Ever get a check back from Walmart with big, fat negative numbers and some mystery codes attached to them? What do they mean?
Well, Walmart will sometimes subtract deductions from your invoiced amount for various infractions and label them with corresponding reason codes.Â
There are many reasons why Walmart might not pay the full invoice total, ranging from price differences between the invoice and purchase order to invoices being sent for more product than the warehouse received.
But there’s a catch – deductions are not always valid. It’s extremely common for suppliers to receive deductions in error, and suppliers can usually dispute these deductions.
There are nearly one hundred Walmart deduction codes that suppliers can receive, with some being more common than others. We have compiled a list of all deduction codes that can appear on your checks or in your credit/debit adjustment documents. However, there are three that most commonly plague suppliers: 22, 24, and 25.
Deduction Code 22 stands for “Goods Billed not Shipped.” This code occurs when you invoice Walmart for items that they did not receive. For example, if the DC signs for 10 cases but the invoice is for 12 cases, then this would trigger a Code 22 for the 2 cases which were invoiced but not shipped. However, claims for code 22s are often triggered incorrectly. There are several reasons why Walmart might give an invalid code 22, but most are due to simple human error when the shipment is checked in at a DC.Â
Deduction Code 24 stands for “Carton Shortage/Freight Bill Signed Short.” This code refers to an order that was signed short by the distribution center. In this case, the BOL shows that there are more items than what arrived in the shipment, so the POD is stamped as short. Code 24s are often given for invalid reasons, like orders getting mixed up when flowing through a Walmart centerpoint or items for a PO mistakenly arriving at the DC in different shipments, causing the DC to report the PO as short initially.Â
Deduction Code 25 stands for “No Merchandise Received for Invoice.” For this code, Walmart said they didn’t receive any product for a specific invoice. How can that be? The invoice likely went out before the shipment did. Walmart will deduct the total amount of those invoices with a code 25, but don’t try to fix the problem by sending a new invoice! That will cause an adjustment code 30 for duplicate billing. Instead, dispute the code 25 by showing that the shipment was delivered after all.
Now that you know what codes 22, 24, and 25 are, here’s how you take action and get paid back:
We know that navigating these codes can be a headache, so we’ve created an easy solution to help you dispute deductions. SupplyPike Deductions Navigator software takes the pain out of every step of dealing with deduction codes 22, 24, and 25. We organize your deductions, automate the research and disputes, and provide detailed reporting.
Sign up for a free trial today, no risk!
Read more about deductions in our post The Difference Between Retailer Deductions And Allowances.
SupplyPike builds software to help retail suppliers fight deductions, meet compliance standards, and dig down to root cause issues in their supply chain.
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