Wayfair runs the strangest economic model of any major marketplace, and sellers who do not understand it before joining get hurt by it after. There is no commission and no listing fee. Instead, you set a wholesale price, Wayfair pays you exactly that — and then sells your product at whatever retail price its algorithm chooses. Your margin is decided once, by you, in the wholesale number. Everything after that is Wayfair's business.

The model, plainly

  • You quote a wholesale cost per SKU. This is the only money you will ever see per unit. Set it to protect your margin under every scenario, because you do not control the retail price.
  • Wayfair sets and moves the retail price dynamically — against competitors, demand and shipping economics. Your product may appear discounted 40% in a sale; your payment does not change.
  • Standard dropship orders ship at Wayfair's expense — they arrange and pay the freight. What they demand in exchange is speed and accuracy from your dock.

Two ways to fulfill

Dropship is the default: the order hits your warehouse, you pick and pack it under Wayfair's label, their carrier collects it. Your operation must dispatch fast and accurately — Wayfair's ranking rewards reliable shippers and buries the rest.

CastleGate is Wayfair's own fulfillment network: send inventory in, and Wayfair ships it with the fast delivery promise that wins placement. It mirrors the FBA trade — better visibility, less control, storage economics to watch — and the choice between them mirrors the FBA decision too: fast movers in, slow movers out.

Getting in, and staying profitable

Wayfair is invite-and-apply, home goods only, and expects supplier-grade insurance — commonly quoted at one million per occurrence, two million aggregate. It also expects a warehouse that can dropship same-day, every day; that capability is effectively the application.

The profitability trap is quoting a wholesale price off your best-case costs. Freight damage on furniture is real, returns on big items are expensive, and the wholesale number has to carry all of it. Cost honestly — including the crating a glass-top table needs and the returns handling some percentage will require.

We are the back end for this model: pallet storage in Kent, WA, same-day dropship fulfillment under your Wayfair account, LTL for oversized pieces and crating for the fragile ones — one pool of inventory that can feed Wayfair, Home Depot and the rest of your channels at once.