What Is EDI 810 (Invoice)?
Also known as: X12 810, EDI invoice, electronic invoice EDI
Definition
The EDI 810 is the X12 transaction set for an invoice. A supplier sends it electronically to a customer to bill for goods or services against a purchase order, and the customer's system matches it to the PO and receipt before payment.
EDI 810 (Invoice) Explained
An 810 carries the same information as a paper invoice in a fixed machine-readable structure. The header segments hold the invoice number, invoice date, PO number, bill-to and ship-to parties, and payment terms. The detail loop holds one IT1 line per item with quantity, unit of measure, unit price and part numbers. The summary holds the total (TDS) and any tax, freight or charge segments.
The 810 is the third leg of the usual order-to-cash set: the customer sends an 850 purchase order, the supplier may acknowledge it with an 855 and ship with an 856, and then invoices with an 810. The customer's accounts payable system receives the 810 and runs a match against the PO and the goods receipt, commonly a three-way match. Any difference in price, quantity or unit of measure beyond tolerance sends the invoice to an exception queue.
In ERPs the 810 is produced from the invoice posting. In SyteLine the Customer Invoice process produces the data the EDI layer converts. In NetSuite it is mapped from the Invoice record by an EDI provider. In Infor LN it comes from sales invoicing. In each case the ERP data must be clean: a unit of measure mismatch between the customer's PO (EA) and the supplier's invoice (BOX) is enough to fail the match.
Customers publish their own guide, so the 810 needs per-partner mapping for details such as whether tax is a separate SAC segment, whether freight is a line or a charge, and how to reference the ASN. Some trading partners also require the 810 to arrive only after the matching 856, and reject early invoices.
Why It Matters
- Electronic invoices remove keying on the customer side, which usually shortens the time to payment compared with paper or PDF invoices.
- A bad 810 stalls payment: price or unit of measure differences trigger three-way match exceptions in the customer's AP system.
- Many large buyers refuse non-EDI invoices or charge a handling fee, so the 810 becomes a condition of doing business.
- The 810 exposes data quality problems in the supplier's own item, price and unit of measure setup.
In Practice
A customer's PO 45001 line 3 is for 600 EA at 4.20. The supplier invoices 600 EA at 4.25 because a price list update did not reach the customer's contract. The 810 arrives, the customer's three-way match finds a 0.05 per unit difference beyond tolerance, and parks the invoice for review. Payment waits until a credit memo (EDI 812) or corrected invoice is sent, which adds weeks to the cash cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the EDI 810 used for?
It is the electronic invoice. A supplier sends it to bill a customer against a purchase order without paper or PDF.
What happens after the customer receives an 810?
The customer's AP system matches it to the PO and the goods receipt. If it matches within tolerance it is approved for payment, otherwise it goes to an exception queue.
Is an 810 the same as an 820?
No. The 810 is the invoice from supplier to customer. The 820 is the payment order or remittance advice from customer to supplier.
How do I fix a wrong 810?
Follow the customer's guide. Usually you send a credit memo (812) or a cancel and replace invoice, not an edited copy of the original.
Related Terms
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business documents such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices between trading partners in a standardized structured format, without human intervention.
EDI 850 Purchase Order
The EDI 850 is the ANSI X12 transaction set used to transmit a purchase order electronically from a buyer to a supplier, carrying header terms, ship-to and bill-to parties, and line item details such as quantity, price, and product identifiers.
EDI 856 (Advance Ship Notice)
The EDI 856 is the X12 transaction set a supplier sends to a customer before a shipment arrives. It lists what is in the shipment, how it is packed and labeled, and which purchase order lines it fulfils, so the receiver can plan dock work and receive by scan.
Three-Way Match
A three-way match is the accounts payable control that compares the purchase order, the goods receipt, and the supplier invoice on quantity and price before releasing payment, ensuring a company pays only for what it ordered and actually received.
Data Mapping
Data mapping is the process of defining how each field in a source system corresponds to a field in a target system, including the transformation rules, value translations, default values, and conditional logic needed to move data correctly between them.
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