Who sends the ASN when a 3PL ships the order?

Responsibility for the 856 sits with whoever holds the carton-level packing data, which is normally the 3PL, but accountability for it stays with the supplier whose name is on the purchase order. The workable arrangement is that the 3PL reports what it packed and the supplier’s system builds and transmits the ASN, so one party owns the data and one party owns the timing.

The failure mode is assuming the other side has it. A 3PL that sends ASNs for some clients may not be set up for your trading partner’s specific map, and a chargeback for a missing ASN is billed to the supplier regardless of who was meant to send it.

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