EDI 850, 860, 865: Purchase Order Changes

Key takeaways

The buyer sends the 850 and any later 860. You answer with an 855 and, when the partner asks for one, an 865.
An 860 changes lines one at a time: add, cancel, or change quantity, price or date.
Your ship notice and invoice should follow the order as changed, minus anything you refused.

The change loop in one picture

A purchase order is rarely final. Store forecasts move, a promotion gets cancelled, a price is renegotiated. EDI handles that with a pair of documents that mirror the original order and its acknowledgment.

Buyer sends

You answer

850Purchase order

855PO acknowledgment

860PO change request

865PO change acknowledgment

What the 860 carries

The header repeats the original PO number in BCH, so you always know which order is changing. Each line then opens with a POC segment whose change code says what is happening to it: AI adds a line, DI deletes one, QI or QD raises or lowers the quantity, PC changes the price.

BCH*04*SA*4500012345***20261001~
POC*2*QD*120*24*EA*8.40**UP*012345678905~
POC*3*DI*48*48*EA*6.10**UP*012345678912~

Here line 2 drops by 24 units to 120, and line 3 is cancelled entirely.

Answering with an 865

Not every partner asks for an 865, but when they do, it is how you accept or refuse each change. A refused quantity decrease means you still intend to ship the original amount, and your 856 should reflect that.

Watch for: some retailers treat silence as acceptance. If the guide says changes are binding unless refused within a set number of days, put that deadline in your calendar.

Side by side

Document	Who sends it	What it does
`850`	Buyer	Places the order
`855`	Supplier	Accepts, changes or rejects each line
`860`	Buyer	Changes an order already placed
`865`	Supplier	Accepts or refuses each change

Questions

Does a 997 count as accepting the change?

No. A 997 only confirms the file arrived and could be read. Acceptance is the 865, or whatever rule the partner’s guide sets.

Can a buyer send a new 850 instead of an 860?

Some do, with a replace purpose code in the BEG segment. The partner’s guide says which method that partner uses.

What if the order already shipped?

Refuse the change in the 865 and say why, then invoice what you shipped. Keep the 856 as your evidence if a deduction follows.

850855860865Purchase ordersOrder changes

Every document, tied to its order

Weredi receives the order and builds your 855, 856 and 810 from it, so a change never has to be retyped.

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850, 860, 865: how purchase orders change after you’ve said yes