The most common EDI chargebacks, and how to prevent each one
Most retailer compliance chargebacks trace back to a handful of EDI mistakes. Here they are, what triggers each one, and a checklist to keep them off your remittances.
Key takeaways
- A compliance chargeback is a fee a retailer deducts from your payment when a shipment or document breaks its rules.
- The most common ones come from the 856 ship notice: sent late, not sent, or not matching the cartons that arrived.
- Nearly all of them are preventable with checks before sending and alerts on what hasn’t been sent yet.
What is an EDI chargeback?
Retailers publish compliance rules in their EDI guide and routing guide: when the ship notice must arrive, what the labels must show, how invoices must match the order. When a supplier misses one, the retailer deducts a fee from the next payment, usually with a reason code in the 820 remittance or a deduction report. Each fee looks small; together they can take a real share of the margin on a retail account.
The most common EDI chargebacks
| Chargeback | What triggers it | How to prevent it |
|---|---|---|
| ASN late or missing | The 856 arrives after the truck, or never | Send the 856 when the truck leaves; alert on shipments without one |
| ASN doesn’t match the shipment | Quantities or cartons in the 856 differ from what was received | Build the 856 from the actual packing, not the order |
| Label errors | Missing, unreadable or wrong SSCC labels | Print labels from the same data as the ASN |
| Invoice doesn’t match | The 810 bills more than was ordered or shipped, or at another price | Build the invoice from the order and the 856 |
| Missing acknowledgment | No 997 or 855 within the retailer’s window | Send 997s automatically; alert on unacknowledged orders |
| Shipping window missed | Shipped before or after the order’s ship dates | Watch ship-by dates on every open order |
| Invalid document | A required element is missing or a code isn’t one the retailer accepts | Validate against the retailer’s own guide before sending |
The 856 line by line explains the structure behind most of these, and SSCC-18 labels covers the carton side.
A prevention checklist
Before you ship
Set the rules up once
Every order
Answer on time
Every shipment
Make the ASN match the truck
Every invoice
Bill what you shipped
When a chargeback is wrong Retailers make mistakes too. If your records show the ASN arrived on time or the cartons matched, dispute it with the evidence. See building a dispute pack that gets paid.
How Weredi prevents them
Every document is checked against your retailer’s guide before it leaves, and an invalid one is stopped. The 856 is built from the order, and its SSCC labels print from the same packing. Alerts tell you when an order hasn’t been acknowledged, a ship window is closing, a shipment has no invoice, or a file hasn’t been acknowledged within 24 hours. Deductions on incoming remittances are captured on every plan, and the deduction ledger in Weredi Plus helps you dispute them.
Questions
What is the most common EDI chargeback?
Problems with the 856 advance ship notice: sent late, not sent at all, or not matching the cartons and quantities the retailer received.
What is an ASN chargeback?
A fee a retailer deducts when the 856 advance ship notice is missing, late or wrong, because its receiving dock has to check the shipment by hand.
How do I prevent EDI chargebacks?
Validate each document against the retailer’s guide before sending, build the ASN and labels from the real packing, send the ASN when the truck leaves, and track acknowledgments and ship dates on every order.
Can I dispute an EDI chargeback?
Yes. Most retailers accept disputes within a set period when you can show the evidence, such as the time the 856 was sent and the acknowledgment that came back.
Keep reading
All articles →Deductions and chargebacks: building a dispute pack that gets paid
“Are you EDI capable?” What your buyer is really asking, and how to say yes
How much does EDI cost? The pricing models, and the fees to ask about
Catch the errors before the retailer does
Weredi checks every document against your retailer’s guide before it leaves, and alerts you when a ship notice or invoice is late.