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How to connect to American Tire Distributors (ATD)

ATD's integration has a two-phase onboarding process. You'll start in a test environment, complete validation, and then get moved into production.

Before you start

Contact your ATD account representative and let them know you're working with Spark Shipping. Ask them to do the following on their end:

  1. Link your API credentials or location number to the sparkshippingmaster integration account.
  2. Enable the SparkShipping partnership on your account.

This is a manual step that only ATD can complete. Without it, your API calls will fail with an authentication error even if your credentials are correct. The error you'll typically see is: "SparkShipping account integration not enabled on ATD."

ATD will also provide you with a location number, a client ID, and your API credentials (username and password). Make sure you have all of these before moving on.

Phase 1: Test environment

ATD starts every new integration in their sandbox (test) environment. This is normal. You are not in production yet, and you won't be until you've completed their validation process.

In the test environment, you can pull catalog data, check inventory, and preview orders. This is where you'll confirm that everything is wired up correctly on both sides.

What ATD requires before production access: You need to submit 3 test orders through the sandbox environment. ATD reviews these to confirm your integration is handling their API correctly, including things like product lookups, brand/style calls, and order formatting. This requirement was communicated in ATD's SDK documentation and is standard for all new integrations.

If you try to hit the production API before completing this step, you'll get an error. ATD will not enable production access until the test orders are validated and both sides sign off.

Phase 2: Production

Once ATD has reviewed your test orders and confirmed everything looks good, they'll enable your account in the production environment. At that point, your live catalog sync, inventory checks, and order placement will all run against real data.

If you run into issues after going live, ATD's support contacts are:

  • Technical issues: ATDConnect_Technical_Issues@atd-us.com
  • Account updates or changes: ATDConnect_Customer_Updates@atd-us.com
  • General questions: ATDConnect_General_Inquiries@atd-us.com

Setup in Spark Shipping

Enter your API credentials (username, password, location number, and client ID) in the Spark Shipping vendor credentials screen.

What to expect for catalog and images

ATD provides product images in three sizes: thumbnail (50x50), small (138x138), and large (250x250). Spark Shipping pulls the largest available size by default.

Catalog sync pulls brands first, then styles per brand, then individual products. Depending on the size of your catalog, the initial sync can take some time. If you see zero products after the first sync, don't panic. Reach out to us and we'll check whether the API is returning data correctly for your location.

Common issues

"SparkShipping account integration not enabled on ATD" -- Your ATD account rep hasn't completed the linking step yet. Contact them and confirm that the SparkShipping partnership is enabled and your location is linked to the sparkshippingmaster account.

Credentials work in test but not production -- You probably haven't completed the 3 test order validation yet. ATD gates production access behind this requirement. Work through the test orders first.

Catalog sync shows zero products -- The API may be returning data that isn't being parsed correctly, or your location may not have products assigned to it yet. Contact us so we can check the raw API response for your account.