EDI trading partners
Target EDI requirements for vendors
Target lists the ability to receive purchase orders by EDI among its standards for suppliers, next to electronic funds transfer and a certificate of insurance. The EDI guides sit in Partners Online behind a vendor login; the contract terms the documents carry are public. This page covers those terms, what they mean for each document and what an integration has to check.
Updated
What Target publishes, and where
Target's supplier page lists the standards a vendor has to commit to. Three of them are operational: use of electronic funds transfer with Accounts Payable, required for domestic vendors; the "ability to use EDI to receive purchase orders"; and a certificate of insurance. Eligibility for drop shipping is a separate consideration on the same list.
Everything else sits in Partners Online (POL), Target's vendor website, which needs a login: the EDI guides per transaction set, connection and testing instructions, routing and labeling rules and the compliance charges. Two POL documents are public and matter here: the Conditions of Contract, which apply to every purchase order, and the Rules of Use. Both were read on 3 October 2026, and the rules below come from them. Target is one of the trading partners we build an EDI integration for.
The order terms each document carries
The Conditions of Contract define a purchase order as an order for specified quantities at specified prices, "whether issued through electronic data interchange (EDI) or otherwise". The terms that follow decide what the documents of an order have to say:
| Term in the Conditions of Contract | Where it lands in X12 | What the integration checks |
|---|---|---|
| A PO is deemed accepted unless a written rejection arrives within five days | 850 in, a rejection out | Every line is accepted or rejected before day 5 |
| Goods ship within the dates Target specifies, not before or after | Dates in the 850 | The ship date of each order against its window |
| A deviation in quantities, assortments or prices is a breach | 856, 810 | Shipped and invoiced lines against the PO |
| PO prices include shipping, packaging, labeling, duties and taxes | 810 | No freight or other charge lines unless agreed |
| Target pays from invoice only | 810 | An invoice for every shipment |
| Target may deduct non-compliance charges and hold payments | Remittance, 820 | Each deduction matched to its PO |
The X12 column gives the set that carries that step as defined by the standard. Which sets Target trades with a given vendor, in which version and over which connection, is in POL.
Five days to reject a purchase order
Target's acceptance rule runs from the moment the vendor receives the order. A purchase order is deemed accepted if Target has not received a written rejection within five days, or if the vendor starts work on it or ships any part of it within those five days. The Conditions also object in advance to any different terms in the vendor's acceptance or invoice.
Take the order from our document pages, received on 28 September: 24 units on line 1 and 16 on line 2, with 12 of line 2 in stock. Five days after 28 September is 3 October. A rejection of the 4 missing units has to reach Target by then; without it the order stands at 16 units and a shipment of 12 is a deviation in quantity. Whether Target reads an 855 as that written rejection, and how it handles a partial one, is set in its EDI guide. The integration therefore decides availability per line on the day the 850 arrives and sends the answer the guide asks for well inside the window.
Ship dates, prices and the invoice
Ship dates. "Goods must be shipped within dates specified by Purchaser, not before or after." Shipping early is a breach as much as shipping late, and the vendor has to notify Target when goods cannot ship within the dates. A warehouse that releases orders as soon as stock is there ships some of them early; the integration holds each order until its window opens.
Prices. The prices on a Target purchase order are complete and include shipping, packaging, labeling, customs duties, taxes, storage, insurance, boxing and crating, unless the contract provides otherwise, and no additional charge may be added without Target's express written consent. On our 810 page the shared order is invoiced as 405.00 for the shipped units, minus 8.10 discount, plus 18.50 freight: 415.40. Under Target's terms the freight line does not belong on the invoice: 24 × 12.50 plus 12 × 8.75 is 405.00 at the PO prices, and that is what the integration checks the 810 against.
Payment. Target "pays from invoice only" and accepts invoices only from the vendor. It may deduct from any payment the damages for a breach and "any charges or penalties for non-compliance", and it may hold payments against expected obligations. A claim about a debit memo, chargeback or other financial penalty has to be brought within one year after it arose, unless the contract sets another period. Matching each deduction in the remittance to its PO and reason is what keeps that year from running out unnoticed.
| Breach listed in the Conditions | Example in the data |
|---|---|
| Failure to ship within the specified dates | Ship date outside the window in the 850 |
| Departure from delivery, routing, ticketing, labeling or packaging instructions | A carton label or packing that does not follow Target's instructions |
| Deviation in quantities, assortments or prices | 12 shipped on a line of 16 without a rejection; a price other than the PO price |
Specifications that change with seven days' notice
The Rules of Use make the vendor responsible for "the equipment, software, services, and testing necessary to effectively and reliably transmit and receive information" through the platforms Target designates. Target may change any term, condition, specification or instruction in POL by posting it under Important Updates on the POL home page. A change takes effect seven days after posting unless a later date is given, and applies to purchase orders issued after that date. A change posted on 29 September is effective on 6 October: orders issued before then keep the old rule, orders after it follow the new one, and for a week both run side by side.
For an integration that means two versions of a map can be live at once, selected by the PO date, and someone has to read Important Updates every week. A changed segment requirement that is missed shows up as rejected documents or deductions, not as an error on the vendor's side.
What is not on a public Target page
The EDI implementation guides, the list of transaction sets per vendor type, the connection options, the routing guide, the carton label specification and the amounts of compliance charges are all in POL. We print none of them here, and figures that circulate elsewhere are not repeated because Target does not publish them. The Walmart and Kroger pages show what a retailer's public specification contains, and Amazon shows a retailer whose rules are public through its API documentation.
Handling Target orders on the ERP side
Each Target purchase order becomes a sales order with the PO number, the ship window, the PO prices and the item identifiers Target sent, because the ship notice and the invoice have to return them. Availability is decided per line within the five-day window, the warehouse releases the order inside its window, and the invoice is built from the shipped quantities at PO prices without added charges.
We build that part to Target's guide and your systems: the 850 checked and acknowledged on arrival, the ship window enforced before release, the 856 and 810 checked against the order before they are sent, and each deduction in the remittance matched to its PO. When Target posts a change in POL, the new map runs next to the old one for orders issued after the effective date. Tell us how you supply Target.
Frequently asked questions
Which EDI documents does Target require?
Target's public supplier page names one: vendors must be able to receive purchase orders by EDI, which in X12 is the 850. The full list of transaction sets, versions and segments is in the EDI guides in Partners Online and needs a vendor login, so none is printed here. Target's Conditions of Contract also say that Target pays from invoice only.
How long do I have to reject a Target purchase order?
Five days. Under Target's Conditions of Contract a purchase order is deemed accepted if Target does not receive the vendor's written rejection within five days after the vendor received it, or if the vendor starts work on it or ships any part of it before then.
Can I add freight to my Target invoice?
Not unless the contract says so. Target's Conditions of Contract state that the prices on a purchase order are complete and include shipping, packaging, labeling, duties, taxes, storage, insurance, boxing and crating, and that no additional charges may be added without Target's express written consent.
How do I find out when Target changes its EDI specifications?
Through the Important Updates section on the Partners Online home page. Target's Rules of Use say changes take effect seven days after they are posted there unless a later date is given, apply to purchase orders issued after that date, and that reading that section regularly is the vendor's responsibility.
Does Target publish its chargeback amounts?
Not on a public page. The Conditions of Contract give Target the right to deduct non-compliance charges and penalties from payments and to hold payments; the amounts are in Partners Online. What other retailers publish is under EDI compliance.
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