Skip to content

Create or update a customer by contact

Open .md

POST/v1/api/store/{team_slug}/customer/upsert

v1Operation ID v1_public_customer_upsert

Finds a customer by one contact's email or phone and updates it, or creates a new customer with that contact. It always writes something: the public API has no read-only lookup of a customer by email or phone (see the notes for the ways to find one).

With perform_upsert: true YoPrint looks among the team's live customers for one with a contact (deleted contacts included) whose email equals contact.email, or whose phone equals contact.phone, and takes the first. To match by email, send only contact.email.

  • A customer matches: every top-level customer field you send is written to it: name, website, internal_notes, tax_exempt, vat_number, resale_number, default_payment_term_id, default_pricing_group_id, default_warehouse_id, customer_portal_payment_option, customer_portal_enabled, third_party_billing_default and hide. Fields you leave out keep their values. The contact is not changed and no contact is added. The customer.updated webhook is sent even when nothing changed.
  • Nothing matches, or perform_upsert: false: a new customer is created from the top-level fields, with contact as its only contact. That contact is not made primary. Without name, the new customer has no name.

The answer is the customer with contacts in both cases and doesn't say which happened: a customer created by this call has a created_at from now.

Permission

Any member of the team. No customer permission is checked, and a matched customer is updated even when it isn't assigned to you.

Business rules

  • is_external and external_type are ignored on customers and their contacts: sending them (for example a value you read back) is not refused and changes nothing. Only the Shopify sync sets them. Other fields not listed here are not part of the API.
  • contact is required and needs first_name, send_invoice and is_primary, even when an existing customer is matched.
  • Matching looks at every live customer of the team, archived ones included, and takes the first match. Send email or phone, not both: with both, either may match.
  • With perform_upsert: true, send contact.email or contact.phone. With neither, the first customer that has any contact is matched and updated.
  • A matched Shopify or system customer is refused (422), and nothing is written.
  • default_warehouse_id must be a current company location.
  • The contact of a new customer is never made primary, whatever is_primary says (it is required but not used). Make it primary with Set the primary contact.

Side effects

  • Sends customer.updated when a customer is matched, or customer.created when one is created.
  • A new customer is assigned to you. Its contact's email is saved trimmed and in lower case.
  • For a new customer: when the contact's email already belongs to a Customer Portal account on your team that can't open this customer yet, saving the contact gives that account access to this customer (active when the account is set up with a verified email or a password, invited otherwise). No email is sent.

Path parameters

  • team_slugstringrequired

    Your team slug, shown as Team ID next to your API key in Profile.

    • Example your-team

Request body

application/json, required.

  • contactobjectrequired

    The contact to match on and, for a new customer, to create. email and phone are what is matched.

    Child fields (10)
    • first_namestringrequired

      Required. The contact's first name.

    • is_primarybooleanrequired

      Required.

    • send_invoicebooleanrequired

      Required. Stored with the contact and returned as send_invoice.

    • When this contact is set on a sales order, it receives text messages about the order by default. Saved as sent; defaults to false.

    • emailstring (email)

      The contact's email. Messages you send to this contact go here.

    • faxstring

      Checked as a real number for fax_country.

    • Two-letter country code of fax.

    • last_namestring

      The contact's last name.

    • phonestring

      Checked as a real number for phone_country. Send phone_country with it.

    • Two-letter country code of phone, such as US. Required with phone.

  • perform_upsertbooleanrequired

    True to look for an existing customer first. False always creates.

  • false turns the Customer Portal off for the customer; true or null turns it on. Null is saved as null, not dropped.

    • One of: "ENABLED", "DISABLED"
  • A current company location (store location) id.

  • hideboolean

    True to archive.

  • Notes for your team only.

  • namestring

    The customer's name. Send it: without it, a new customer has no name.

  • The customer's resale or tax certificate number.

  • tax_exemptboolean

    True when no sales tax applies to this customer.

  • How the customer's shipping labels are billed by default (see the customer object). A new customer without it gets none.

    • One of: "none", "default_carrier_account"
  • Tax number.

  • websitestring

    The website address.

Response

200Successful response.

  • dataobjectrequired
    Child fields (45)
    • created_atstring (date-time)required
    • hidebooleanrequired

      True when the customer is archived.

    • idstringrequired

      The customer id. Use it in paths and as customer_id on sales orders and quotes.

    • is_editablebooleanrequired

      False for Shopify and system customers: they can't be changed through this API.

    • is_externalbooleanrequired
    • is_systembooleanrequired
    • namestring | nullrequired

      Null for a customer created by upsert without a name.

