Peppol delivery status: sent, delivered, failed
Plain meanings of Peppol sent, delivered, and failed for Belgian SMEs, and how that differs from a customer reply about the invoice.
Updated
Two different questions
Your software shows a delivery status on an outbound Peppol invoice. That answers only: did the structured message leave your side and reach the buyer’s Peppol gateway?
Separately, the buyer may later send a customer reply (often called IMR). That answers: will they process or dispute the invoice as submitted? Reply details: Peppol invoice responses.
| Signal | Means | Does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Sent / delivered / failed | Network handoff | Customer approved payment |
| Customer reply | Their AP / purchasing stance | Money left the bank |
Mixing the two creates false “paid” assumptions or unnecessary reissues. Content problems before send: validation errors.
Sent, delivered, failed (plain words)
Labels vary by product. Map yours to these meanings.
| Status | What happened | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft / not sent | Still in your tool | Validate; not yet on Peppol |
| Queued | Handed to your Access Point | Wait; do not click send twice |
| Sent | Left your side (or in flight) | Wait for delivery confirmation; keep the invoice number |
| Delivered | Buyer’s Access Point accepted the message | Start normal payment follow-up; watch for a customer reply if they use one |
| Failed | Could not reach the buyer’s gateway | Read the error; fix identity or capability; see below |
| Unknown / timeout | No clear answer yet | Check with your provider before resending |
- Delivered
The buyer’s Peppol gateway accepted the message. It is not booking, approval, or payment.
When status is failed
- Note invoice number, buyer ID, time, and exact error text.
- Re-check the buyer with participant lookup (Belgium: scheme 0208, ten digits).
- Confirm they can receive invoices on Peppol.
- If they are not on the network, follow client not on Peppol.
- Decide resend vs credit note using fix a rejected invoice.
Do not change party IDs on a document already marked delivered.
After “delivered”
| What you see | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| No customer reply | Common for many SMEs | Follow your payment terms |
| Reply: accepted / in process / questions | They are handling it | Answer questions; do not mark as paid early |
| Reply: rejected | They will not take it as submitted | Credit note + corrected invoice, not a silent rewrite |
Buyers receiving mail: Peppol inbound inbox.
Easy mistakes
- Treating delivered as “customer approved the invoice”
- Resending the same invoice after delivered to chase payment
- Ignoring failed because the PDF looks fine
- Issuing a credit note for every transport failure without checking whether the number was used