If Amazon pays you — for services, supplies, freight, or anything else that runs through their accounts-payable department — you have a Payee Central account. And once your invoice volume climbs past what anyone wants to key into a portal by hand, Amazon offers an EDI lane for it. That lane is small, strict, and worth understanding before you start, because it behaves differently from every other Amazon EDI program.
One document, one direction
Payee Central EDI is invoice submission only: you send an X12 4010 810 invoice, Amazon answers with a 997 acknowledgment. Credit memos travel on the same 810 with a credit type code and a reference to the original invoice number. That's the whole program.
There is no purchase order feed, no ship notice, no inventory advice. If you also sell goods into Amazon's retail network through Vendor Central, that's a separate program with its own requirements — and the two don't share a connection.
The rules that actually reject invoices
Amazon validates every 810 by machine, and its published error table is refreshingly specific about what fails. The recurring offenders:
- Invoice numbers are permanent. Uppercase letters and digits only, 22 characters max — and once Amazon has ever seen a number from you, it is rejected as a duplicate forever. Even on retry after a failure, a new submission of the same invoice keeps the same number; a new invoice never reuses one.
- Two amount formats in one document. The invoice total transmits with implied decimals (a $254.01 total goes across as
25401), while surcharge amounts require an explicit decimal point. Applying one convention to both fields is the single most common formatting failure. - Units of measure are an allowlist. Amazon accepts 53 unit codes — standard X12 ones like EA and CA plus a block of Amazon-specific codes. An unrecognized unit doesn't produce a warning; the file simply isn't processed.
- Totals must reconcile. Amazon recomputes your invoice total from lines, surcharges, and tax, tolerating only a cent per line of drift.
The good news: since 2020, Amazon's "smart match" logic tolerates imperfect PO-line matching if you supply enough supporting data — PO line number, your part number, line description, unit price, and net amount. A well-populated invoice glides through matching that a sparse one fails.
Certification is two separate gates
Getting live is a two-track process, and the tracks don't touch:
- Invoice testing happens on the Payee Central website, not over your connection — three successful test invoices per Amazon bill-to country, uploaded as plain-text files and matched against invoices Amazon has already paid you. Results come back in about two minutes per file.
- Connection testing proves the pipe. Once your AS2 or SFTP link is configured, you resend an already-tested invoice over it — and a "Duplicate Invoice" rejection email is the pass signal, because it proves the file arrived and was read.
Only when both gates are green does Amazon flip your bill-to countries to "can invoice," at which point PDF-and-email invoicing should be switched off.
The connection is dedicated — by Amazon's rule
Unlike programs where a provider's shared infrastructure carries many suppliers, Amazon requires a distinct connection per payee on this program, over AS2 or SFTP — your choice. Through EDISQ, that means a dedicated, fully managed connection provisioned for your account: we run it, monitor it, and handle the key or certificate exchange with Amazon either way.
From your ERP to paid, automatically
The practical version of this program looks like: your invoices are created where they've always been created — QuickBooks, NetSuite, or any other system — and EDISQ picks them up, builds the 810 exactly to Amazon's implementation guide, validates the traps above before anything transmits, and tracks the 997 and any failure notices back against each invoice. Amazon's own certification cycle, including the test uploads and the connection proof, is handled for you.
Sign up free at app.edisq.com — the first 25 documents each month are free while you evaluate, no card required — or talk to us about a Payee Central setup with your invoice volume in hand.
FAQ
Is Amazon Payee Central the same as Vendor Central EDI?
No. Vendor Central runs the full retail document chain — purchase orders in, acknowledgments, ship notices, and invoices back. Payee Central is Amazon's accounts-payable portal: the EDI program there is invoice submission only, an X12 810 outbound with a 997 acknowledgment back.
Which documents does Payee Central EDI use?
One: the X12 4010 810 invoice (credit memos ride the same document with a CR type code). There is no 850, 855, or 856 in this program — if Amazon sends you purchase orders over EDI, that's a different program on a different connection.
How does Amazon certify a Payee Central EDI connection?
Two independent gates. First, three successful test invoices per Amazon bill-to country, uploaded through the Payee Central website and matched against previously paid invoices. Second, a connection test over your AS2 or SFTP link — where a 'Duplicate Invoice' rejection is the expected proof that the pipe works.
What does Payee Central EDI cost through EDISQ?
Per document on the standard ladder — first 25 each month free, then from $0.50 per document, decreasing with volume — plus a flat monthly fee for the dedicated connection Amazon requires per payee.