Invoice Matching and Disputing POD Invoices at The Home Depot

Annalee Foley

By Annalee Foley, Product Manager

Last Updated June 12, 2025

6 min read

Home Depot’s invoice matching system is based on a variety of criteria: 

  • Purchase order number (valid 8-digit or 10-digit PO number)
  • Facility or Store number (valid 4-digit number)
  • Payables Vendor Number (P-Vendor #)
  • Dollar amount
  • Invoice number (10-digit limit)
  • Invoice date
  • Valid shipment tracking information: SCAC carrier code, BOL number, Pro number, or Small Package Tracking number.

Invoice matching will succeed based on the accuracy of the above information. If both the supplier invoice and Home Depot’s receiving facilities are fully aligned on all of those fronts, invoice match will not be a problem. 

However, when there isn’t an exact match, Home Depot’s accounts payable team cannot automatically match and pay the invoice. The result is always a delay in payment, as Home Depot’s accounts payable team sets about their process of researching, and sometimes results in a chargeback or Home Depot requiring a POD. 

Invoices with Exceptions

In order to find out which invoices have been paid and which haven’t, Home Depot suppliers should utilize the MP-SSP. There are three key lists for narrowing down invoices: Paid, Open Items, and Invoices with Exceptions. These live in the My Docs panel on the left side of the display. 

  • Paid: invoices that have been successfully paid
  • Open Items: invoices that are to be paid in the future
  • Invoice with Exceptions: invoices that were not able to be systematically matched or are pending match

NOTE: Suppliers are advised to check in with their EDI providers if an invoice can’t be found in any of those lists. Invoices that receive a 997R are not accepted by Home Depot and must be corrected. 

Invoices with Exceptions Statuses

There are four main statuses for invoices with exceptions:

  • 864: These are “Review the Error” messages (EDI 864) that are preventing a successful transmission. Your EDI team will be able to work with you to resolve this issue. The invoice will remain unpaid until it is resent via your EDI solution. 
  • MOT: These invoices have a discrepancy that requires manual resolution by the Home Depot accounts payable department. This MOT status will remain until the AP department resolves it. As a result, suppliers can issue a chargeback dispute package. A POD Dispute package may be required.
  • NMF: These invoices are waiting for keyrec (a unique identifier confirming receipt of goods). If keyrec does not occur, the supplier’s invoice will move to a POD Dispute, based on the invoice date plus 5 days transit time, plus terms for the PVendor number.
  • POD Dispute: After the invoice has aged past its payment due date, a POD dispute package will be distributed. From there, suppliers are required to verify or update any required information on the POD dispute package and add attachments in order to dispute. 

Sometimes an invoice may not appear in the MP-SSP at all. In that case, the supplier should create and submit a manual POD dispute package. Also, invoices less than $50 do not appear on the Exceptions List. If an invoice for less than $50 becomes past due, the supplier should submit a “Contact Us” message via Merchandise Payables. 

Disputing POD Invoices

Disputing POD Invoices can happen in two ways. The first one, referenced above, happens when Home Depot automatically generates a POD dispute package that a supplier can add attachments to. Alternatively, POD invoices can be generated manually from the Invoices with Exceptions list.

These Instructions will cover both methods:

1. In the MP-SSP app, in the “Invoices” tab in the My Docs portion section on the left, click on the “Invoices with Exceptions” link. 

2. At the bottom of the page, click the Download Data button. 

3. In the spreadsheet, filter by “POD Dispute” in the exception_type column.

4. Locate the Activity Center on the homepage.

5. Click on the link to Dispute Unpaid Invoice with POD. (As a reminder, suppliers are only allowed to dispute POD invoices greater than $50.) This will take you to the Submit Dispute Package page. 

6. Then fill in the following information from the “POD Dispute” data you downloaded from the “Invoices with Exceptions” link: 

  • Invoice # (invoice_number)
  • PO # (po_number)
  • Invoice Date (invoice_date)
  • Location # (store_number)
  • Disputed Amount (invoice_amount)

7. Fill in all other additional required fields:

  • Department Number

8. Additionally, suppliers may want to consider providing the following as well: 

  • Keyrec # (see the Home Depot Glossary at the end of this eBook)
  • Freight Carrier: drop down list of HD Core Carrier
  • Tracking/BOL #: checkbox to add an additional Tracking/BOL# (only one additional allowed). Suppliers are provided a list of their “Core” carriers to pick from. If you did not use a core carrier, you should select Vendor Truck.
  • Attachments: suppliers can add as many PDFs (PDF format only) as they want; user and timestamp are tracked, and the file size is limited to 20MB per attachment.
  • Comments

9. From there, suppliers should await a response from Home Depot. Home Depot says that response time can take 10-14 days most of the time, but that it can go over in some cases. Publicly, all responses should be issued within 18 days. This category of disputes can be reviewed in the Activity Center under “Packages Pending Home Depot Resolution” or “Packages Pending Home Depot Resolution.” 

10. After, Home Depot either pays back or denies the dispute. If they pay back, suppliers can expect the payment to show up on remit in 5-7 days. 

11. If Home Depot denies the dispute, suppliers can redispute (re-open) by creating a Dialog on that package:

  • Click on the “Send to Home Depot” check box. 
  • Enter the message subject line. 
  • Enter the message text in the blank text field below. 
  • Click on |send| to submit or |clear| to clear all fields. 
  • Further replies can be done by replying to the message. 

12. If one or more redisputes are continually denied and the supplier believes to have documentation that proves the change is invalid, the next option is to utilize the “Contact Us” page to further escalate the dispute.

NOTE: To dispute from the Invoices with Exceptions page directly, simply press the “POD Dispute” link that will take you directly to a POD Dispute Package. In there, submit the same information: 

  • Invoice #
  • PO #
  • Invoice Date
  • Location #
  • Disputed Amount
  • POD Disputes Proof Documents

It is helpful to think of POD dispute proof documentation in two major categories: good and better. 

Good

In official Home Depot documentation, the following documents are required to dispute a POD Invoice:

  • For Core carriers (HD’s approved list) you just need the Carrier (selected from the drop-down), and then the corresponding BOL, PRO Number or tracking number.
  • For carriers not listed in the drop down box, Prepaid or Vendor Truck: Signed proof-of-delivery (POD) (Bill Of Lading and/or Delivery Receipt, depending on FOB Origin or Destination terms) is required.

Better

In practice, ideally, the following documents would be great for disputing a POD Invoice:

  • For Core carriers (HD’s pre-approved list) you just need the Carrier (selected from the drop-down), and then the corresponding BOL, PRO Number or tracking number
  • BOL
  • POD
  • Invoice
  • Packing Slip

Related Resources