Walmart Chargeback Code 13: Substitution Billed Above Cost

Executive Summary & Quick Answer

Executive summary: Code 13 punishes a specific combination: you shipped something other than what the PO ordered, and the invoice billed the more expensive number. Whether the substitution was a deliberate stock decision or a warehouse mispick, Walmart pays for what it received — and deducts the delta. The prevention story is half process (substitution authorization) and half data (invoice from the shipped item, not the ordered item).

Quick answer: Walmart Chargeback Code 13 is an accounts-payable deduction taken when a supplier ships a substitute item but invoices it at a higher cost than the item Walmart actually received. Walmart deducts the cost difference. It's prevented by confirming substitutions with Walmart and always invoicing the item and cost that shipped.

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Deep Dive: What Triggers Code 13

Walmart receives cartons, scans UPCs, and reconciles what physically arrived against the 856 ASN and the 810 invoice. Code 13 fires when the receipt shows item B (cheaper) while the invoice bills item A (pricier) — most commonly because:

• The warehouse substituted stock (same product family, different pack/size/revision) without telling anyone downstream, and billing invoiced the ordered item; or
• A mispick shipped the wrong UPC entirely and the invoice followed the PO instead of the shipment.

The data chain that has to agree:

Step	Document	Item identity
Order	850 PO1	GTIN/UPC + cost Walmart ordered
Ship	856 LIN	GTIN/UPC actually packed (from pick scans)
Bill	810 IT1	Must match the 856 — the shipped item at its correct cost

If the 856 is generated from actual pick scans, a substitution is visible before the truck leaves — that's the intervention point. If the 856 is generated from the PO ("ship what was ordered, surely"), the paper trail lies and the deduction is discovered only at the remittance.

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Business & Financial Impact

• Deduction = cost difference between the invoiced item and the received item, across the affected quantity.
• Compounding risk: substitutions also expose you to shortage-style codes and — if Walmart didn't approve the sub at all — relationship damage beyond the deduction (unauthorized substitutions are treated as a compliance failure, tracked separately under Code 71-type violations).
• Dispute odds: poor. Walmart paid for what it received; the burden is proving Walmart's receiving scan was wrong, which requires carton-level pack data you only have if your ASN came from scans.

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Root Causes (Ranked)

1. Warehouse substitution without a data update — pack/size/revision swapped at pick, invoice built from the PO.
2. Mispicks — wrong UPC picked; ASN and invoice both follow the PO fiction.
3. Item-file drift — new revision/pack of a SKU carries a different GTIN, but the old GTIN is still what's on the PO.
4. Approved subs, unapproved billing — merchandising approved a substitute, but at the substitute's (lower) cost, and the invoice billed the original's cost anyway.
5. Manual ASN creation — 856 keyed from the PO rather than generated from pick/pack scans.

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Step-by-Step Prevention Workflow

PO (850) ──► stock check ──► can't fill exactly?
                                  │
                        request substitution approval
                                  │ approved (item + cost)
                                  ▼
        pick BY SCAN ──► 856 from scans ──► 810 from 856 (item + cost)
             │
     scan ≠ PO item and no approval? ──► STOP the carton, don't ship

1. No silent substitutions. A sub requires written approval — item and cost — before the carton is packed. Route requests through merchandising.
2. Scan-driven ASN. Generate the 856 from actual pick scans so it reflects what's physically in the cartons.
3. Invoice from the ASN. The 810 bills the item/cost that shipped (the 856), never the PO line.
4. Catch GTIN transitions. When a SKU changes pack/revision, treat old-GTIN POs as substitution cases until Walmart's item file catches up.
5. Audit the trio. Any 856/810 line whose GTIN differs from its 850 line is a red flag to resolve before transmission.

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Code 13 vs Code 71 (both are substitution codes)

	Code 13	Code 71
What it penalizes	The substitute was billed at a higher cost than received	The substitution itself was unauthorized
Deducts	The cost difference	Per Walmart's compliance terms for the violation
Even if cost was equal?	No Code 13	Code 71 still applies
Fix	Invoice the shipped item at its correct cost	Approval before substitution, ever

Related: Code 71 (unauthorized substitution) · Code 22 (goods billed not shipped) · Code 10

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Supplier Checklist

• Substitution policy: written approval (item + cost) before packing
• 856 generated from pick scans, never from the PO
• 810 bills the 856's item and cost, never the PO line on a sub
• GTIN transitions flagged; old-GTIN POs handled as subs
• Pre-transmit audit: any 850/856/810 GTIN or cost disagreement blocks the doc
• Remittance sweep: Code 13 lines traced to pick scans within 7 days

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FAQs

What is Walmart chargeback Code 13? A deduction taken when a supplier ships a substitute item but invoices a higher cost than the item Walmart received. Walmart deducts the difference.

Is Code 13 the same as an unauthorized substitution charge? No — that's Code 71. Code 13 is specifically about the cost delta on a substituted item's invoice. You can be hit by both on the same shipment.

Can I dispute Code 13? Rarely successfully. You'd need carton-level scan evidence that Walmart received the item you billed. If your ASN was generated from the PO instead of scans, you don't have that evidence.

How do substitutions happen without billing knowing? The warehouse swaps pack/size/revision at pick, the ASN is keyed from the PO, and the invoice follows the PO. Scan-driven ASNs make the swap visible; PO-driven paperwork hides it.

Which EDI documents are involved? The 850 (ordered item/cost), 856 (shipped item — should come from scans), and 810 (billed item/cost — should match the 856).

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