Merchandise Billed Not Shipped: What Causes It and How to Fix It

Key Takeaways

• Merchandise Billed Not Shipped means a supplier invoiced for goods that the retailer has no record of receiving.

• It is one of the most disputed deduction types because the charge is often issued before the retailer's receiving system has fully processed the shipment.

• The deduction shows up even when the product physically arrives, if the documentation does not support it.

• Disputing it requires a signed POD, BOL, and invoice that all align with the same PO

• Acting fast matters because dispute windows vary by retailer and expire without exception

What Does "Merchandise Billed Not Shipped" Mean?

Merchandise Billed Not Shipped is a deduction issued when a retailer's system shows an invoice was submitted for goods it has no confirmed record of receiving. The retailer has a billing record but no corresponding receipt record to match it against.

At Walmart, this appears as Code 22 on your remittance. The code is categorized under shortage deductions alongside Code 24, which covers carton shortages where the BOL shows more cartons than were received, and Code 25, which applies when an invoice is submitted but no shipment arrives at all. Each of these codes looks similar on a remittance but has a different root cause and a different path to resolution.

The phrase "billed not shipped" can be misleading. In many cases, the product did ship. The problem is that the retailer's receiving system cannot confirm it did, because the documentation was missing, delayed, mismatched, or transmitted after the goods arrived.

Why Retailers Issue This Deduction

Retailers process thousands of inbound shipments daily through automated systems. When an invoice arrives without a matching receipt, the system cannot confirm that the value was received. Payment is held, and a deduction is applied to reflect the unverified amount.

This is not always a judgment that the product was not delivered. It is the system flagging that the transaction cannot be reconciled with the information available. The deduction protects the retailer from paying for goods that have not been verified in their inventory.

The practical effect for the supplier is the same either way: a short payment that requires documentation to reverse.

Why Shipments Get Flagged for This Deduction

A Merchandise Billed Not Shipped deduction rarely means nothing was shipped. More often, it reflects a gap between what was physically delivered and what the retailer's system can confirm was delivered. Common causes include:

• ASN submitted late or not at all. Retailers like Walmart expect an Advance Ship Notice before the shipment arrives at the DC. If the ASN arrives after delivery, the receiving system may not link the invoice to an incoming shipment, and the goods land in the system as unmatched
  

• Invoice transmitted before the shipment was received. An invoice submitted before the DC has processed the receipt creates a timing gap where the billing record exists, but the receipt does not yet.
  

• POD is unsigned, incomplete, or marked "Said to Contain." A POD that does not carry a verified carrier signature is not accepted as proof of delivery at major retailers, including CVS and Walmart. Without a valid POD, the supplier cannot prove the goods arrived.
  

• BOL and invoice quantities do not match. If the BOL shows 200 units and the invoice shows 220, the system flags the overage as unverifiable.
  

• Shipment split across multiple deliveries without separate invoices. When a supplier combines units from multiple deliveries into one invoice, the receiving system may only match part of it, leaving the rest as unbilled merchandise.
  

• Wrong PO referenced on the invoice. If the invoice references a different PO than the one under which the shipment was received, the matching process fails entirely

Example Scenario: How a Billed Not Shipped Deduction Plays Out

What starts as a timing error on the ASN becomes a permanent loss because the documentation needed to reverse it was never in order.

The Operational Impact of a Merchandise Billed Not Shipped Deduction

The financial hit is the most visible problem. But the downstream effects compound it.

Cash flow disruption: When a deduction covers the full invoice amount, the supplier receives nothing for that shipment until the dispute is resolved. For large POs, that is a significant receivable sitting in limbo.

Inventory discrepancies: Goods that arrived but were not matched to a receipt sit in a receiving gray area. The retailer's system may not reflect them as available inventory, which can affect replenishment orders and create a false picture of in-stock levels.

Dispute burden: Building the documentation package to reverse this deduction requires pulling the original invoice, locating the signed POD from the carrier, matching the BOL, and confirming the ASN transmission log. When that information sits across multiple systems and teams, the research alone takes days.

Vendor performance impact: Repeated Code 22 deductions at Walmart affect your standing in Retail Link. Consistent documentation failures signal a systemic problem, not a one-off, and retailers pay attention to patterns.

