Smart Publisher | Why is my vehicle not online?

There can be multiple reasons why your vehicle is not showing on your chosen export destinations.

Here are a few of the reasons why they may not be showing:

The vehicle has not been sent to Cox Automotive from your Dealer Management System (DMS)

If a vehicle has not been sent to Cox Automotive, we will be unable to forward this information onto your chosen advertising platforms. When a car is marked as 'Sold' within the DMS, this will remove the car from the feed that is sent to us.

We would recommend checking within your Dealer Management Software to see whether the car has been excluded from sending to us, or whether it has been marked as 'Sold'. 

The vehicle has been restricted by the manufacturer

Some vehicles are not allowed to be advertised on third party destinations such as Gumtree or Carsales, due to the advertising guidelines that have been set by the manufacturer (OEM).

You can see whether a car has been flagged for restriction by:

1. Entering the Dealer Dashboard
2. Clicking on SmartPublisher / SmartPublisher PRO (depending on your account access)
3. Clicking on the vehicle in question to open the Vehicle Details page
4. Clicking on either the Quick Edit or Status tabs
5. Checking the Status section:
   

If a car has been restricted that you know meets the criteria of the manufacturer, then you may change the above option to "Ignore Restrictions". The car will then be advertised if it meets all other criteria. 
Please note: This field will show you whether a car is flagged as meeting the advertising criteria or not, but does not necessarily mean that you have these guidelines applied to the account.

If you are unsure, please contact our Customer Service Team so they may check your configuration. 

Rules have been applied to the account to prevent certain cars from being sent

Some cars may be prevented from sending to a particular destination because a rule has been applied to the account. There are 2 ways this could occur:

1. Rules applied by SmartPublisher PRO within the Rules Engine
2. Due to a previous request your dealership has made of the Cox Automotive Customer Support Team

1. Please refer to the SmartPublisher PRO Rules Engine page within the Knowledge Base

2. You may have requested certain data triggers such as "Do not send New Cars" or "Do not send if there is no Guide Code on the vehicle". These are managed by the Cox Automotive Customer Support Team by request from our customers. Please get in touch with us if you require assistance with export rules.

The vehicle has NOT been purified with a Guide Code (Redbook or Glass), or the format of the vehicle is currently invalid

The vehicle may have been sent to us in a format that our database cannot read, (for example, the Make of the vehicle may not have been entered correctly, or a field on your data feed may be blank).

You can check whether a car has been marked as invalid by checking the Invalid Items list in the Dashboard by:

1. Entering the Dealer Dashboard
2. Clicking on SmartPublisher / SmartPublisher PRO (depending on your account access)
3. Click on the 'Displaying Inventory List For' drop-down and select 'Invalid Items'

You will be able to see the reason why a car has been marked as invalid by referring to the Invalid Reason column on the far right of the list, or by opening the item and reviewing the message within the stock item:

You will then need to resolve the issue with the item before it will be exported to your advertising destinations. If you are unsure of what needs to be done, please contact our Customer Support Team for assistance. 

The vehicle does not meet the requirements of the advertising platform (i.e. Gumtree)

Some export destinations have certain requirements that must be met before we will send stock to them. For example, Gumtree will not process any inventory that is sent to them without images, whereas Facebook Marketplace will not process vehicles missing a Manufacture Year.

Our Customer Support Team will be able to review the stock item/s for you to see whether this may be the reason why your vehicles are not being advertised.