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X12 EDI

Costco X12 850 Purchase Order

X12 850 (Purchase Order) is the EDI transaction exchanged between Costco (Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100)) and its trading partners. Stacksync handles full compliance, mapping, and real-time delivery.

Segments
20
Loops
6
X12 850
All partners ↗

Transaction context

Where 850 Purchase Order fits on Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100)

On Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100), the X12 850 Purchase Order precedes the 856 Ship Notice Manifest and 810 Invoice in the Order-to-cash cycle.

Costco channels
9 of 12

9 of Costco's 12 channels carry 850

Trading partners
389

partners across the Stacksync network trade 850

Channels
516

channels network-wide carry 850

The 850 is the electronic purchase order a buyer sends to formally request goods or services, carrying items, quantities, prices, ship-to locations, and requested dates. It initiates the order-to-cash cycle and is the reference document that the acknowledgment (855), ship notice (856), and invoice (810) must reconcile against. Trading partners require it because a machine-readable PO removes manual re-keying and the wrong-item, wrong-quantity errors that come with it. Sent by the buyer (retailer, distributor, or manufacturer procurement) to the supplier or vendor fulfilling the order.

When it fires: A buyer's procurement or replenishment system releases an approved order for goods to a specific supplier.

Common 850 rejection causes
  • Ship-to addresses or location codes that do not exist in the seller's system, causing the order to fail validation or ship to the wrong warehouse.
  • Item identifiers referencing discontinued SKUs or UPCs that do not match the seller's catalog, forcing manual intervention.
  • PO line prices that do not match the agreed contract price in the seller's system, triggering business-level rejection on the 855.
  • Missing or malformed mandatory segments or data elements, rejected on receipt via the 997, and duplicate PO numbers that confuse order processing.

Specification summary

X12 850 Purchase Order at the element level

The X12 850 specification defines 71 segments carrying 282 data elements, 84 of which are mandatory.

Segments
71
Data elements
282
Mandatory elements
84
Segments with mandatory elements
Segment Elements Mandatory
BEG 5 4
CUR 5 2
REF 3 1
FOB 7 1
SAC 11 1
DTM 4 1
PID 4 1
TXI 8 1
N9 3 1
MSG 2 1
Key identifiers in 850
  • Transaction Set Purpose Code
  • Purchase Order Type Code
  • Purchase Order Number
  • Date
  • Entity Identifier Code
  • Currency Code
  • Reference Identification Qualifier
  • Shipment Method of Payment
Full segment guideline — 20 segments 6 loops · X12 850 Purchase Order
ISA Interchange Control Header 16 elements

To start and identify an interchange of zero or more functional groups and interchange-related control segments

GS Functional Group Header 8 elements

To indicate the beginning of a functional group and to provide control information

ST Transaction Set Header 2 elements

To indicate the start of a transaction set and to assign a control number

BEG Beginning Segment for Purchase Order 4 elements

To indicate the beginning of the Purchase Order Transaction Set and transmit identifying numbers and dates

REF Reference Identification 3 elements

To specify identifying information

FOB F.O.B. Related Instructions 3 elements

To specify transportation instructions relating to shipment

SAC Loop Repeat: 25
SAC Service, Promotion, Allowance, or Charge Information 5 elements

To request or identify a service, promotion, allowance, or charge; to specify the amount or percentage for the service, promotion, allowance, or charge

ITD Terms of Sale/Deferred Terms of Sale 8 elements

To specify terms of sale

DTM Date/Time Reference 2 elements

To specify pertinent dates and times

TD5 Carrier Details (Routing Sequence/Transit Time) 1 element

To specify the carrier and sequence of routing and provide transit time information

N9 Loop Repeat: 1,000
N9 Reference Identification 2 elements

To transmit identifying information as specified by the Reference Identification Qualifier

MSG Message Text 1 element

To provide a free-form format that allows the transmission of text information

N1 Loop Repeat: 200
N1 Name 4 elements

To identify a party by type of organization, name, and code

N3 Address Information 1 element

To specify the location of the named party

N4 Geographic Location 3 elements

To specify the geographic place of the named party

PER Administrative Communications Contact 3 elements

To identify a person or office to whom administrative communications should be directed

PO1 Loop Repeat: 100,000
PO1 Baseline Item Data 8 elements

To specify basic and most frequently used line item data

PID Loop Repeat: 1,000
PID Product/Item Description 2 elements

To describe a product or process in coded or free-form format

CTT Loop Repeat: 1
CTT Transaction Totals 2 elements

To transmit a hash total for a specific element in the transaction set

SE Transaction Set Trailer 2 elements

To indicate the end of the transaction set and provide the count of the transmitted segments (including the beginning (ST) and ending (SE) segments)

Trading partners

8+ trading partners.
And every channel covered.

We connect to every major retailer, distributor, and 3PL on the EDI network. Type to search the directory, or browse the full catalogue.

Trading partners

4+ trading partners.
And every channel covered.

We connect to every major retailer, distributor, and 3PL on the EDI network. Type to search the directory, or browse the full catalogue.

Costco Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100) EDI 850 FAQ

Common questions about 850 Purchase Order on the Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100) channel.

What is X12 850 Purchase Order?
X12 850 (Purchase Order) is the EDI transaction set used to exchange purchase order data. Costco's Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100) channel requires it from trading partners.
Does Costco Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100) require 850 for trading partners?
Yes, Costco (Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100)) supports X12 850 Purchase Order. Stacksync handles the full integration so your team can focus on operations.
How fast can I integrate Costco 850 with Stacksync?
Most companies go live with Costco 850 on Stacksync in days. Pre-built mappings, no-code setup, and real-time monitoring make EDI compliance straightforward.
Which other Costco channels accept 850?
X12 850 runs on 9 of Costco's 12 channels. Besides Costco (ISA: 12/2068288100), it is accepted on Costco Wholesale (Canada), Costco Merchandise US - Direct (IBM) - NEW, Costco Merchandise Canada - Direct (IBM)(OLD), Costco Merchandise US - Direct via IBM VAN (OLD), Costco Wholesale Canada, Costco Merchandise Canada - Direct (via IBM)(NEW), Costco Dropship (via Commerce Hub), Costco Wholesale - US. Each channel carries its own implementation guideline; Stacksync validates outbound documents against the correct guideline automatically.

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