Walmart feed errors

Walmart feed error: missing required attribute

"Missing required attribute" is the most common reason an item fails to publish on Walmart Marketplace. Here's exactly what it means and how to clear it.

What the error means

Walmart's item spec marks certain attributes as required for each product type. If one of those attributes is absent — or present but empty — the item can't publish, and you'll see a message like this:

The important detail: which attributes are required depends on the product type. "Brand" and "Short Description" are required almost everywhere, but many product types require type-specific fields — gender and clothingSize for apparel, modelNumber for electronics, and so on. There is no single universal list.

Where required attributes live in the payload

In an MP_ITEM feed, an item's attributes sit under Visible, keyed by the product type. In the example below the product type is Shirts, and brand is required but missing:

{
  "MPItem": [
    {
      "Orderable": {
        "sku": "TS-001",
        "productIdentifiers": { "productIdType": "GTIN", "productId": "00012345678905" }
      },
      "Visible": {
        "Shirts": {
          "shortDescription": "Classic cotton crew-neck tee",
          "color": "Blue"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Under Shirts there's a shortDescription and a color, but no brand — and because brand is required for this product type, the item fails to publish.

How to fix it

1. Read the failing attribute name from the error — e.g. brand.
2. Find that item in your payload by its sku.
3. Add the attribute under the correct product type with a real, non-empty value: "brand": "Acme". An empty string still counts as missing.
4. Repeat for every item and every missing attribute — a single feed can report the same required field across hundreds of items.

If you're not sure which attributes a product type requires, the authoritative source is the item-spec schema file for that type, which you can download from the Walmart Developer Portal. The schema lists exactly which attributes are required.