Why an order won’t post to QuickBooks

• The order’s payment method isn’t mapped to a QuickBooks payment method.
• The order’s tax jurisdiction isn’t mapped to a QuickBooks tax rate.
• A product on the order isn’t mapped to a QuickBooks item.
• The order mixes taxable and tax-free items on a QuickBooks file that uses global tax (GST or VAT), and you haven’t chosen the zero-rate tax code for tax-free items. These show as QuickBooks Error and the message tells you where to choose it: Settings → Sales Tax → Tax-free items. Press Retry afterwards. See the section below.

• QuickBooks rejected the posting. These show as QuickBooks Error and most often come from a cancellation or refund that QuickBooks wouldn’t accept. There’s no mapping to add for these, and the resolution steps below won’t clear them. They have a Retry button for the case where the cause has since cleared.

• The order is in a currency your QuickBooks company can’t hold. These show as Currency Not Postable, and the message names the order’s currency and your QuickBooks home currency. There’s no mapping to add — it’s a QuickBooks setting called Multicurrency, and only you can turn it on. Turning it on is required but not enough on its own: QuickBooks also has to give TruSync an exchange rate for the order’s date, and the customer TruSync posts against has to be in the order’s currency. They don’t post by themselves once you do: press Re-send on the exception (or ask Trudy to re-sync them) and TruSync tries the order again. See Selling in more than one currency.

• The order’s line items don’t add up to what the customer owes. These show as Order Total Mismatch. See the section below.

• The payment method recorded for the order contradicts its payment reference. These show as Payment Method Mismatch. See the section below.

• Your store didn’t report how the order was paid. These show as No Payment Method. See the section below.

• An order you keyed into your store’s admin has no payment method, so TruSync can’t tell whether it’s an invoice or a sales receipt. These show as Invoice or Sales Receipt?. See the section below.

• A refund’s items came back and TruSync can’t tell whether they can be resold. These show as Returned Item: Resellable?. See the section below.

• The order is for a customer on trade terms and TruSync couldn’t identify them in QuickBooks. These show as Customer Not Found. See the section below.

• QuickBooks has a document that might be the order’s, and TruSync can’t tell for certain. These show as Duplicate Document. See the section below.

TruSync deliberately doesn’t guess at a mapping to keep the order moving — an incorrectly auto-mapped order just creates rework later when you have to find and fix it in QuickBooks. Instead, the order waits as an exception until you resolve the underlying mapping.

An order exception always involves a real order that is waiting to post.

A QuickBooks product with no matching product on your store is a different thing entirely — no order is involved, and nothing is blocked. That appears under Products → Needs Listing, not here. See Needs Listing.

You’ll receive an email when a new order exception is created, so you don’t have to check the dashboard proactively.

If exceptions go unresolved and nothing posts to QuickBooks for a day, TruSync sends a second, separate email: a stalled sync warning naming the date of your last successful posting and how many orders are being held. It’s sent once a day while the stall lasts, and it goes to the same Alert Recipients as exception notifications.

After three days the warning escalates and explains what the stall is costing you. Held orders never reach QuickBooks, so the on-hand quantity there stops coming down for anything you sell. If inventory sync is on for that store, TruSync refreshes your storefront quantities from QuickBooks — which means your storefront can be reset to a quantity you no longer have, and an item can be oversold. Clearing the held orders stops it.

The stalled sync warning only goes out while orders are still arriving, because it is about your store having stopped posting. A store that keeps posting normally never triggers it.

A third email covers what neither of the other two can see: an order that has been held a long time on its own. If an order is still waiting after a week, TruSync emails you naming it, the reason it’s held, and how long it has been that way. It repeats after a month, after three months, and quarterly after that — deliberately rare, because the point is that a forgotten order gets mentioned at all, not that it’s mentioned often. Clearing the exception stops it.

That one does not depend on anything else happening. An order held on a product you only sell occasionally can sit for months while every other part of your sync looks healthy, and this is the email that finds it.

All of these emails go to everyone listed under Alert Recipients in Settings → Sync Settings, and the same toggle there turns them off. Alert Recipients is a list — add the person who runs the storefront as well as your accountant, since a held order usually needs the storefront side to fix it. Don’t leave it empty: TruSync looks for a store contact as a last resort, but it may not find one, and nobody is told.

1. Open Order Exceptions from your TruSync dashboard.
2. Open the exception to see what’s unmapped.
3. Add the missing mapping (payment method, tax jurisdiction, or product) from Settings.
4. TruSync syncs the order once the mapping is in place.

