Distributor Integrations
When signing up to be onboarded to TrustedParts.com, a distributor needs to provide certain information and a choice of integration method. The information needed is as follows:
- Exact distributor name
- Distributor contact(s) to receive TrustedParts.com reports (name, email)
- Distributor technical contact(s) (name, email)
- URL to distributor website home page
- Distributor website part search URL format with designated part number token (used for the ‘see more results…’ link that appears with a distributor’s results; an example might be mywebsite.com/search/)
- Logo designed for light backgrounds. Can either be in the SVG format or a transparent PNG. The image must be legible when displayed at 86 px wide by 36 px high.
- Manufacturer authorizations TrustedParts.com supports two methods to search distributor inventory: API and file feed.
All distributors must supply an up-to-date file feed to TrustedParts.com. Please see File Feeds for information on how to provide inventory using a file feed.
API integrations are available only for web site sponsors. Please see API Integrations for information on how to provide inventory to TrustedParts.com using an API. A distributor who provides an API integration must supply a regular file feed as well.
The overall process for onboarding a distributor is similar regardless of the chosen method of integration. The distributor will first be set up on the TrustedParts.com staging system (staging.trustedparts.com). Search results and performance are reviewed and approved on the staging system. Finally, set up is performed on the TrustedParts.com production system. After onboarding is complete, obtaining access to the Distributor Portal allows a distributor to perform additional configuration and monitor the status, availability and analytics of their inventory on TrustedParts.com. Use of the Distributor Portal is strongly encouraged since it allows distributors to ensure that their results display when appropriate.
File Feeds
A distributor should provide a file feed for each region it participates in on TrustedParts.com. Even distributors that use the TrustedParts.com API for their primary integration should provide a file feed for each region they particpate in. Sample file feeds must be supplied by the distributor before onboarding can begin.
In some cases, a file feed for one region may be used for multiple regions. For example, some distributors may supply a single Asia file that can be used for the TrustedParts.com regions of Asia Pacific, China, and Japan. If you would like to use a single file to service multiple regions, please let TrustedParts.com support personnel know and we will make the needed configuration, if necessary.
Please see Business Rules for TrustedParts.com Search Results for information on how inventory is used and requirements for stock quantities.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Site
After being onboarded, a distributor will be given file transfer protocol (FTP) login credentials in order to upload file feed(s) to the TrustedParts.com FTP:
ftp://ftp.trustedparts.com
Daily uploads are preferred. If 10 days or more elapse before the distributor supplies another file feed for a region, the distributor’s inventory in that region will no longer be searched by TrustedParts.com.
Note: Scheduled maintenance for ftp://ftp.trustedparts.com occurs every Tuesday 20:30-20:45 UTC.
File Feed Content
FILE FORMATS
File feeds must use the comma-separated values (CSV) format. TrustedParts.com uses the RFC recommended format for CSV. Please see the RFC documentation for information about how your CSV file should be formatted and how to deal with special cases like commas or double quotes within fields.
The first row of the CSV formatted file should contain the column names that are included. Optional columns may be omitted or left blank. The exact spelling and case-sensitivity outlined for column headings are mandatory.
FILE NAMES
We require the file names to include their assigned prefixes (see below). However, distributors that wish to include timestamps or other metadata for the purpose of tracking and differentiating files may insert additional information after the indicated file name prefix. For example:
- Original file name:
ECIAGlobalStandardRegion3.zip - New file name with additional details inserted:
ECIAGlobalStandardRegion3_20201218071236.zip
Note: Files must have either .csv or .zip extension. Compressed files are preferred.
