EDI Requirements

Dollar General EDI Requirements

Dollar General runs a deliberately lean EDI program: for distribution-center deliveries the mandatory set is just the 850, 810, and 997, and Direct Store Delivery (DSD) vendors need only the 810 and 997. What makes DG demanding isn’t the document count — it’s the flat-rate chargeback schedule behind those documents, payment driven off a strict PO/receipt/invoice match, and the rule that core vendors be live on EDI within 30 days of first shipment or risk replacement.

Required EDI documents

Document	Name	Notes
EDI 850	Purchase Order	mandatory for DC orders; retrieve DG transmissions multiple times daily
EDI 855	PO Acknowledgment	program/partner-dependent; not on DG’s core mandatory list
EDI 856	Advance Ship Notice (ASN)	used in many programs but not on DG’s core mandatory list — confirm the EDI Programming Guide
EDI 810	Invoice	mandatory for core vendors; one invoice per PO/shipment; paper discouraged
EDI 860	PO Change	conditional
EDI 846	Inventory Advice	conditional / VMI
EDI 852	Product Activity Data	conditional / VMI
EDI 997	Functional Acknowledgment	mandatory; FA-997 within 24 hours of the originating PO

Labeling & packaging

Pallets must be labeled with the DG purchase order number and destination distribution center; floor-loaded cartons must show the PO on every carton.
Carton markings must carry style/description, packaging and inner quantities, UPC, and (for perishable/date-coded goods) the expiration or 3-digit Julian date — DG does not require its own SKU to appear on packaging. All markings must be legible through overwrap and in English.
Where a program exchanges the 856, GS1-128/SSCC-18 carton labels tie cartons to the ASN and must match it exactly (per DG’s EDI Programming Guide). DG’s domestic guide is markedly less GS1/SSCC-prescriptive than Walmart’s or Target’s — confirm your program’s label spec rather than assuming a big-box-style SSCC mandate.

Connection & portal

Direct AS2, or a VAN capable of direct AS2, on ANSI X12 (DG adopts its own transaction-set specs, reported as 4010). All data-transmission costs are the vendor’s responsibility.
Production AS2 endpoint reported as https://b2b.dolgen.net/msgsrv/as2 (AS2 ID ediprod@dollargeneral.com, ISA/GS qualifier 01/069331990INET); a separate test endpoint (b2btest.dolgen.net) is used until certification.
DG Partners (dgpartners.com) is the vendor portal for the Domestic Vendor Guide, EDI Programming Guide, routing guide, and dispute management. Non-core/non-EDI vendors receive POs by email (the GOLD system) and acknowledge with “REC” in the subject within 48 hours.

Onboarding & testing

Reported ~3–6 weeks, but the hard rule is that core vendors must be live on EDI for PO receipt within 30 days of first shipment or risk being replaced as a vendor. Sequence: set up in DG Partners and sign the EDI trading-partner agreement → open DG’s source IPs and stand up AS2 (or a VAN capable of direct AS2) → test against DG’s test endpoint with ISA15 flag “T” → certify the 850, 810, and 997 → flip to “P” for production.

Compliance & chargebacks

• DG publishes a flat-rate Schedule of Chargebacks assessed per occurrence, with a $25 minimum per deduction. Reported figures: incorrect DC, merchandise, price, case/inner pack, assortment, carton info, or UPC ~$250 each; short quantity ~$375 and excess ~$200; missing PO/BOL/packing list or closed PO/SKU ~$150; product freshness ~$350; and no-UPC or UPC-not-in-system ~$1,000.
• Appointment and transportation misses carry their own flat rates — missed or no appointment ~$375, late arrival and call-in violations ~$350, Fresh trailer refusal ~$500 — plus rework at ~$0.133/unit and re-handling at ~$0.30/case. Confirm every current figure in the routing guide and your vendor agreement.
• Payment is a three-way match of PO, DC receipt, and invoice. EDI 810s are required for core vendors; paper invoices without prior approval are discarded and can carry a compliance fee of up to $250. The FA-997 must return within 24 hours of the originating PO — missing acknowledgments are monitored and penalized.
• Vendor-performance chargebacks are disputed through VNC Disputes with specific backup (a DC-stamped BOL, one issue per email); vendors must respond to backup requests within 3 business days, and DG will not research or repay deductions older than 6 months.

Worth knowing

• DG’s core mandatory EDI set is unusually lean — 850, 810, and 997 for DC deliveries; DSD needs only the 810 and 997. The 856 ASN, 855, and 860 are not on the guide’s mandatory list; they’re program- or partner-dependent, so confirm what your buyer and the EDI Programming Guide actually require before building them.
• Order quantities transmit in UNITS — one UNIT is one sellable item, not a case. Misreading UNIT as case quantity is a classic, chargeback-worthy error. POs ship complete in a single truckload; subsequent shipments against the same PO are rejected.
• DG requires a logistics-visibility integration (reported via Project44) and routes FOB/collect POs through its call-in process (Compass). The routing guide (updated 2026) governs ready dates, appointments, and the transportation chargebacks above.

How EndlessEDI helps with Dollar General

DG pays on a three-way match of PO, DC receipt, and invoice, and most of its chargebacks trace to bad DC, PO, or UPC data. EndlessEDI runs the lean 850/810/997 so those three agree, transmits in UNIT (not case) quantities, and — where your program adds the 856 — builds ASNs with SSCCs that match the cartons.

Explore EndlessEDI

Dollar General EDI FAQ

What EDI documents does Dollar General require?

For distribution-center deliveries the mandatory set is the 850 (PO), 810 (invoice), and a corresponding 997; DSD vendors need only the 810 and 997. The 856 ASN, 855, 860, and 846/852 are program- or partner-dependent rather than universally mandatory — confirm against DG’s EDI Programming Guide.

Does Dollar General require an 856 ASN?

Notably, the 856 is not on DG’s core mandatory transaction-set list for domestic vendors — its published requirement is the 850, 810, and 997. Many programs and partners do exchange the 856, and DG’s EDI Programming Guide defines it, so confirm what your specific program requires instead of assuming a Walmart/Target-style ASN mandate.

What are Dollar General’s EDI chargebacks?

DG assesses flat-rate, per-occurrence charges from its published Schedule of Chargebacks ($25 minimum per deduction) — reported at roughly $250 for incorrect DC/merchandise/UPC, $150–$375 for missing documents and appointment misses, and ~$1,000 for no-UPC issues. Disputes go through VNC Disputes with a 3-business-day response window, and DG won’t review deductions older than 6 months. Confirm current figures in the routing guide.

EDI requirements and penalty schedules change and vary by program. Figures marked “reported” come from third-party sources, not the retailer’s published fee schedule — always confirm against the retailer’s current routing guide and your vendor agreement.