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Using the ATD integration

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Written by Anna Verbichenko
Updated this week

X-Cart's ATD integration allows you to use ATD as a warehouse distributor for your X-Cart store.


Before you start: Requirements and setup

Before you start using ATD, make sure that all required components are in place.

  • X-Cart Automotive add-ons: Verify that your store has the key X-Cart add-ons for auto parts commerce enabled (Make/Model/Year, Shop by Brand, Auto Catalog Import, Split Shipments, etc.). If any required add-ons are missing, install them via the X-Cart App Store before proceeding.

  • ATD add-on: Install the ATD integration add-on from the X-Cart App Store. This add-on enables the connection between your store and ATD.

  • ATD account and credentials: You must have an approved ATD dealer account to use the integration. Once you have an account, connect your integration.


Connect your X-Cart store to ATD

With the prerequisites in place, you can connect X-Cart to ATD. Make sure you choose the ATD tab under Settings.


Initial setup

After connecting your X-Cart store to ATD, make sure you complete the initial integration setup:

  • Configure shipping for ATD-sourced products.

  • ATD supports both testing and live operation. You can decide whether to start in test mode (to simulate imports/orders without affecting real data) or live mode. This is controlled by the “Test mode” toggle in X-Cart’s ATD integration settings. If you are just trialing the integration or want to test the process, set this toggle to Test. Otherwise, select Live to run with real data and orders.


Vehicle list (Fitment data)

X-Cart's ATD integration can serve as a provider of vehicle information (Make/Model/Year) for your store. Alternatively, you can import your vehicle list from a different source (like AutoSync).

More info:


Catalog data import

ATD can be used as a standalone solution (catalog provider and warehouse distributor in one) or serve as a warehouse distributor paired with another catalog provider integration.


To import data from ATD, follow these steps:

  1. Import categories: Bring in information about ATD’s product categories to your store. Please note that the initial import of categories is informational only; this step does not create any categories in your store or change your store's category structure in any way. Actual changes to your storefront category structure happen only when products are imported (according to your mapping rules set at the next step and only for products that were successfully imported).

  2. Map categories: After the initial category import, X-Cart lets you map the imported ATD categories to your existing store categories if desired.

  3. Import brands: Import information about brands (manufacturers) provided by ATD. During the brand import step, X-Cart will fetch a list of all the brands that ATD makes available to you. Please note that the initial import of brands is informational only; this step does not create any brands in your store. Actual changes to your store's brands list happen only when products are imported, and only brands of successfully imported products are added. Note that before importing products, you will be able to select specific brands from which to import products.

  4. Customize brand settings: Before importing products, adjust the settings that will define how certain data is handled on a per-brand basis.

  5. Import products: Now the main event – importing the products themselves. Choose the brands whose products you want to import and start the import process.

    You can find a summary of the data types that can be imported from ATD in the section Data types imported from ATD.

    Depending on how many products are available through the brands you selected, the import can take some time. (It runs in the background, so you don’t have to keep the browser open the whole time.)

    If you configured “New product status” as Inactive, remember to activate the imported products when you’re ready to sell – or set that option to Active beforehand if you wanted them live immediately

Note: During product import, X-Cart uses identifiers like SKU, MPN, or UPC to avoid creating duplicates. If you run the import again or add another integration, products might be matched by these fields. It’s strongly recommended not to manually change SKUs or part numbers of imported products in your catalog. If you alter these identifiers, future re-imports may not recognize the product and could create duplicates or fail to update it.


Keeping your price and stock data up to date

Once you have imported product data from ATD into your X-Cart store for the first time, the job isn’t completely over – prices and stock levels change frequently. To ensure your storefront always reflects the latest information, you’ll need to update your products' price and stock data regularly. The ATD auto integration provides options for manual re-imports and scheduled automatic updates.

In the Import Options settings for ATD, you can specify what types of data should be updated during re-import.

After choosing which data types you wish to update by import from ATD, you need to specify your desired import schedules. For instance, you could schedule nightly jobs that update Prices and hourly jobs that update Stock. If using ATD as a primary source of catalog data, you could also schedule a separate job weekly to update All product data.


Price and inventory management

When using the ATD integration, price and inventory management in your store follows X-Cart’s standard inventory and pricing logic, with ATD acting as one of the external data and stock sources.

  • Prices imported from ATD are processed according to your store’s price management rules and brand-level settings. X-Cart determines the final storefront price based on the selected price source, adjustments, and applicable constraints (such as MAP), depending on your store version and configuration. Note: At the time of writing, the ATD integration supports the import of MAP, Retail and Cost pricing data.

  • Inventory from ATD is treated as external warehouse stock. Inventory availability is updated through re-imports.

  • Locations play an important role when working with ATD inventory.

The exact behavior of pricing, inventory updates, and location-based stock management depends on the X-Cart version you are using (5.5.1.x or 5.6.x) and on your store’s configuration. See the following articles for details:

Inventory management

Price management

Backorder management

Location management (X-Cart 5.6.x)


Shipping management

The ATD integration can automatically provide shipping rate data for order delivery or use a flat rate method configured in your store specifically for this purpose. Make sure you configure your shipping preferences in the ATD integration settings.


Order processing and fulfillment

When you receive orders for products supplied by ATD, the order is created and managed in your X-Cart Admin area with full details, including products, quantities, selected shipping method, and shipping cost.

  • Automatic order submission: After the customer places the order (completes checkout), X-Cart can automatically send the order to ATD for fulfillment (“Submit orders to suppliers automatically” in the integration General Settings needs to be enabled to support this). X-Cart will transmit the necessary details of the drop-ship segments to ATD via the API. If you prefer to review orders first, you could disable auto-submission; then you would manually trigger the submission for pending ATD orders in your admin interface.

  • Split Shipments: The ATD integration’s order fulfillment component works in concert with X-Cart’s Split Shipments feature to ensure a smooth experience. The customer will be able to place a single order on your website, but receive multiple shipments as needed, with full transparency. From the admin perspective, you’ll see one order split into multiple shipments (segments) under the same order ID.

  • Order tracking and updates: Once ATD ships the items, the integration doesn’t stop there – it will update the order in your X-Cart store with the shipment tracking numbers and status updates. You and the customer can see when each segment is shipped and get the tracking information for each package.

  • Live/Test mode: If you want to see how the integration works without sending real orders to ATD, enable Test mode in the ATD integration settings. Remember to switch back to Live mode when you’re ready to start fulfilling actual customer orders.


Using ATD with other integrations

ATD can be used as a standalone solution (catalog provider and warehouse distributor in one) or serve as a warehouse distributor paired with another catalog provider integration.

A list of installation links for popular X-Cart automotive integrations is available on this page.


Can't find answers you're looking for?

Email us at support@x-cart.com. We will be happy to help!



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