The five documents.

A deduction dispute is only as strong as the paperwork behind it. Five documents answer almost every Walmart and Target deduction. Keeping all five for every shipment is the single most useful habit a supplier can build.

1. Purchase order (PO)

What the retailer ordered, in what quantity, at what cost. It is the starting point for any pricing or quantity question.

2. Invoice

What you billed. When it matches the PO, a price deduction has a hard time standing. When it does not, find out why before disputing.

3. Advance ship notice (ASN)

The electronic notice you send before the shipment arrives, listing what is in it. Errors in the ASN can trigger compliance chargebacks on their own, so a clean ASN record matters.

4. Bill of lading (BOL)

The carrier's record of what it picked up: the number of cartons and pallets, with signatures. It shows what left your hands.

5. Proof of delivery (POD)

The signed record of what arrived. A POD signed clean, with no shortage or damage noted, is often the strongest answer to a shortage deduction.

Which documents answer which deduction

• Shortages: BOL and POD first, with the ASN showing what was sent.
• Pricing: PO and invoice, plus any approved cost change.
• Allowances: the signed allowance agreement or promotion terms.
• Damages: the POD and any notes made at delivery.
• Late or incomplete delivery fines: carrier pickup and delivery times, and appointment records, including any appointment the retailer moved.

These pairings are a general guide. The retailer's code description tells you exactly what it is claiming, and that decides what proof you need.

Keep them together

The hardest part of most disputes is not the argument. It is finding five documents from different systems months later. A simple folder per purchase order, with all five inside, saves most of that time.

Zenmul matches every deduction against these documents and marks each one invalid, valid, partial or missing proof. You submit the disputes yourself.

This article is general information, not guidance from Walmart or Target.