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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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X12 893 — Item Information Request

The 893 transmits an item information request from a retailer or buyer to a manufacturer or distributor.

Purpose

The 893 documents a structured request for information on one or more items: tech specs, dimensions, weight, materials, packaging, certifications (organic, fair trade, FDA), images, nutritional facts. It serves as a pre-buy instrument to evaluate an assortment or complete a product information page.

It is typical in grocery, retail, e-commerce. Acknowledged by 997; the business response is typically an 832 (Price/Sales Catalog) or a GDSN dataset.

Envelope structure

The 893 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group IR, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-893.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*RETAILERCO    *ZZ*MANUFACTURER  *260514*1700*U*00401*000000893*0*P*>~
GS*IR*RETAILERCO*MANUFACTURER*20260514*1700*1*X*004010~
ST*893*0001~
BGN*00*IR-2026-0042*20260514~
N1*BY*RETAILER CORP*24*EIN-RETAILER~
N1*MF*ACME MANUFACTURER*24*EIN-MF~
LX*1~
LIN**UP*012345678905~
REF*ZZ*REQUEST-NUTRITIONAL-FACTS~
REF*ZZ*REQUEST-DIMENSIONS-CASE~
SE*9*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000893~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN.
  • Parties — N1*BY (Buyer), N1*MF (Manufacturer).
  • Request — repeated LX loop per item: LIN (identifier), REF*ZZ qualifiers (requested information: nutrition, dimensions, certifications).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Granularity: an overly broad 893 (request all) yields an imprecise response; always specify required attributes precisely.
  • Response time: manufacturers often take 5-10 days; a 893 without implicit deadline can drag.
  • Source-of-truth: for regulatory data (nutrition, allergens), require the GDSN source or regulatory database, not an outdated internal file.

Documentation

The code 893 and the name Item Information Request are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.