An exception labelled QuickBooks Error is different: for most of these nothing on your side is unmapped, so there’s no mapping to add and the steps above won’t clear it.

One has a setting that clears it. On a QuickBooks file that uses global tax (GST or VAT), an order that mixes taxable and tax-free items is held until you choose a zero-rate tax code for the tax-free ones. The message says so. Open Settings → Sales Tax, choose a code under Tax-free items (for example GST free or Out of Scope; they are reported differently on a BAS or VAT return, so it’s your choice), then press Retry on the exception. You can also ask Trudy, who lists your options and waits for your answer.

It means QuickBooks declined the document TruSync tried to create — most often the credit memo for a cancelled or refunded order. The exception shows the message QuickBooks returned.

Some of these clear on their own terms: a validation complaint you have since fixed in QuickBooks, a permission that had lapsed, or a brief QuickBooks outage. Once that’s sorted, press Retry on the exception and TruSync tries the order again. If it fails the same way, or the exception has no Retry button, the cause isn’t something a second attempt can change. The button is left off only when TruSync knows that, and the exception shows the reason instead. In either case, contact support and include the order number. The original sale stays in QuickBooks and is unaffected; what’s missing is the cancellation or refund that offsets it, which means that order’s total is still counted as revenue until it’s posted.

An exception labelled Order Total Mismatch means TruSync built the QuickBooks transaction for a new order and its total came out different from what the customer owes. The exception shows both figures. TruSync holds the order and posts nothing, because a transaction with the wrong amount in QuickBooks is harder to put right than an order that is waiting.

Nothing is unmapped, so there is no mapping to add, and nothing is wrong in QuickBooks. Don’t edit the order in your store to try to clear it. This is a problem on TruSync’s side of the sync, so contact support with the order number.

The same exception appears when you edit an order that has already synced and the replacement transaction wouldn’t add up — for instance when the edit also changed a shipping amount. The difference is what’s in QuickBooks: on a new order, nothing was posted; on an edit, the transaction you already had is still there, exactly as it was. TruSync leaves it alone rather than replace it with a figure it can’t stand behind, so your books keep the amount from before the edit until the exception is dealt with.

Once the cause is fixed, press Re-send on the exception (or ask Trudy to re-sync the order). TruSync reads the order again and posts it if the figures now agree. If they still disagree, the order is held again and a new exception appears. For an order you edited after it synced, the exception stays in the list after you press Re-send and closes only once TruSync has replaced the transaction in QuickBooks.

Currently this check applies to Shopify orders, including stores whose prices already include tax such as UK, EU, Australian and New Zealand stores.

An exception labelled Payment Method Mismatch means the way TruSync recorded the order was paid contradicts the payment reference that came with it. For a Shopify order, a reference beginning pi_ is only ever issued by Shopify Payments, so an order recorded as PayPal that carries one is contradicting itself. The reverse also counts: an order recorded as Shopify Payments whose reference doesn’t begin pi_. The exception shows the recorded method and the reference.

TruSync holds the order and posts nothing, because the payment method decides which QuickBooks deposit account the sale is booked to. A receipt posted under the wrong method lands in the wrong account, with no error to tell you.

Nothing is unmapped, so there is no payment method mapping to add or change, and nothing is wrong in QuickBooks. Don’t edit the order or your payment mappings to try to clear it. This is a problem on TruSync’s side of the sync, so contact support with the order number.

Once the cause is fixed, press Re-send on the exception (or ask Trudy to re-sync the order). TruSync reads the order again and posts it if the two now agree. If they still disagree, the order is held again.

An order with no payment reference at all, such as a manual or free order, is never held by this check. Currently it applies to Shopify orders only.

An exception labelled No Payment Method means your store sent a paid order with a non-zero total but no payment method, so TruSync can’t tell which QuickBooks deposit account the money belongs in. It holds the order and posts nothing rather than put the sale in a default account you never chose.

Nothing is unmapped, so there is no payment method mapping to add. Open the order in your store and check its payment. If it shows a payment method, press Re-send on the exception (or ask Trudy to re-sync the order) and TruSync posts it.

Often you won’t be able to set one. BigCommerce shows payment method not applicable on an order that was keyed in by hand, and greys the field out. When that happens, dismiss the exception with the reason I enter this order in QuickBooks myself and record the sale in QuickBooks yourself. That reason tells TruSync to leave the order alone for good, so editing it in your store later won’t bring it back. The same is true of an order paid outside your store.

