Selling Auto Parts in the US? What ACES and PIES Are and Why You Need Them

You make the part. The US market runs on the data. To sell auto parts into the United States, great products are not enough: US retailers, distributors, and marketplaces will not list a part without ACES fitment and PIES product data. Here is what those standards are, why every US gatekeeper requires them, and why they are harder to produce from outside the US.

What are ACES and PIES?

ACES (Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard) is how the US aftermarket describes what a part fits: the exact years, makes, models, and configurations of US vehicles. PIES (Product Information Exchange Standard) is how it describes what the part is: descriptions, attributes, images, packaging, and codes.

Together they are the language every US trading partner speaks. A US buyer searching for a part for their truck is really searching your ACES data. A distributor deciding whether to carry your line is really reading your PIES file. If that data is missing, wrong, or in the wrong format, your part is invisible, no matter how good it is.

These are US-specific standards built on licensed US reference databases (the vehicle, part, and qualifier tables). They are not something most overseas manufacturers already have, and they are not optional.

The US aftermarket has gatekeepers, and they all ask for the same data

Retailers and their receivers. Major US retailers accept catalog data only through validators that check your ACES and PIES files. A file that fails is a line that does not get listed.

Distributors and program groups. Warehouse distributors and program groups load your data into their systems before they will stock you. Clean, standard data is the price of entry to their shelves.

Online marketplaces. Marketplaces match parts to vehicles using fitment data. Without ACES, your listings never surface in a shopper's year, make, and model search.

The data pools. The industry moves catalog data through shared pools. To reach many buyers at once, your file has to pass their assessment first.

Why this is harder from outside the US

You know your parts better than anyone. What you may not have is the US vehicle data they map to, the licensed reference tables the standards are built on, the receiver-specific rules, or the assigned brand codes that make a file valid. Small mistakes in any of these bounce a file on the first submission.

The result is a familiar trap: a manufacturer with excellent products spends months trying to break into the US, held up entirely by data problems that have nothing to do with the product. That is exactly the gap we close.

How we get you in

We build your ACES and PIES data from your own part information. We map your parts to the US vehicle database, code your product attributes against the standard, and produce files that pass the assessments your buyers use, current with ACES 5.0 and PIES 8.0 and delivered in whatever version a given receiver still requires. You get a catalog that US retailers, distributors, and marketplaces accept, without building a data team from scratch.

Get a free data audit

Send us your current part data or any existing ACES or PIES export. We grade it against The Catalog Scorecard and hand you a ranked list of exactly what stands between you and the US market, in 24 to 48 hours, at no cost. Start your free audit.

FAQ

Do I need ACES and PIES to sell auto parts in the US?

In practice, yes. US retailers, distributors, marketplaces, and data pools require ACES fitment and PIES product data to list and carry a part. Without it, your part does not surface in vehicle searches and does not get loaded into buyers' systems.

What is the difference between ACES and PIES?

ACES describes what a part fits (the US vehicles it applies to). PIES describes what the part is (attributes, descriptions, images, packaging). A complete US catalog needs both, and they must agree on which parts exist.

We are a manufacturer outside the US. Can you build this from our data?

Yes. That is the core of what we do. You send your part information; we map it to the US reference databases and produce compliant ACES and PIES files, with anything unmappable flagged for you to confirm rather than guessed.

Which version do we need, ACES 5.0 or 4.2?

It depends on the receiver. ACES 5.0 and PIES 8.0 are the current standards, but many US trading partners still ingest 4.2 and 7.2. We confirm the target version per buyer and build to what they actually accept.