This is a reason I invested heavily in Target. They seem to have a much better formula for vetting and regulating third party sellers, and they've invested a lot in building up a marketplace that's somewhat more trustworthy.

It is unfortunate that Target even got into the 3rd party retailer game, as customers are now at risk of Target starting to commingle inventory like Amazon.

But at least Target and Walmart allow you to filter search results for items sold only by Target and Walmart, hopefully restricting to items sourced directly by Target and Walmart.

If they commingle, I don’t feel that it will matter if you filter by seller. That’s one reason we buy much less from Amazon.

It would not matter, but Amazon used to advertise that they commingle, so I know they do, whereas I do not know for sure if Walmart and Target do or do not.

You’re right. I rarely see 3rd party sellers on Target. As for Walmart, currently there is no commingled inventory, though things could change.