How to Prevent Merchandise Billed Not Shipped Deductions

1. Send the ASN before the truck arrives, not after

The ASN must reach the retailer's system before the shipment arrives at the DC. The best practice is to transmit it when the truck leaves your dock. Transmitting after arrival is the single most common trigger for a Merchandise Billed Not Shipped deduction because it breaks the link between the incoming receipt and the billing record.

At Walmart, a missing or late ASN generates a separate ASN charge on top of the Code 22 deduction. At CVS, a missing ASN before receipt day is a $100 per PO charge. One shipment can generate multiple deductions from a single timing failure.

2. Confirm the ASN was received and processed

Transmitting the ASN is not enough. Check the 997 Functional Acknowledgment to confirm the retailer received and accepted it. An EDI 824 Application Advice notification means the ASN was rejected. If you do not check and correct it, the ASN is effectively missing from the retailer's perspective, even though you sent it.

3. Align your invoice date to your ship date

Invoice date must match the shipment date, not the order date or the date the goods were prepared. Invoicing before the truck leaves creates a billing record that cannot be matched to a receipt, which is exactly the condition that triggers Code 22.

4. Get a clean, carrier-signed POD every time

Before the driver leaves your dock, confirm the BOL is signed accurately. When the goods arrive, confirm that the carrier delivers a fully signed POD. A POD marked "Said to Contain" is not accepted as valid proof of delivery at CVS or Walmart. If the dispute ever comes, that document is your primary evidence.

For Walmart collect shipments, the BOL must also be marked Collect. If it is not, the freight terms become the supplier's liability on top of any shortage dispute.

5. Match quantities across every document before shipping

Your invoice quantity, your ASN quantity, your BOL quantity, and your packing list quantity must all show the same number for the same PO. A mismatch between any two of these documents creates a reconciliation problem in the retailer's system. Even if the product is physically correct, the paperwork discrepancy is enough to trigger the deduction.

6. One PO per invoice, one invoice per shipment

Combining multiple POs on a single invoice, or invoicing a split shipment under one invoice, makes it harder for the retailer's matching system to link billing records to receipt records. Keep invoice structure simple: one shipment, one PO, one invoice.

What to Do When You Receive This Deduction

Speed matters. Dispute windows are fixed and do not extend.

1. Log the deduction the day it appears on your remittance, and note the dispute deadline immediately.

2. Pull the original invoice, the signed POD from your carrier, the BOL, and the ASN transmission confirmation

3. Verify that all document quantities and PO references match

4. Check your EDI 997 records to confirm whether the ASN was accepted or rejected

5. At Walmart, file the dispute through the Accounts Payable Disputes Portal (APDP), accessible through Retail Link. APDP allows line-level disputes, meaning if Code 22 was applied to three items on one invoice but only one was missing, you can dispute only that line rather than the full invoice amount

6. Include a clear explanation: name the deduction type, confirm the product shipped, and specify which document proves it

7. At CVS, file invoice deductions through the AP Vendor Portal within 60 days of the check date. A fully signed POD is required before the dispute will be reviewed

Do not wait for the documentation to be perfect before filing. File with what you have within the window, and supplement if the retailer requests additional information.

How iNymbus Helps Suppliers Manage Merchandise Billed Not Shipped Deductions

Manually researching and disputing Code 22 deductions across multiple retailers is time-consuming. Each one requires pulling documents from multiple systems, confirming EDI records, and filing through the correct portal before the deadline closes.

iNymbus uses Robotic Process Automation to handle this process automatically. The system monitors retailer portals for new deductions, retrieves shipment data including PODs, BOLs, and ASN confirmation records, and files dispute packages directly through portals like Walmart's APDP, the CVS AP Vendor Portal, and more than 51 other retailer systems.

With iNymbus in place, suppliers can:

• Automatically identify Merchandise Billed Not Shipped deductions across all retail accounts

• Retrieve and match supporting documentation without manual research

• Submit disputes through the correct channel before deadlines expire

• Track dispute status in real time and flag cases requiring follow-up

• Identify recurring patterns, such as repeated ASN timing failures or documentation gaps

The deductions that get written off are almost never the ones where the supplier had no case. They are the ones where the process did not move fast enough.

Ready to stop writing off deductions? Schedule a free demo with iNymbus.