    • tax_exemptbooleanrequired
    • trashedbooleanrequired

      True when the customer is deleted.

    • updated_atstring (date-time)required
    • account_warningobject | null

      Why YoPrint shows a warning next to the customer's name. Null when there is nothing to warn about.

      Child fields (2)
      • open_disputeobject | nullrequired

        The customer's payments under a dispute that is open or under review; null when there is none.

        Child fields (2)
        • countintegerrequired

          How many payments are disputed.

        • payment_amountinteger | number | stringrequired

          The total of the disputed payments, each counted once. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. See Money and quantities.

      • owed_amountinteger | number | string | nullrequired

        What the customer owes back because wallet_fund is negative, as a positive amount; null when it is not negative. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. See Money and quantities.

    • addressesarray of objects

      Billing and shipping addresses that are not deleted, old copies replaced by an edit included (is_current_source: false).

      Fields of each item (33)
      • address1string | nullrequired
      • idstringrequired
      • is_current_sourcebooleanrequired

        False for deleted, replaced, Shopify or redacted addresses. Only current addresses can be picked for new documents or edited.

      • is_primarybooleanrequired
      • labelstring | nullrequired
      • revision_numberintegerrequired

        Goes up by one on every saved change. Send it back as base_revision_number when updating the address to protect against concurrent edits.

      • rolestringrequired

        billing or shipping for customer addresses.

      • trashedbooleanrequired
      • address2string | null
      • address_family_idstring | null

        Shared by an address and the copies made when it was edited after use.

      • citystring | null
      • countrystring | null
      • country_codestring | null
      • Customer addresses only: the customer's id.

      • external_typestring | null

        shopify for an address synced from Shopify.

      • hold_stockboolean

        Company locations only; false for customer addresses.

      • Company locations only; false for customer addresses.

      • True for an address synced from Shopify; such addresses are read-only.

      • nexusboolean

        Company locations only; false for customer addresses.

      • notestring | null
      • owner_idstring | null

        The owner's id: for a customer address, the customer's id (the same as customer_id).

      • customer for customer addresses.

        • One of: "customer", "team", "unknown"
      • True once YoPrint has checked the address with its address validator. postal_can_validate says whether it could be checked and postal_is_valid gives the result. Any edit resets it to false.

      • postcodestring | null
      • sourcestring

        customer for customer addresses.

        • One of: "customer", "company_location", "custom", "unknown"
      • statestring | null
      • state_codestring | null
      • superseded_atstring (date-time) | null
      • Set on an old copy: the address that replaced it.

      • True when a brand profile uses it as Ship From. Sent on lists, reads, updates and customer answers; not on create or set-primary.

    • assigned_usersarray of objects

      The users assigned to the customer. Unlike List the users assigned to a customer, people who have left the team stay in this list.

      Fields of each item (3)
    • contactsarray of objects

      Every contact, deleted ones included (trashed).

      Fields of each item (18)
    • Whether the customer's contacts can open the Customer Portal (Portal settings > Customer portal in YoPrint). false: the portal is off for this customer. true, or null (never set), means on.

    • customer_portal_idstring | null

      The id used in the customer's portal address. Null for Shopify customers.

    • Whether the customer can pay online in the portal. Null follows the team setting (and is always null for Shopify customers).

      • One of: "ENABLED", "DISABLED"
    • customer_profilesarray of objects

      Brand profiles.

      Fields of each item (12)
      • address_idstring | nullrequired

        The Ship From address, or null for a profile that has none.

      • company_namestring | nullrequired
      • customer_idstringrequired
      • idstringrequired
      • is_primarybooleanrequired

        New sales orders and quotes for the customer use the primary profile.

      • trashedbooleanrequired
      • addressobject | null

        The Ship From address (an address, as in Customer addresses, without used_by_active_profile), or null.

      • emailstring | null
      • phonestring | null
      • websitestring | null
    • deposit_due_amountinteger | number | string

      Deposits still due. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • The Customer Portal ID shown to people: the override when set, otherwise customer_portal_id. - for Shopify customers.

    • external_typestring | null

      shopify for customers synced from Shopify.

    • held_creditinteger | number | string

      The part of wallet_fund held while a payment is under an open dispute or a provider review: it can't be applied to orders or taken out until the hold ends. Never more than wallet_fund; 0 when wallet_fund is 0 or negative. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • internal_notesstring | null
    • last_ordered_datestring (date-time) | null

      The issue date of the customer's latest published sales order. Null when it has none.

