List a unit in 10 seconds: forward the invoice
How do I list a unit on Locates.io quickly? Forward the factory invoice to your dealership's private intake address. Locates.io reads the VIN and invoice amount, fills in the vehicle, and creates a draft for you to check and confirm. Nothing goes live until you confirm it. Listing and selling are free.
The most common reason a dealer doesn't list a unit for trade isn't strategy. It's that listing takes time nobody has. Typing a VIN, picking a trim, entering the invoice and checking options adds up across a dozen units. So the fastest way to list is the thing you already do with invoices: forward the email. Locates.io is a blind dealer-to-dealer trading platform; see how it works.
How does forwarding an invoice work?
Each dealership gets a private intake address. When a factory invoice lands in your inbox, forward it there. Then:
- We read the invoice. Locates.io pulls the VIN and the invoice amount from the document.
- The VIN fills in the vehicle. Year, make, model and trim come from the VIN, so you're not picking them from a list.
- A draft appears in your inventory. Nothing is listed yet. The unit shows up as a draft with everything we found.
- You check it and confirm. Open the draft, check the details, choose how to list it, and confirm. Now it's live.
The "10 seconds" is the forward. Checking the draft takes a little longer the first few times and gets faster once you trust it.
Why a draft and not straight to live?
We could list units the moment the invoice arrives. We don't, on purpose.
- You decide how each unit is listed. Some you want to price, some open to offers, some private while you think.
- A person checks what a machine read. Invoice formats vary, and a misread number is worse than none.
- Nothing is visible you didn't choose. A unit forwarded for your own records shouldn't reach the marketplace by accident.
What are the three ways to list a confirmed draft?
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Listed with a price | At invoice, or invoice plus or minus an amount you choose. Buyers see the delivered price: your price plus freight and the platform fee. |
| Open to offers | Buyers send blind offers against invoice. Useful when you're unsure what the market will pay. |
| Private | The unit stays out of the marketplace. You can still use it in your Hold vs Move numbers. |
What other ways can I list inventory?
The listing form. Enter a VIN and the invoice amount, and the VIN fills in the rest. Good for a single unit.
Import a file. Export your inventory from your DMS as a CSV or spreadsheet and import it. Locates.io guesses which column is which, validates every row, flags anything it can't read with the reason, and lets you fix or skip those rows. Re-importing the same file later updates existing units instead of duplicating them.
Reply to the desk. Send the Locates.io desk your stock numbers, and the desk lists them for you.
Whichever way you list, there is one active listing per VIN, so the same unit can't show up twice.
What does the buyer see?
Listing a unit doesn't publish your store. Buyers see the vehicle, a distance band and an anonymous dealer profile. They don't see your name, address, city, dealer code, the VIN or the exact distance until both sides have signed the agreement. If you've set a radius block, dealers within that radius don't see the unit at all.
We also don't put photos of your units in the marketplace. The only photos on Locates.io document freight damage at pickup and delivery.
What happens to the invoice?
The invoice amount is how deals are priced and settled: units transfer between dealers at invoice, and the difference over invoice runs through Locates.io. We read the invoice only to fill in your draft. We don't share it with buyers, and your invoice amount is part of your side of the deal, not something the other dealer sees.
How do I keep listings current?
Units sell. When one retails or trades elsewhere, delist it in a couple of taps. If it sells after a deal is signed, tell the desk right away. The deal is frozen until ops replaces or drops the unit, and both dealers sign again. If your DMS is the source of truth, a regular import keeps Locates.io in step. Selling is free. The buyer pays the $199 per unit platform fee, only when a trade happens, so a listed unit costs you nothing. See pricing.
What does it look like in practice?
The short version
Forward the factory invoice to your private intake address. Locates.io reads it, fills in the vehicle from the VIN and creates a draft. You check it, choose priced, open to offers or private, and confirm. Prefer a file? Import your DMS export. Either way, your store stays anonymous until both sides sign. Want a plan for aged units next? Read the month-end playbook or the FAQ.
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