A Texas man is speaking out after he says he lost over $300 after ordering a Nintendo Switch gaming system on Walmart's website via a third-party seller hosted on the platform.
Michael Morrison said he placed the order in late 2023, hoping to have the gaming console shipped to his home in time for Christmas as a gift to his daughter.
Morrison told KPRC he got a notice from the site saying a shipping label was created, but said he never received the item in the days that followed.
"I started thinking, 'Well, it's not going to get here in time for Christmas.' So I canceled the order and Walmart immediately credited me the $355. And then I thought I was done," he said.
But it wasn't over, he said.
The seller had a 2.5 out of 5 rating on Walmart's website with a list of complaints, and Morrison, an IT professional, wants to warn users to pay attention to ratings and feedback on the site — and to be aware, if they didn't realize it, that Walmart hosts third-party sellers on the site.
KPRC released an update on Thursday reporting that Walmart did eventually facilitate getting Morrison a refund of his money in the end.
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By that time Morrison had already published a review on the site about his troubles and said an additional set of weeks had gone by after the seller shipped a package that arrived in mid-December with an item he says he did not order.
Since he signed for the package before he opened it and found it wasn't what he expected to receive, that caused even further confusion.
The Motley Fool, a website that rates and reviews products and everyday spending, said Walmart works with about 100,000 third-party sellers that the company says undergo an approval process before they can operate on the platform. The retail giant also says third-party sellers undergo performance reviews, although it wasn't clear how frequently those occur.
Walmart says that third-party sellers have 48 hours to respond to customer concerns, and the company has a "Marketplace Promise" policy in place to reassure customers who buy from third-party sellers.
The Motley Fool also warns about ordering from third-party sellers on Amazon, as those orders aren't fulfilled directly by Amazon. Users of theplatform can trust most of the legitimate sellers on the site, but there have been warnings that it is possible to face similar issues.