    • mediaarray of objects
    • ordered_amountinteger | number | string

      Total of the customer's published sales orders. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • overdue_amountinteger | number | string

      Unpaid amounts past their payment due date. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • pdfobject
      Child fields (1)
      • invoice_statementstringrequired

        A link that downloads the customer's invoice statement PDF. Its token opens only this customer's statement and stops working 9,000 hours (about a year) after the answer was made. Anyone with the link can download the statement: don't share it.

    • quote_amountinteger | number | string

      Total of open quotes. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • resale_numberstring | null
    • system_typestring | null
    • tagsarray of objects
      Fields of each item (3)
    • How a shipping label for this customer is billed by default. default_carrier_account: YoPrint's label and rate dialogs start on the customer's default carrier account (third-party billing). none: they start with no third-party billing.

      • One of: "none", "default_carrier_account"
    • unpaid_amountinteger | number | string

      What the customer still owes on published sales orders. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • vat_numberstring | null

      The customer's tax number (shown as Tax number in YoPrint).

    • The team's default currency, the one wallet_fund is in. iso is its code.

      Child fields (6)
      • defaultbooleanrequired
      • idstringrequired
      • isostring | nullrequired

        The ISO 4217 code, such as USD.

      • namestring | nullrequired
      • symbolstring | nullrequired
      • trashedbooleanrequired
    • wallet_fundinteger | number | string

      Customer credit balance. Negative when the customer owes credit back, for example after a refund of a payment whose credit was already spent. Thousandths, an older encoding: 125000 is 125.00. Usually a whole number; an amount finer than a thousandth comes back as a number with a fraction (1234.5 is 1.2345), or as a string ("1234.5") when you send X-Yoprint-Decimal-Format: exact-v1. See Money and quantities.

    • websitestring | null
  • statusintegerrequired
  • successbooleanrequired

Errors

  • 401The API key is missing or wrong (unauthenticated).

  • 403You are not allowed to do this. api_access_not_in_plan: your team's plan doesn't include API access (Pro and above, with an active subscription or trial), so every request answers this until the team upgrades. When your role lacks the permission the operation needs, the body is only {"message": "Insufficient Permission"}. Other refusals use the error envelope, with unauthorized or user_is_not_authorized.

  • 404Not found. page_not_found: the team slug is unknown, you are not a member of the team, or an id in the path is not one of this team's. code: null, with a message that starts "No query results for": there is no record with that id.

  • 409default_warehouse_id names a company location that is deleted, synced from another system or redacted (blocked_external_or_compliance; current_address is that location), or one replaced by an edit (blocked_superseded_historical_address; current_address is its replacement). Not the usual error envelope: success: false, address_save_result and message (the save_mode); no status or error.

    When
    default_warehouse_id names a company location that was replaced by an edit (address_save_result.save_mode blocked_superseded_historical_address), or one that was deleted, is synced from another system or was redacted (blocked_external_or_compliance). Not the usual error envelope: the body has success: false, address_save_result and message.
    Fix
    For blocked_superseded_historical_address, use address_save_result.current_address.id. For blocked_external_or_compliance, current_address is the same location: pick another current one from List company locations.
  • 422The request was refused and changed nothing. validation_failed lists what to fix in error.fields; other codes name a business rule, explained in error.message. A few checks answer with only {"message": "..."}. An operation that calls another service (a payment provider, a carrier, an accounting app) can answer connect_timeout ("Please retry again") when that service does not answer in time: the change may or may not have happened there, so read the record back before you retry.

    When
    perform_upsert or a required contact field is missing, or the phone is not valid for phone_country. error.code is validation_failed.
    Fix
    Send perform_upsert and a contact with first_name, send_invoice and is_primary.
    When
    default_warehouse_id is not a company location of the team (error.code invalid_default_warehouse).
    Fix
    Use the id of a current company location from List company locations.
    When
    A new customer's contact.email is longer than 191 characters (error.code customer_portal_email_invalid, "Enter a valid email address using supported characters."). Nothing is saved.
    Fix
    Send a valid email of at most 191 characters.
    When
    The customer comes from Shopify, or is a system customer (error.code validation_error, with the reason in error.message).
    Fix
    Change Shopify customers in Shopify. System customers cannot be changed.

Notes

  • The contact is not updated on a match. To change it, update it with the customer contact operations.
  • To find a customer by email without writing, there is no filter or search. Either page through List customers and read each customer's contacts with List a customer's contacts (one call per customer), or run Export customers: its CSV has one row per contact, with the customer's id and contact_email.
  • Retries: with perform_upsert: true, repeating a call that timed out matches the customer it created and writes the same fields again (and sends another webhook). With perform_upsert: false, a repeat creates a second customer.