| Region | File Name Prefix | Sample File |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ECIAGlobalStandardRegion1 | Download |
| China | ECIAGlobalStandardRegion2 | Download |
| APAC | ECIAGlobalStandardRegion3 | Download |
| EMEA | ECIAGlobalStandardRegion4 | Download |
| Japan | ECIAGlobalStandardRegion5 | Download |
Data Fields – All Regions
Required fields are bolded
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| DistributorPartNumber | Distributor’s product number |
| ManufacturerPartNumber | Manufacturer’s product number |
| Manufacturer | Manufacturer name |
| Description | Description of the product |
| RoHS | RoHS compliant (Y, N or blank) |
| DatasheetUrl | A link to the distributor or manufacturer website for a product datasheet |
| ProductUrl | A link to a product detail page on the distributor’s website |
| QuantityAvailable | Quantity of product under the control of the distributor, not committed to a customer, and able to ship within 24 hours. Please verify that the quantity included here cannot be more accurately categorized as another type of inventory - for example drop-ship or factory stock. |
| Availability* | *This field is deprecated. A textual stock note is no longer supported. Please indicate additional availability information by filling in additional inventory quantity and the factory lead time fields. |
| PriceQuantity | Price break quantities (can include up to 8 quantities that corresponds to Price values). Quantities will be pipe-delimited. Example: 1000|5000|10000 |
| ProductCategory | A single product category or hierarchy of categories. Hierarchies must be pipe-delimited, ordered from top to bottom: The first category level would be the most generic (or "root") category. Subsequent category levels would become more specific, ending in the most specific (or "leaf") category. Example: Connectors|Power Connectors|High-Performance Power Entry Modules |
| PackageTypes | Packaging types that are available for this SKU, if any. If you use a different SKU per packaging type of the same component, you will only supply one value here. Only distributors who offer multiple packaging types for the same internal SKU will need to include multiple values here. Types will be pipe-delimited. Example: Cut Tape|Tape & Reel |
| PackageMinimumQuantities | Minimum order quantity (MOQ) for this SKU. The number of values supplied here should match the number of values supplied for the PackageTypes field. Quantities will be pipe-delimited. Example: 1|10000 |
| DropShipQuantity | Quantity of product physically located in a third-party warehouse, but under the control of the distributor, and can ship within 72 hours. |
| ValueAddQuantity | Quantity of product that requires some assembly/value-add prior to shipment, but all the materials necessary to build it are in stock. |
| OnOrderQuantity | Distributor has ordered this product from the factory, and it is not yet committed to a customer. |
| FactoryStockQuantity | Quantity of factory stock. Factory Stock should never be included as actual stock or any other type of inventory. |
| IsDuplicateStock | If the quantity included in the QuantityAvailable field is shared with another brand, only one brand may indicate it as unique. Other brands must indicate that it is duplicate. This field should contain a Y if the inventory is duplicate or a N to indicate it is unique. |
| FactoryLeadTime | Indicate the factory lead time before additional inventory is available. Input a number followed one of the following time intervals: Days, Weeks, or Months. For example, this field could contain 16 Weeks. If an interval is omitted then Weeks is the default. If the factory lead time is unknown, please leave this field blank. |
| LifecycleStatus | Provide the product's lifecycle status. Acceptable values are: Active, Factory Special Order, NRND, EOL, and Obsolete. |
| IsAffectedByTariff | Indicate if this product is or will be affected by a United States tariff (Y, N or blank) |
See also Inventory Requirements and Definitions.
Price Fields by Region
Price columns must use the international number format and exclude currency symbols. All price columns are optional. You may supply up to 8 prices separated by the pipe character. You may supply up to 5 decimal places. Please ensure that the number of prices matches the number of price breaks in the PriceQuantity column. Example: 0.01341|0.01021|0.00840
| Region | Column | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | USD_Price | Price in US Dollars |
| CAD_Price | Price in Canadian Dollars | |
| MXN_Price | Price in Mexican Pesos | |
| BRL_Price | Price in Brazilian Reals | |
| China | USD_Price | Price in US Dollars |
| CNY_Price | Price in Renminbi | |
| APAC | USD_Price | Price in US Dollars |
| AUD_Price | Price in Australian Dollars | |
| EMEA | USD_Price | Price in US Dollars |
| EUR_Price | Price in EURO | |
| GBP_Price | Price in British Pounds | |
| Japan | USD_Price | Price in US Dollars |
| JPY_Price | Price in Japanese Yen |
API Integrations
API integrations allow for real-time pricing and availability. To use an API to integrate inventory into TrustedParts.com, a distributor will need to provide comprehensive API documentation and a technical contact to work with. An initial review of the documentation will be performed by TrustedParts.com to determine if the API supports the necessary functionality for integration.
The documentation should include response times for single-part partial match searches and multi-part exact match searches that include up to 50 parts at a time. The average response time for a single-part partial match search needs to be less than once second. The average response time for a multi-part exact match search for 50 part numbers should not exceed 5 seconds. These response times should be sustainable under a load of up to 20,000 searches per hour (each part number in a multi-part search is counted as a separate search). A call to a distributor’s API will be aborted if it takes significantly longer to complete than the expected average response time. Additionally, when a distributor’s API performs poorly, its use may automatically be temporarily suspended by TrustedParts.com and the distributor’s file feed will be used for the duration of the suspension. If that occurs, the distributor and TrustedParts.com personnel are notified.
NOTE: API integrations are only available for distributors that participate at a sponsorship level. Depending on the sponsorship level, a distributor may be charged an hourly rate for time spent by the TrustedParts.com technical team for integration.
Where an API integration is used, a file feed of the distributor’s inventory must also be supplied to TrustedParts.com. Doing so serves a variety of purposes. It is used as a fallback when a distributor’s API is unreachable. It is used to render results to legitimate web crawlers. It is also used for building TrustedParts.com part pages, making approximate stock availability calculations, and more. As a result, a distributor must still give attention to the quality of their file feed even when an API integration exists.
Please see File Feeds for information on how to provide inventory to TrustedParts.com using a file feed.
Please see Business Rules for TrustedParts.com Search Results for information on how inventory is used and requirements for stock quantities.