EDI Blog

Paulita Barkely 06/10/2022

EDI 810 Invoice Transaction Specifications

1. What is an EDI 810 Invoice?

The EDI 810 Invoice transaction set is the electronic version of the paper-based invoice document. It is typically sent in response to an EDI 850 Purchase Order as a request for payment once the goods have shipped or services are provided. A vendor will generate an EDI invoice transaction set 810 that commonly contains the following:

• Invoice details such as invoice number and date
• Shipping details
• Payment terms
• Item information including prices and quantities
• Discounts

Once an EDI 810 transaction is transmitted, additional EDI documents may be sent in response.

2. What does an EDI 810 include?

An EDI 810 is an electronic document that complies with the ANSI X12 EDI specification. An 810 EDI invoice is not formatted in a way that an average buyer or supplier would understand, but instead is meant to be sent, received and interpreted by EDI software. This “computer-to-computer” communications allows for the rapid and error-free exchange of electronic documents between companies. The 810 EDI document is one of the most popular forms of exchange along with the 850 EDI document (purchase order).

Just like a paper invoice for goods or services rendered, an EDI 810 includes details relating back to the initial request. An EDI 810 will often include the following:

• Invoice number
• Date of the invoice
• Shipping date of the items
• Agreed upon payment terms
• Items or services rendered

Depending on the provided goods or services, there may be additional information that is required within an EDI 810. Please refer to your company’s EDI guide or mapping document to determine the correct data values that are required.

3. How does a typical EDI 810 structure look like?

The ANSI X12 EDI 810 guideline specifies segments and elements which needs to be used to properly built up an ANSI 810 message. EDI solutions – which can either be an on-premises solution or EDI Cloud Service – send, receive and process EDI messages like the EDI 810.To ensure a high quality of the electronic invoice process it is mandatory to follow the ANSI 810 standards. 

A typical ANSI X12 EDI 810 Message includes:

• Invoice number
• Invoice date
• Reference to shipment (Date of shipment of the single items)
• Terms of payment
• The actual items that are charged
• Surcharges/Discounts

4. How Do I Use an EDI 810? 

EDI 810 is normally sent by a seller, such as a manufacturer or distributor, to a buyer such as a retailer, after an order is shipped. The document confirms that the order has been delivered, and requests payment from the buyer to close out the order. 

After receiving an EDI 810 document, buyers will confirm receipt with an EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgement. Upon confirming that the details on the invoice are correct, the invoice should be transferred to the buyer’s accounting/receivables department to issue payment. At this point, the buyer can also respond with an EDI 820 Payment Order or Remittance Advice Document, which communicates payment details back to the seller. 

4.1 How is EDI 810 Invoice Used?

All the information included in an 810 EDI invoice is organized into different segments and data elements in accordance with the EDI 810 specifications. The purpose of using this EDI specification is to save time, money, and labor spent on manually preparing, printing, and mailing a paper-based invoice. The main benefit is that it allows for the rapid exchange of important transaction information between enterprises.

4.2 How is the ANSI X12 EDI 810 Format called in other EDI Message Standards?

The ANSI X12 standard is an EDI standard widely used in NAFTA region. EDIFACT and VDA messages are more common in other regions like the European Union or Asia. For exchanging invoice information you can use the EDIFACT INVOIC standard. You also come across the VDA4906 and VDA4938 standard to exchange invoice data in the automotive industries.

5. Benefits of the EDI 810

5.1 EDI 810 Invoice Benefits

Utilizing the EDI 810 invoice offers several benefits to both the supplier and the purchaser. These benefits will depend on the transaction’s level of automation and integration on either party’s system. These benefits can include:

• Increased efficiency, reduced time to complete transactions, and decreased volume of paper flow
• Less time spent in manually submitting invoices on the supplier’s end
• Less time spent manually entering invoices on the purchaser’s end
• Increased resources to focus on value-added work for both supplier and purchaser
• A significant reduction, if not outright elimination, on errors associated with manual entry
• Reconciliation against orders/shipments to verify correct invoice amounts
• Better order fulfillment
• Faster payment

For more information on Encompass Solutions’ EDI offerings, read more about our Rapid EDI Implementation.

5.2 Benefits using EDI and the ANSI X12 EDI 810 Message

Benefits exchanging invoice information via ANSI X12 EDI 810 for both – the customer and the supplier – are:

• Reduces employee workload tremendously as data has not to be typed on a manual basis
• Preventing errors as data is generated automatically by the system w/o human interaction
• When send as EDI message invoices are directly present as electronic information and therefore archiving can be done quickly and easily
• Invoice information are exchanged very quickly
• Using secure EDI protocols (AS2, OFTP2, SFTP or via VANs) ensures confidential exchange of billing information

5.3 Benefits specific to suppliers/payee

• Transparent overview which invoices have been issued
• Receipt confirmation ensures that billing information was sent and received successful by payer

5.4 Benefits specific to customers/payer

• Invoice data is quickly available and needs not be keyed in manually reducing input errors
• Transparent overview about to be payed shipments

5.5 Benefits of using an 810 Billing for your EDI Invoice

Both buyers (retailers) and sellers (suppliers) benefit from implementing the EDI 810. Benefits include:

• Greater efficiencies and reduced paperwork for both parties

• Faster reconciliation may result in a more timely payment for suppliers

• Eliminate data entry errors associated with manual entry for both parties

• Buyers can reconcile against orders/shipments to verify correct invoice amounts

• Reduce administrative time spent manually submitting invoices (supplier) and manually entering invoices (buyer), allowing for resources to focus on value-added work

5.6 Typical Errors when using the ANSI X12 EDI 810 Message

Common problems that appear when exchanging invoice messages are based on wrong or missing data. If data is transmitted inside an ANSI X12 EDI 810 messages that is unknown in the supplier’s ERP system, an error on processing step will be the result. Typical issues in context of EDI 810 messages are:

• Parts, regarded delivery or regarded order do not exist (missing or wrong reference)
• Prices or price units are missing
• Payee or payer reference is wrong or missing

6. EDI X12 810 Invoice Transaction Sample

The following example details the format of the EDI 810 invoice

ISA*00* *00* *ZZ*VENDORID *08*9251190000 *040101*2245*U*00401*000000001*0*P*\~
GS*IN*VENDORID*6125404455*20040101*2245*1*X*004010~
ST*810*0001~
BIG*20140905*93608602*20140730*45056564~
N1*RI*Vendor Name*92*00231629~
N3*Vendor Street Address~
N4*City*IL*606930024*US~
IT1*0000010*660*LB*4.07*PE*BP*2018710000*MP*12345*VN*944940~
PID*F****OREGANO TURKISH WHOLE A 20#BG~
DTM*011*20140904~
SAC*C*D240***5500~
N1*ST*GENERAL MILLS*92*01HNWA~
N3*ONE RED DEVIL RD~
N4*HANNIBAL*MO*63401
TDS*280120~
SAC*C*G530***6000~
CTT*1~
SE*16*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000001~