Go Live checks for Stock Updates – Auto Trader UK

To get live API access, your integration must pass certain tests. This will make sure that it meets our technical standards and best practices.

For each capability, the tests cover Essential and Enhanced functionalities. Your integration must pass at least one of the Essential functionality tests to get live access.

We recommend using the Enhanced functionalities to allow dealers to get the full benefits of the service.

We'll cover the tests for the following functionalities:

Stock create (Essential)
Stock update (Essential)
- - Updating stock (Essential)
  - Managing all advert destinations (Essential)
  - Stock lifecycle management (Enhanced)
Advert allowances (Enhanced)
- - View dealer’s advert allowances (Enhanced)

There are three ways we check that tests are successful:

Demonstration - We will expect you to show us your code or your UI
Call log validation - We will check your API calls to our service to make sure the call is made correctly
Database check - We will check our database to see whether the correct attribute has been updated

Stock create (Essential)

To create a stock item, you must make a POST request to the Stock API. You must also include the advertiser ID of the dealer you want to create the stock for.

We recommend that your integration can create both new and used stock. But to pass this capability's testing, you must be able to create one of them.

Create used

Test	How we'll check it
Able to fulfil mandatory checks in the vehicle registration lookup functionality in the Vehicle Taxonomy capability Go Live checks
Successfully create a stock record for a used vehicle via the Stock API	Call log validation and database check
Store response and stock ID against stock item in partner database	Demonstration
Confirm vehicle types that are being integrated and make sure mandatory data points are included: Car Bike Van Motorhome Caravan Truck Plant Farm	Demonstration and database check
Handle a 409 response code for duplicate stock, and do not retry the call. You should store the stock ID provided in the response and use this as the stock ID for the stock record you attempted to create.	Demonstration
Optional checks
Include your system's stock ID and/or reference in externalStockId and externalStockReference fields	Database check
Include one or more of the following recommended advert data points on stock creation Attention grabber Description Features - we recommend using our feature data from the Vehicle Equipment capability: Standard Optional	Call log validation and database check

Create new

Test	How we'll check it
Able to fulfil mandatory checks in the Taxonomy lookup functionality in the Vehicle Taxonomy capability Go Live checks
Successfully create a stock record for a new vehicle via the Stock API	Call log validation and database check
Store response and stock ID against stock item in partner database	Demonstration
Confirm vehicle types that are being integrated and make sure mandatory data points are included Car Bike Van Motorhome Caravan Truck Plant Farm	Demonstration and database check
Confirm stock is created as new and no conflicting data is submitted: Mileage is between 0-100 and not null Plate and date of registration not submitted Manufactured year is either null, the current year, or last year	Call log validation and database check
Handle a 409 response code for duplicate stock, and do not retry the call. You should store the stock ID provided in the response and use this as the stock ID for the stock record you attempted to create	Demonstration
Optional checks
Successfully create a stock item with a due date and the lifecycle state of DUE_IN	Demonstration and database check
Include your system's stock ID and/or reference in externalStockId and externalStockReference fields	Database check
Include one or more of the following recommended advert data points on stock creation: Attention grabber Description Features - we recommend using our feature data from the Vehicle Equipment capability: Standard Optional	Call log validation and database check

Stock updates

If you want to update any part of the stock item after its initial creation, you must make a PATCH request to our Stock API with:

The stock ID in the URL path
The advertiser ID in the query string

The request should only include the updated Auto Trader data. Sending the full stock item each time will make it much harder to fix issues.

Updating stock (Essential)

At times, the vehicle data on the stock item could be wrong, and the dealer will want to be able to edit this data.

Each vehicle type has a different array of data points which the dealer will need to be able to edit.

We recommend that your integration can edit all data points available in Portal. This way, dealers can use your system for all edits and do not need to use Portal.

Test	How we'll check it
Able to edit mileage vehicle data on the stock item	Call log validation and database check
Able to edit the first registration date vehicle data on the stock item	Call log validation and database check
Able to edit derivative ID. If you send any vehicle specification data when creating a stock record, this must also be updated as well	Call log validation and database check
Able to edit the attention grabber and description	Call log validation and database check
Able to edit the features, both standard and optional features	Call log validation and database check
Optional checks
Able to edit all fields that are editable for your supported vehicle types in Auto Trader Portal	Demonstration and database check

The dealer will need to control where a stock item is advertised. All advertising locations will need to be managed individually.

Test

How we'll check it

Able to set the following advertising destinations to PUBLISHED:

autotraderAdvert - This is to advertise on autotrader.co.uk
- CAPPED message displayed to the dealer
- REJECTED message displayed to the dealer, including the rejected reason
advertiserAdvert - This is to advertise on the dealer's website
locatorAdvert - This is to advertise on a manufacturer's used approved website
profileAdvert - This is to advertise on the Auto Trader Retailer Store page
REJECTED message displayed to the dealer, including the rejected reason

Demonstration and database check

Stock lifecycle management (Enhanced)

Part of managing a dealer's stock includes marking a vehicle as sold, which will involve updating the lifecycle state and the vehicle's advertising.

Both of these will be covered in the Availability updates, but the dealer may also want to attach the sales data for stock.

Test	How we'll check it
Able to update the lifecycleState of a stock record via the Stock API	Call log validation and database check
Optional checks
Able to update sold date, sold price, and buyer postcode when a lifecycle state is set to SOLD	Call log validation and database check

Knowing the dealer’s advertising allowance is important to make sure the dealer is using all of their available slots.

To view the dealers on your integration and their advert allowances, make a GET request to the Advertisers API using the autotraderAdvertAllowances=true parameter. You can specify one advertiser ID or get all by paginating through the results.

Test	How we'll check it
Able to get all advertiser allowances on the integration via the Advertisers API	Demonstration and call log validation
Optional checks
Able to get one advertiser allowance on the integration via the Advertisers API	Demonstration and call log validation

Stock create (Essential)

Create used

Create new

Stock updates

Updating stock (Essential)

Managing all advert destinations (Essential)

Stock lifecycle management (Enhanced)

Advert allowances (Enhanced)

View dealer’s advert allowances (Enhanced)

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