days, with tracking posted inside 24 hours. That combination is what keeps you on the right side of Amazon’s Late Shipment Rate and Walmart’s on-time delivery score. Returns fall on you, not on TopDawg. Both marketplaces require the seller of record to process returns – you cannot forward the customer to the supplier. Write your return policy so it aligns with Walmart’s marketplace return windows and Amazon’s standard return terms, and build a modest returns buffer into your pricing. Branded packing slips on Scale and Premier tiers are not a vanity feature. They are the visible proof to your customer that you are the seller, which is the exact compliance point both Amazon and Walmart care about. The bottom line US dropshipping on Amazon and Walmart is a legitimate, long-run business model for founders who build on a solid supplier foundation. Both marketplaces allow it, both reward sellers who source from vetted US wholesale partners, and both have created formal partner programs precisely because the right platform removes most of the operational friction. A domestic wholesale platform – ideally one that has already been vetted by both marketplaces – does most of the compliance work quietly. That is where TopDawg earns its membership fee: Amazon Service Provider Network acceptance, Walmart Approved Solution Provider status, US-only suppliers, SP-API integration, branded packing slips, real-time inventory sync. None of that is exotic, and none of it is optional at scale. The honest rest of the job is still yours: pick the right SKUs, price for the full fee stack, answer customers quickly, and watch your scorecard. The supplier layer is the one part of the stack most founders underestimate – and the one part worth getting right before you list your first product. Frequently asked questions Is dropshipping allowed on Amazon? Yes. Amazon’s Drop Shipping Policy permits dropshipping as long as you are the seller of record, appear on all customer-facing paperwork, process returns yourself, and do not source from other retailers. Buying from another online retailer and having that retailer ship to the customer is prohibited. Is dropshipping allowed on Walmart Marketplace? Yes, under the Walmart Marketplace Comprehensive Retailer Agreement. The agreement does not use the word “dropshipping” explicitly, but it requires seller-of-record responsibility and authorized-reseller status. Retail arbitrage from Walmart.com or other marketplaces is not permitted. Do I need a US business to dropship on Walmart? You need a registered US business entity with a valid EIN, a US business address, and evidence of prior ecommerce sales. International sellers from 14 approved countries can apply through Walmart’s international-seller program with alternative documentation. Sole proprietorships are not accepted in the US. How fast does TopDawg ship? TopDawg’s US suppliers generally ship orders within two business days, with carrier tracking uploaded within 24 hours. Transit time is typically 2-5 business days via USPS, UPS, or FedEx, depending on product weight and destination. How much does TopDawg cost? TopDawg’s Start-Up plan is free for browsing and evaluating the catalog. Paid membership plans start at $34.99 per month, with Business, Scale, and Premier tiers that add branded packing slips, deeper wholesale discounts, bulk CSV downloads, and API access. You also pay wholesale product cost, carrier-calculated shipping, and a per-order processing fee that drops on higher tiers. Does TopDawg work with both Amazon and Walmart? Yes. TopDawg is accepted into the Amazon Service Provider Network and listed as a Walmart Marketplace Approved Solution Provider. Both integrations sync products, inventory, orders, and tracking automatically from a single TopDawg dashboard. A separate membership plan is required for each connected store. Can I dropship Amazon products to Walmart or vice versa with TopDawg? No. Buying from Amazon to ship Walmart orders – or the reverse – is retail arbitrage and violates both marketplaces’ policies. TopDawg sources from independent US wholesale suppliers, not from Amazon or Walmart, which is why it sidesteps this risk. What is the Amazon Service Provider Network? The Amazon Service Provider Network is Amazon’s official directory of vetted technology and service partners. Acceptance means the provider meets Amazon’s standards for API security, reliability, performance, and seller-policy compliance – a useful signal for sellers choosing integration tools. The post How to Do US Dropshipping on Amazon and Walmart With TopDawg appeared first on LA Weekly. ...read more read less