The issue
Automatic data syncs into or out of Zoho, for example Shopify orders flowing into Zoho Books, or a Zapier or Make automation, randomly stop firing or start delaying by several hours, despite having worked reliably for some time beforehand.
The workaround
Most third-party platforms cap how many API requests or webhook events they'll accept within a given time period, and different subscription tiers usually come with different caps. A sync that has run smoothly for months can start failing simply because the volume of data passing through it has grown enough to exceed the external platform's quota, not because anything about the integration itself has changed.
How to check and resolve it
- Check the external platform's API logs. Most platforms, including Shopify, HubSpot, Zapier, and Make, provide a dashboard or log showing failed or throttled requests, often with an explicit "rate limit exceeded" error.
- Review your current plan or tier on the third-party platform, since rate limits are usually tied to the subscription level rather than being fixed across the board.
- Adjust the sync schedule if possible, spreading requests out over a longer interval rather than sending them all at once.
- Reduce payload sizes where the integration allows it, for example syncing only changed records rather than the full dataset each time.
- Consider upgrading the third-party plan if the data volume genuinely requires a higher limit than the current tier allows.
Note: Because the limit sits on the third-party platform rather than in Zoho, this is one of the clearer examples of an issue that looks like a Zoho problem but genuinely isn't. See our article on
whether a third-party integration is the real cause for more on narrowing this down.
Need help? If a sync keeps failing or falling behind, our team can help you work out where the bottleneck actually sits.
Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.