What does the retailer send back after an 810?

A 997 to confirm receipt, and later an 820 remittance advice listing which invoices were paid, short-paid or deducted and why. Some retailers also send an 812 credit or debit adjustment for chargebacks.

Can one 810 cover several purchase orders?

Most retailers require one invoice per PO and per shipment, matching one 856. Consolidated invoicing is allowed by a few partners and always specified in the implementation guide.

How are freight charges invoiced?

As a header-level SAC charge (for example C-code for freight) when the vendor agreement allows the brand to bill freight. If the retailer picks up (collect), no freight charge belongs on the 810.

What is a three-way match?

Accounts payable compares three records: the purchase order (850), the receipt (from the 856 or the DC's receiving scan) and the invoice (810). Payment is released when quantities and prices agree across all three.

EDI 810 Invoice Explained: BIG, IT1, TDS Segments, Sample Layout and Why Invoices Get Rejected

Sent bySupplier (brand) to retailer
Next997 acknowledgment, then payment on terms (often an 820 remittance advice)
Before it856 Advance Ship Notice
GlossaryInvoice

What it is

What an EDI 810 is and why it matters

An EDI 810 is the invoice. After the shipment leaves, the brand sends the retailer a structured bill listing what was shipped, the price per line, allowances and charges, the total and the payment terms. The retailer's accounts payable system matches it against the purchase order (850) and the advance ship notice (856) or the receipt, and pays on terms if everything ties.

That three-way match is the whole point. Retailers do not read invoices; their systems compare invoice lines to ordered lines and received lines. An 810 with a price that differs from the 850, a quantity that differs from what the DC scanned, or a total that does not equal the sum of its lines drops into an exception queue. Deductions, short-pays and payment delays follow, and the finance team spends weeks disputing them.

The 3PL rarely sends the 810, but it feeds it. The invoice should be generated from the ship confirmation, so quantities on the 810 equal the quantities on the 856, which equal what was actually packed. When the warehouse ships short without telling the ERP, the invoice bills for goods the retailer never received, and the retailer deducts it.

Sample layout

The EDI 810 segment by segment

Illustrative values. Each retailer or carrier publishes an implementation guide with the exact subset of segments and codes it accepts.

Segment	What it carries	Example
ST	Start of the transaction set	`ST8100001`
BIG	Beginning: invoice date, invoice number, PO date, PO number, invoice type	`BIG20260923INV-118842202609164500123456`
REF	References: department (DP), vendor number (IA), bill of lading (BM)	`REFIA77812`
N1	Parties: ST ship-to, BT bill-to, RE remit-to (where the money goes)	`N1REBrand Co9277812`
ITD	Payment terms: basis, net days, discount percent and days	`ITD013210*30`
DTM	011 shipped date, sometimes 003 invoice date	`DTM01120260922`
IT1	One per line: quantity invoiced, unit, unit price, basis, product IDs	`IT1136CA18.50PEUP012345678905VN*SKU-7781`
SAC	Allowances (A) or charges (C) at header or line level: freight, promotional allowance, defective allowance	`SACAC310***6660 (allowance of 66.60)`
TDS	Total monetary value summary, in cents or per partner convention	`TDS*59940`
CAD	Carrier detail: method, SCAC, PRO or tracking	`CADMRBTW**CNPRO88120`
ISS	Invoice shipment summary: units and weight shipped	`ISS36CA1820LB`
CTT / SE	Line count and end of set	`CTT*1`

How it flows

How an EDI 810 moves from one system to the next

Ship confirmation closes the orderThe WMS confirms what left, and the ERP turns the shipped quantities into an invoice. Prices come from the 850 or the trade agreement, allowances from the deal terms.
The 810 goes to the retailerThe EDI provider validates the structure, checks the TDS against the lines and transmits. A 997 comes back to confirm receipt.
Accounts payable runs the matchInvoice lines are compared with the 850 and the 856 or the receiving record. Clean matches are scheduled for payment on the ITD terms; exceptions wait for a person.

Common rejection reasons

Why an EDI 810 gets rejected or fined

The failures that show up in 997s, exception queues and retailer chargebacks.

Total does not equal the linesTDS must equal the sum of IT1 extended prices plus or minus SAC amounts, in the partner's unit convention (often cents). A rounding difference is enough to reject.
Price differs from the 850The ERP invoiced list price while the PO carried a promotional price. Retailers short-pay to the PO price and deduct the rest.
Invoice before receiptSome retailers reject an 810 that arrives before the ASN or before the DC has received the goods; others accept it and deduct anything not received.
Duplicate invoice numberBIG invoice number reused after a resend or a credit. AP systems hard-reject duplicates.
Quantity above what was shippedThe invoice bills the ordered quantity while the 856 shows a short shipment. The retailer deducts the difference and often adds a fee.
Missing remit-to or termsN1*RE or ITD absent when the partner guide marks them mandatory. The invoice cannot be scheduled for payment.

Before you sign

What a 3PL needs to run the 810 properly

Questions to settle with the warehouse

Confirm invoices are generated from ship confirmation data, so 810 quantities always equal 856 quantities.
Make sure short shipments and substitutions in the warehouse flow back to the ERP before the invoice is cut.
Keep a per-retailer price and allowance table so the 810 uses the PO price and the agreed SAC codes.
Reconcile deductions monthly against ASN and receiving exceptions; most trace back to a warehouse event.

3PLs that run this documentRetail and EDI 3PLs

Warehouses whose ship confirmations drive clean 810 invoices.

Get matched with a 3PL

Questions

EDI 810 FAQ

What does the retailer send back after an 810?: A 997 to confirm receipt, and later an 820 remittance advice listing which invoices were paid, short-paid or deducted and why. Some retailers also send an 812 credit or debit adjustment for chargebacks.
Can one 810 cover several purchase orders?: Most retailers require one invoice per PO and per shipment, matching one 856. Consolidated invoicing is allowed by a few partners and always specified in the implementation guide.
How are freight charges invoiced?: As a header-level SAC charge (for example C-code for freight) when the vendor agreement allows the brand to bill freight. If the retailer picks up (collect), no freight charge belongs on the 810.
What is a three-way match?: Accounts payable compares three records: the purchase order (850), the receipt (from the 856 or the DC's receiving scan) and the invoice (810). Payment is released when quantities and prices agree across all three.

Keep going

The other EDI documents in this series

EDI 850 Purchase OrderThe purchase order a retailer sends: segments, sample layout, why 850s bounce.
EDI 855 Purchase Order AcknowledgmentThe brand's yes, partly or no: BAK and ACK codes, deadlines, common misses.
EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice (ASN)The ASN the warehouse owns: HL loops, SSCC labels and the chargebacks behind them.
EDI 997 Functional AcknowledgmentThe technical receipt every document expects: AK codes and what accepted really means.
EDI 214 Shipment Status MessageThe carrier status update: AT7 codes, milestones and how 3PLs turn them into tracking.
All 15 EDI codes explainedThe hub guide: orders, trucking, ocean and returns documents in one place.

EDI 810 Invoice: how a brand gets paid by a retailer, and why invoices bounce

What an EDI 810 is and why it matters

The EDI 810 segment by segment

How an EDI 810 moves from one system to the next

Why an EDI 810 gets rejected or fined

What a 3PL needs to run the 810 properly

EDI 810 FAQ

Get matched with a 3PL that already runs the 810

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