What is an EDI 855 and do I have to send one?

An EDI 855 is the Purchase Order Acknowledgment, the supplier’s business reply to an 850. It confirms the order line by line: accepted as written, accepted with changes, backordered, or rejected. Most large retailers require one within 24 to 48 hours of the purchase order, and some treat a missing acknowledgment as a compliance failure with its own chargeback code.

The 855 is where a supplier declares a short before it becomes a delivery failure. Acknowledging a line as partially available costs a conversation; shipping short against a silently accepted order costs an OTIF penalty.

More on Retail EDI, or browse every commerce operations answer.