EDI Payment
An EDI payment is a business payment that is sent or described using electronic data interchange, a standard format that lets two companies' systems exchange documents without paper or manual entry. The money usually moves by bank transfer, such as ACH in the United States, while the EDI data tells the supplier which invoices the payment covers.
Last updated: November 2026
How does an EDI payment work?
- The buyer's accounting system approves one or more invoices for payment.
- It creates a payment instruction and the remittance details in an EDI format.
- The buyer's bank sends the money, usually through the ACH network.
- The supplier's system reads the remittance details and applies the payment to the right invoices.
No one prints a check or types the payment into a spreadsheet, which is the point of the format.
What does "EDI payment" mean on a bank statement?
It means a company paid the account electronically and the transfer carried EDI information. The line often shows the payer's name with a label such as "EDI PYMNTS". Large retailers, insurers, and government bodies commonly pay suppliers and contractors this way, so the entry is usually a payment for an invoice or a claim.
EDI payment vs. ACH vs. EFT
- EFT: electronic funds transfer, the general term for any payment made electronically.
- ACH: the US bank network that moves the money for most EDI payments.
- EDI: the data format that describes the payment and the invoices it covers.
An EDI payment is therefore usually an ACH transfer with structured remittance data attached or sent alongside it.
Common EDI documents
- EDI 850: purchase order.
- EDI 810: invoice.
- EDI 820: payment order and remittance advice.
EDI payments and ad spend
Businesses that pay ad platforms or large suppliers by bank transfer depend on the remittance data to show what each payment covered. When that data is missing or wrong, payments sit unapplied and ad spend reconciliation turns into manual matching.
How Opal fits
Opal Ad Pay lets businesses pay Meta and Google invoices with a card instead of a bank transfer. See how Ad Pay works.
Frequently asked questions
Not quite. ACH is the network that moves the money. EDI is the format of the information that travels with it. Most EDI payments in the United States are ACH transfers that carry EDI remittance details.
Because a business or government body paid you electronically using an EDI-enabled system. Common examples are a customer paying an invoice, an insurer paying a claim, or an agency paying a contractor. The payer's name on the bank line usually identifies the source.
EDI 820 is the standard document for a payment order and remittance advice. It tells the supplier, and sometimes the bank, how much is being paid and which invoices the payment should be applied to.
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