At a glance
Pending Dispatch is the live count of paid Walmart Marketplace orders that have not yet been shipped. It is your real-time fulfilment backlog and the single most direct lever on whether you meet Walmart’s on-time dispatch SLA. Let it climb and you risk late-dispatch penalties, order defects, and a hit to your Pro Seller standing.
| What it counts | The number of seller-fulfilled Walmart Marketplace orders awaiting shipment right now. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from Walmart Marketplace, refreshed on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | Orders sitting unshipped move toward the dispatch SLA deadline, so a rising backlog directly threatens on-time performance and Pro Seller status. |
| Reading the value | Lower is better; a count well above your normal baseline means the queue is outpacing your shipping capacity. |
| Currency | count |
| Time window | RT |
| Alert trigger | >2x 30D avg |
| Sentiment key | wal_pending_dispatch |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Vortex IQ counts the seller-fulfilled Walmart Marketplace orders that are paid but not yet marked shipped at the current moment. Because the window is real time, the figure reflects the live backlog rather than a historical period, and the alert compares it against your trailing 30-day average. As noted in the At a glance summary, the unit is a plain order count. The worked example below shows how a backlog past the alert line drives an immediate action.Worked example
A representative reading of Pending Dispatch for a typical merchant on Walmart Marketplace. On 12 Mar 26 a seller whose 30-day average pending queue is around 25 orders sees the live count hit 60, past the 2x alert line. A weekend promotion combined with a short-staffed warehouse let the queue build overnight. With the dispatch SLA clock running on each order, the action is to triage the oldest orders first, pull in extra packing help, and confirm carrier pickup so the backlog clears before any order breaches its deadline. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
wal_sla_compliance | A growing backlog is the leading driver of SLA misses. |
wal_late_dispatch_rate | Shows how many orders have already shipped late. |
wal_orders_per_day | A daily order spike often precedes a dispatch backlog. |
wal_cancellation_rate | Unworked backlog can turn into cancellations. |
wal_revenue_at_risk | Quantifies the revenue exposure when dispatch slips. |
Reconciling against Walmart Seller Center
Where to look in Walmart Seller Center: Verify against the Order Management area, filtering for orders that are unshipped or awaiting fulfilment. The count of orders in that state should line up with this card. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Period boundary. Vortex IQ uses RT rolling by default; Seller Center may use calendar periods. | Variable | Match the period range. |
| Time zone. Seller Center uses the account time zone; Vortex IQ aligns to the merchant reporting time zone. | Marginal | Confirm time zone match. |
| Filter scope. Profile-level filters (fulfilment type, test orders) may narrow the Vortex IQ view. | Variable | Match filter settings. |