Web EDI for small suppliers, run by an agent
Ship to Walmart, Kroger or Target without an EDI team or a web form to fill in. Otto picks up your purchase orders, sends the acknowledgments, ship notices and invoices, and flags anything that needs you. We are onboarding suppliers in small batches.
Pricing is shared with early-access suppliers before onboarding. No payment to join the list.
What is web EDI?
Web EDI is a browser-based portal for exchanging EDI documents with retailers without buying EDI software or integrating an ERP. The provider translates the documents and holds the connection to each retailer. You read incoming purchase orders on screen and fill in web forms for the ship notice and invoice.
It is the lowest-cost way to become EDI compliant, which is why suppliers with one or two retail accounts start there. The cost is labor: every document is typed by hand, and a typo in a ship notice turns into a chargeback.
What Otto does instead
- Picks up each EDI 850 purchase order and checks the items and prices against your catalog.
- Sends the 855 acknowledgment, including backordered or changed lines.
- Builds the 856 ship notice from your shipment and prints matching GS1-128 carton labels.
- Sends the 810 invoice with the PO number, terms and totals the retailer expects.
- Reads 997 and 824 rejections, explains what went wrong and prepares the corrected document.
- Flags chargebacks and deductions with the ASN, bill of lading and proof of delivery attached, ready to dispute.
During early access, our team checks every document before it goes to a retailer.
Web EDI vs integrated EDI vs agent-run EDI
The three ways a small supplier can meet a retailer's EDI requirements, and who does the work in each.
| Web EDI portal | Integrated EDI | Agent-run EDI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who handles each document | You, by typing into a web form | Your ERP, through a mapped connection | Otto, with you approving exceptions |
| Needs an ERP integration | No | Yes, a project per system | No |
| Retailer testing and certification | You work through it with support | The provider's team runs it | Otto prepares and fixes test documents |
| ASN and GS1-128 labels | Keyed by hand, printed from the portal | Generated from warehouse data | Built from your shipment details |
| Rejections (997/824) and chargebacks | You read them and fix them | Provider support or your EDI team | Diagnosed and flagged with the fix |
| Typical buyer | 1 to 3 partners, low volume | Many partners, an ERP, an IT team | 1 to 5 partners, no EDI staff |
Which EDI setup fits you?
Four questions. If you are small enough for agent-run EDI, you can join early access. If you have outgrown it, we will say so.
Answer the first three questions to see your result.
Check your retailer's requirements
Every retailer publishes its own EDI rules: which documents, how fast, and what each mistake costs.
Already have EDI files? Open them in the free EDI Inspector.
Web EDI questions
Web EDI is a browser-based portal for exchanging EDI documents with retailers without installing EDI software or integrating an ERP. The provider handles translation and the connection to each retailer; the supplier reads purchase orders on screen and fills in web forms for acknowledgments, ship notices and invoices.
For many small suppliers, yes. Retailers care that the documents arrive in the right format and on time, not how they were produced. Check each retailer's current supplier requirements, especially for ship notices and carton labels, which are where manual portals cause the most chargebacks.
Most providers charge a monthly subscription plus a setup fee for each retailer you connect, and some add fees for document volume, label printing or retailer testing. The total rises with every new trading partner, so ask for an itemized quote that includes setup, testing and per-document charges.
With web EDI you do the work in a portal. With managed EDI a provider's team handles mapping, testing and monitoring for you. Agent-run EDI sits between them: an agent does the document work a managed team would do, at a cost closer to a portal.
When keying documents takes hours a week, when chargebacks start tracing back to typing errors, or when orders also arrive by PDF, email and spreadsheet. At that point automating every order channel into your system pays for itself.
Not generally. We are onboarding small suppliers in batches during early access, with our team checking every document before it goes to a retailer. Join the list and we will contact you before your batch opens.