EDI guides for commerce brands
Everything a retail-bound brand needs to understand EDI — from the basics to switching providers and beating chargebacks.
What is EDI?
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) lets brands and retailers exchange purchase orders, shipping notices, and invoices in a standardized electronic format. Here’s how it works and why retailers require it.
Read the guide →EDI vs. API
EDI and APIs both move data between systems, but they solve different problems. Here’s how they compare — and why retail brands still need EDI even in an API-first world.
Read the guide →How much does EDI cost?
EDI pricing models explained: setup and mapping fees, per-partner charges, per-document/transaction (VAN) fees, and managed-services costs — plus how to avoid surprise bills.
Read the guide →How to switch EDI providers
A step-by-step guide to migrating EDI providers without missing documents or triggering retailer chargebacks — inventory your partners, re-map, test in parallel, and cut over.
Read the guide →How to avoid retailer chargebacks
Retailer chargebacks — for late, inaccurate, or non-compliant shipments and documents — erode margin. Here’s what causes them and how to reach near-zero with accurate EDI and OTIF compliance.
Read the guide →Freight EDI: tender, status, and invoice
Four X12 documents run a truckload or LTL move: the 204 load tender, the 990 response, 214 status messages, and the 210 freight invoice. Here’s what each one does, how they connect, and where freight data usually breaks.
Read the guide →The EDI 856 hierarchy, explained
How an EDI 856 advance ship notice is structured: shipment, order, tare, pack, and item levels, when to use SOPI or SOTPI, how GS1-128 carton labels tie in, and the ASN mistakes that trigger chargebacks.
Read the guide →The ocean import timeline
Every step of an ocean import, in order: cargo ready, booking, cutoffs, ISF, departure, arrival, customs, last free day, drayage, delivery, and empty return, with the EDI messages and charges at each one.
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