Reminder: Changes to the lifecycleState field
Reminder of the changes coming to the lifecycleState field w/c 21st August 2023.
On the 31st July 2023 communications were sent to all Auto Trader retailers advising them of the introduction of a “SOLD” lifecycle status within the stock record. As per the release notes partners should ensure they are aligned with this new value and are ready to receive this new value within their stock records.
What is happening?
From the w/c 21st of August 2023 “SOLD” lifecycle status will begin to appear on stock records. As part of our efforts to support digital retailing capabilities, the “SOLD” value will be supported in the lifecycleState field. The new “SOLD” state will provide a definitive value for a vehicle that has been sold but still needs to be managed. Once the state is set as “SOLD” the stock record cannot be published on any advertising location similar to how the “DELETED” state currentley behaves. However, vehicles marked as “SOLD” in the stock record will remain viewable via the API with all content maintained and available for further interaction until they are required to be formally deleted, something that was not previously possible with the “DELETED” state.
As part of this change Partners can now remove any previous workarounds where partner system sold states were mapped to the Auto Trader “DELETED” state.
An example of the new status journey can be seen below.
How will it impact Partners?
This change was highlighted in the developer documentation release notes in April. As mentioned in the release notes Partners are advised to be prepared to handle stock records being returned with this new value as retailers will be looking to utilise this new feature from the w/c 21st of August 2023. This will ensure that stock records will be accurately aligned when the changes are introduced. You may also want to communicate to your retailers when the field will be available in your own systems so that they can take advantage of these new changes.
If you have any questions or require any support with integrating this change, please do not hesitate to contact your account manager: technicalaccountmanagement@autotrader.co.uk or alternatively the developer documentation can be accessed below.