Skip to main content

Using X-Cart's Keystone integration

A
Written by Anna Verbichenko
Updated this week

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


Before you start: Requirements and setup

Before you start using Keystone, 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.

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

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


Connect your X-Cart store to Keystone

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


Initial setup

After connecting your X-Cart store to Keystone, make sure you configure shipping for Keystone-sourced products.


Vehicle list (Fitment data)

Before importing products, be aware that X-Cart's Keystone integration does not import the list of vehicles (Make/Model/Year) into your store’s database. If you haven’t done so, you should import or set up your vehicle list via another source. For example, you might use a catalog provider like SEMA Data or AutoSync to import a comprehensive vehicle year/make/model database, manually add vehicles using the MMY add-on tools or request help from X-Cart team.

More info:


Catalog data import

Keystone provides a very limited set of product data to its customers (no images or descriptions, just the essential details like the product name, attributes, dimensions, weight, pricing, and stock levels). For this reason, you may prefer to build your store catalog using an integration with a catalog provider that supplies complete product data, and to use the Keystone integration exclusively for updating stock and pricing information for products that have already been imported.


To import data from Keystone, follow these steps:

  1. Сategory import and category mapping are not supported for Keystone. You do not need to complete these steps.

  2. Import brands: Import information about brands (manufacturers) provided by Keystone. During the brand import step, X-Cart will fetch a list of all the brands that Keystone 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.

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

  4. 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 Keystone in the section Data types imported from Keystone.

    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 Keystone 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 Keystone auto integration provides options for manual re-imports and scheduled automatic updates.

In the Import Options settings for Keystone, 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 Keystone, you need to specify your desired import schedules. For instance, you could schedule nightly jobs that update Prices and hourly jobs that update Stock.


Price and inventory management

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

  • Prices imported from Keystone 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 Keystone integration supports the import of MAP, Jobber and Cost pricing data.

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

  • Locations play an important role when working with Keystone 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 Keystone 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 Keystone integration settings.


Order processing and fulfillment

When you receive orders for products supplied by Keystone, 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 Keystone 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 Keystone via the API. If you prefer to review orders first, do not enable auto-submission; then you would manually trigger the submission for pending Keystone orders by clicking a button in your store's admin interface.

  • Split Shipments: The Keystone 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 Keystone 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.


Using Keystone with other integrations

X-Cart's Keystone integration is intended to be used in combination with another auto integration of the catalog provider range. For example, it can be paired with SEMA Data or AutoSync.

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!


Did this answer your question?