Carsnip prefers to receive feeds in a DMS14 format with separate files for dealer details and vehicles.

We create a custom configuration for each feed we process, identifying feeds based on their position in the file. This means we are not reliant on field names in header rows and can handle feeds that contain additional fields. As a result, in many cases, existing feeds can be sent to Carsnip without modification.

Dealer File

The dealer file must contain the following fields:

• Dealer_Id: An identifier for dealer, or showroom allowing cars in the vehicle file to be linked to this showroom
• DealerName: The name of the dealer or shown to be shown next to the car on carsnip.com
• Postcode: Used to ensure appropriate cars are returned in location-based searches

We also suggest that the following fields are included:

• Address Fields
• BuildingName
• BuildingNumber
• StreetName
• Locality
• Town
• Phone
• EmailAddress
• WebsiteURL

Vehicle File

The vehicle file must include the following fields to allow the car to be listed on carsnip.com

• Feed_Id: The Dealer_Id from the dealer file
• Vehicle_Id: A unique identifier for the vehicle
• Cap_Id: A proprietary identifier for HPI which allows us to look up vehicle specification data pertaining to the subject of the advert
• Make: e.g. Ford
• Model: e.g. Fiesta
• Variant: e.g. 1.0 EcoBoost 85 Active 1 5dr
• Year: Registration year of the vehicle
• Price: Advert listing price 
• FullRegistration: The Vehicle Registration Mark for the car
• Mileage
• PictureRefs: a comma separated list of images for the car
• Vehicle_URL: the URL of the vehicle on the dealer's website. These can contain Google Analytics tracking codes (utm_* codes). When not supplied Carsnip will automatically append the codes to URLs allowing dealers to analyse the traffic Carsnip sends.

The vehicle file should include the following fields to ensure the best visibility in the search results:

• Colour
• FuelType
• BodyType
• Doors: Number of Doors
• EngineSize: either Cubic Centimetres (CC) or Litres (L) 
• Transmission
• Description
• Options

CSV Format Notes

There is no industry wide specification for Comma Separated Files, however confirming to the following will ensure the best compatibility with Carsnip Systems:

• All fields should be enclosed in double quotes. e.g. "field1","field2"
• Any quotes within fields should be escaped with a quote. e.g. say "hello" there, would appear in the file as "say ""hello"" there"
• There is no need to HTML escape content of fields. E.g. - use "front & rear" not "front & rear"
• Files should be UTF-8 encoded
• When a field is missing at the end of line, include this field in the output as ,"" - don't create sparse files.
• Do not include text in numerical fields such as price or year.

FTP

Carsnip will provide you with FTP account details allowing you to upload feeds to our systems once they are generated.

Please inform us of your feed production schedule in order that we can ensure we process files as efficiently as possible and can pick up any errors quickly. If you have a quick stock turnover, it is worth considering providing feeds multiple times a day.

You upload files with static names such as dealers.csv and vehicle.csv, overwriting the files on each upload. (We store the processed files separately for a short time for debugging purposes).