Inbound Feeds
A feed is a product listing file that contains information about products (e.g. VINs) which typically includes data such as the product name, description, price, availability, image and VDP URL. The file is generally formatted in XML or CSV and can be updated on a regular basis to reflect changes in product inventory, pricing, or other information.
Inbound feeds are any type of feed an advertiser sends to VIN IQ. Currently, three types are supported: Inventory Feed, Sales Feed and Leads Feed.
Inventory feed
Inventory feeds are used as a means of acquiring dealer inventory other than scraping a dealer’s website. This approach is necessary when the dealer website provider obstructs or restricts the use of scraping tools. In addition, it proves beneficial when a dealer wishes to provide VIN IQ with very specific information that is not readily obtainable through conventional web scraping methods.
Sales feed
Sales feeds are used to provide VIN IQ with both timely updates pertaining to vehicle sales and to convey accurate information regarding the correct disposition of sold vehicles, specifically whether they were sold or wholesaled (sent to auction or dealer trade).
Timely updates are of utmost importance to allow VIN IQ to swiftly remove vehicles from marketing feeds, which may not be possible through conventional inventory feeds processed once or three times a day. This means delays of up to 24 hours may occur before detecting that a vehicle has been sold, and this may result in continued marketing and advertising of unavailable inventory. An inbound sales feed can be provided hourly ensuring VIN IQ prompt detection and removal of sold vehicles from marketing feeds at the next hourly processing time.
Providing accurate information regarding the disposition of sold vehicles is critical to ensure VIN IQ shows precise sales reporting metrics and cost allocation. While vehicles that leave inventory are generally assumed to have been sold, it is not always the case. Hence, providing correct information regarding the disposition of sold vehicles is vital to avoid any misrepresentation of sales data.
Leads feed
Leads feeds serve the purpose of providing VIN IQ with the most current information pertaining to vehicles that are in the process of being sold. It is recommended that such vehicles, which are either in the final stages of sale or have already been reserved for a specific customer, be removed from the feed.
Feed configuration
The VIN IQ UI provides SFTP credentials to allow each dealer to submit their feeds.
Instructions on how to send any type of feed to VIN IQ:
You will get the feed credentials (FTP Username and Password) from the VIN IQ support team.
With that information, please select a method that suits you (e.g. FTP client) to configure the feed delivery.
We recommend setting up a schedule to deliver the feed three times a day, so VIN IQ has always the most updated data.