An order you keyed into your BigCommerce admin yourself isn’t held as No Payment Method. It is held as Invoice or Sales Receipt? instead, which you answer with a button. See the section below.

This is different from an unpaid checkout. A BigCommerce order left in Incomplete status never reaches this check: TruSync ignores it until the shopper pays. An order placed at checkout that isn’t paid yet posts as an Invoice, which has no deposit account, so it isn’t held either. And an order with nothing owing, such as a free order, posts normally with no payment method. The exception is an order keyed into your store’s admin, which is asked about instead, whether or not your store marks it paid; see the section below.

Currently this applies to BigCommerce, Shopify and WooCommerce stores. Amazon, eBay and Walmart orders post as Invoices or settle through the marketplace, and Wix orders aren’t held for a missing payment method, so none of them raise this exception.

An exception labelled Invoice or Sales Receipt? means an order was typed into your store’s admin and carries no payment method. Your store marks such an order paid, but that only records that someone entered it, so TruSync holds it and asks. It would rather ask than guess at a receivable or at a bank account the money may never have gone into. Nothing is posted to QuickBooks until you answer.

This is a change. Before it, an order keyed into your store’s admin with no payment method was handled by your store’s paid flag: if the store marked it paid, TruSync held it as No Payment Method; if it didn’t, TruSync posted it as an invoice to your generic customer without asking. Now neither happens. TruSync asks, for every such order with an amount owing. If an order like this used to go through on its own and now stops, that is why: nothing is broken, and it is waiting for your answer. Only orders keyed in by hand with no payment method and an amount owing are affected.

Press Choose document. Choose Invoice on terms if the customer is on account and pays later, or Sales receipt if the money is already in hand. A sales receipt also needs the account the money landed in; pick it from your bank accounts and Undeposited Funds. TruSync doesn’t choose one for you.

The screen opens with your last answer selected and says so. It is a starting point, remembered for your store and not per customer, and nothing is recorded until you press the button. Your answer applies to this order only, and the order posts by itself once you’ve answered. An invoice is written when the order ships. If the buyer isn’t matched to a QuickBooks customer yet, you’re asked who they are next, as in the section below. See Invoice a customer on account.

You can also ask Trudy. She explains the held order and records your answer once you’ve told her which document and which account.

If every order you key in is the same kind, answer once instead. BigCommerce calls a hand-keyed order’s payment method Manual, and that row is in Settings → Payments on every BigCommerce store. Set How does this post? on it — Invoiced on terms if you bill those customers and get paid later, or Money received with a deposit account if the money is already in hand — and orders you key in from then on follow that mapping instead of stopping to ask. Leave it unmapped and each one asks you, which is right while these orders differ from one to the next. Mapping it does not release an order already waiting: answer that one, or re-send it from Order Exceptions. See Invoice a customer on account.

An order keyed in by hand that already carries a payment method isn’t asked about; it posts by your payment method mapping like any other.

An exception labelled Returned Item: Resellable? means a refund’s items came back and nothing says whether you can sell them again. Putting a damaged item back in stock would make your storefront advertise stock you don’t have, so TruSync holds the refund and asks. Nothing is posted to QuickBooks for that refund until you answer.

Press Answer and choose, for each item, Sellable (it goes back in stock), Not sellable (it came back damaged: the money is credited, nothing is restocked, and writing it off is yours to do in QuickBooks) or Never arrived (the money is credited, nothing is restocked). Nothing is pre-selected and every item needs an answer. The refund posts by itself once you’ve answered, and your answer applies to that refund only. You can also ask Trudy.

TruSync doesn’t ask when your store can’t say whether goods came back (the refund credits the money only), or when you already restocked the item in your store yourself. Dismissing this exception leaves the refund unposted, like any held order: use it only if you are entering that refund in QuickBooks yourself.

An exception labelled Customer Not Found only happens on orders using a payment method you’ve marked as invoiced on terms in Settings → Payments. Those orders are invoiced to the customer’s own QuickBooks record rather than the generic customer, so TruSync has to know exactly who the customer is.

