Switching EDI providers without upsetting your retailers: the questions to answer first
Changing EDI providers is mostly planning: your contract dates, your identifiers, each retailer’s re-testing and a clean cut-over day. The questions we hear most, answered.
Key takeaways
- Start with your current contract: the renewal date, the notice period and what you can export when you leave.
- Keep your EDI identifiers if you can. Changing them makes every retailer update its side.
- Move one trading partner at a time, re-test with each, and keep the old service running until the last one is live.
Where do I start?
With the contract you have now. Find the renewal date, how much notice you must give, and whether the plan renews automatically. Many EDI contracts renew for a year unless you cancel within a set window, so put that date in your calendar before anything else. Then list every trading partner, the documents you exchange with each, and how they connect: AS2, SFTP or a VAN.
Do my retailers need to know?
Yes, for anything that changes on their side. If your connection changes (a new AS2 identifier and certificate, a new SFTP server), each retailer must update its settings, and most will ask for test documents before switching you back to production. Tell their EDI team early and ask for their re-testing process; some handle it in days, others queue it.
Can I keep my EDI ID?
Usually, and you should if you can. Your ISA qualifier and ID name your company in every file. If they are your phone number or DUNS number, they belong to you, not the provider. Some providers assign their own IDs; in that case, ask whether you can keep using it, or plan the change with each retailer.
“Switch one partner at a time. The old service is your safety net until the last one is live.”
What do I lose when I leave?
Whatever you cannot export. Ask your current provider for your document history, your maps and any partner settings before the contract ends. Old orders and invoices matter for disputes long after they ship: a deduction dispute may need an 856 from months ago.
How do I avoid losing orders during the switch?
Plan a cut-over day per partner. Before it, check that no order is half-processed in the old service: every 850 acknowledged, every shipment with its 856, every invoice sent. On the day, the retailer points its connection to the new service and you send a first document from it. Keep logging in to the old service until the retailer confirms the change, in case a file is still in flight.
How long does a switch take?
Setting up each partner in the new service is quick when you have its EDI guide. The calendar depends on each retailer’s re-testing. A supplier with a few partners can often move in a few weeks; plan the ones with the slowest testing first. Our guide to testing before go-live applies to re-tests too.
Quick answers
Do I need new UPCs?
No. Your items and GS1 prefix stay the same.
Will the 997s change?
Only who sends them. Turn on automatic 997s for each partner in the new service.
What about the price?
Compare the cost of all your partners, not the first one. See what EDI costs.
Switching to Weredi
Weredi is month to month with no escalator clause, and your maps, guides and documents export on demand, so you never face this problem with us. Partners connect over AS2, SFTP, FTPS or FTP, and every document is checked against the partner’s guide before it leaves, which keeps re-test rounds short. If you’d like, we set up each partner and run the re-tests with your retailers at no extra charge.
Questions
How do I switch EDI providers?
Check your contract’s notice date, list your partners and connections, set each partner up in the new service, re-test with each retailer, then cut over one partner at a time while the old service still runs.
Do I have to re-test with retailers when changing EDI providers?
Usually yes, when your connection or identifiers change. Most retailers ask for a few test documents before switching you back to production.
Can I keep my ISA ID when I change EDI provider?
If the ID is yours, such as your phone or DUNS number, yes. If the old provider assigned it, ask whether you can keep it, or plan the change with each retailer.
Planning a move?
Book a call and bring your list of trading partners. We’ll plan the order of the switch with you.
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Unlimited trading partners and transactions, month to month. If you’d like, we set up each partner and run the re-tests at no extra charge.