TruSync keeps a list pairing each billing company with the QuickBooks customer you invoice it to. The first order from a company that isn’t on the list is held, because TruSync never picks a customer from a name. Press Match customer on the exception and either:

• Choose an existing QuickBooks customer. Search your customer list. Customers whose name is exactly the billing company are listed first, with their payment terms and, for a sub-customer, the full Parent:Child name. They’re suggestions, not answers: a customer with the same name can be an old duplicate, so check it is the account the buyer really pays on.
• Create a new customer. TruSync creates it from the order’s billing details — company, contact name, billing address, email and phone — and gives it your default payment terms. If a customer with that exact name already exists, TruSync won’t reuse it for you; choose it from the list, or give the new customer a different name.

Either way, the answer is saved and the order is invoiced, along with any other held order from the same company. The next order from that company needs nothing from you, and you never need to rename a customer in QuickBooks. You can see every saved answer, and correct one, in Settings → Customers on Terms. Correcting a buyer there doesn’t release an order that’s already held: re-send it from here.

If the customer you matched has since been made inactive or deleted in QuickBooks, the exception says so and you choose another. Re-send puts the order back through once you’ve reactivated the customer in QuickBooks. See Invoice a customer on account.

When QuickBooks already holds the order’s document, TruSync doesn’t post a second one, and it doesn’t raise an exception either. If the order was written by a connector you used before TruSync, the document is linked to the order and the sync history says Adopted existing Invoice #SPFY100242 already in accounting system. Nothing was waiting on you, so there’s nothing to clear and no email.

Other connectors often add their own prefix to the order number, for example SPFY100242 for order 100242. TruSync adopts a document as the same order only when all of these are true:

• The QuickBooks document number ends with the order number, and what comes before it is a prefix that doesn’t end in a digit (SPFY or SH2026-, but not 1).
• The document’s total matches the order’s total to the cent.
• Exactly one QuickBooks document matches.

A Duplicate Document exception appears when TruSync found a document that might be the order’s but one of those checks failed, so it can’t adopt it safely:

• The total doesn’t match. A document is numbered for this order but its total is different. The order may have been edited after the other connector wrote it.
• More than one document matches. TruSync can’t tell which one is the order’s, so it won’t pick.

In both cases the order is held and nothing is posted, because posting beside a document that is probably the same sale would count it twice. The exception lists the documents TruSync found. Check which one, if any, belongs to the order, correct or remove the wrong one in QuickBooks, then press Re-send on the exception (or ask Trudy to re-sync the order).

A Duplicate Document exception can also mean the document number is already used by a different kind of document in QuickBooks, such as a refund receipt. The order is held in the same way: change or remove the document that holds the number, then press Re-send.

The existing document can be a sales receipt or an invoice. TruSync goes by whichever type it actually is in QuickBooks.

Orders on terms are also matched by purchase-order number

A previous connector doesn’t always number its documents after the order. Some use a timestamp, which no order number will ever match. For an order on a payment method you’ve marked as invoiced on terms, when no document matches by number, TruSync also looks for an invoice that carries the order’s purchase-order number. It reads the invoice’s message and its Reference Number custom field. It adopts the invoice, and posts nothing new, only when all of these are true:

• The PO number is the same. Capital letters and extra spaces don’t matter, but it must be the whole number: PO# 3948 doesn’t match PO# 39481.
• The invoice’s total matches the order’s total to the cent. A second shipment on the same PO has a different total, so it isn’t mistaken for the first.
• The invoice isn’t already linked to a different order in TruSync.
• Exactly one invoice matches. If more than one does, TruSync won’t pick.

An order with no PO number, or a blank one, is never matched this way. Orders that aren’t on terms aren’t either. If the invoices in the date range around the order are more than TruSync can read in one pass, it doesn’t match on the PO number and posts the order as usual.

Once TruSync has adopted a document a previous connector wrote, it leaves that document alone. Two things follow from that, and you’ll see them on the order rather than as a mapping you can fix:

• Order edits aren’t applied. If the order changes after TruSync adopted it, the sync is skipped with Order edit not applied: this order's document was written by a previous connector and adopted, so we will not void or replace it. The original document stays exactly as the previous connector wrote it.
• Refunds aren’t posted. A refund on an adopted order is skipped with Refund not posted: this order's document was written by a previous connector and adopted, so we do not know its customer or settlement account. The refund still happened in your store and with your payment provider. What’s missing is the QuickBooks entry that offsets the sale, so that order’s total still counts as revenue until you enter the refund in QuickBooks yourself.

Both are deliberate. TruSync didn’t write the original document and doesn’t hold the customer or settlement details behind it, so voiding or replacing it would risk changing figures it can’t verify.

Adopted orders do still reconcile against payouts. The adopted document is linked to the order, so a payout covering that order matches normally.

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