While it may be possible for us to sync historical data going back years, it's not really the focus of our service and we find that if we go back too far, issues can arise. Here are some of those common issues explained further.
Application Programming Interface (API) limitations
Sometimes, other systems we integrate with will have API limitations of their own. 3rd party APIs set limits that can prevent us from sending too much data at once.
For the majority of the time, this is usually OK, as we'll be sending small amounts of data hourly. However, if we're going to push a whole year’s worth of data, we'll most likely hit these limits. As a result, we'll have to wait until the limits are reset, then send the next portion of the data. This isn't a very smooth process; however. It's an outside limitation that's beyond our control.
Certain e-commerce APIs such as eBay only extract up to 30-90 days' worth of historical data.
General errors with historical data
One of the issues with historical data is that the older it is, the more outdated and inaccurate it tends to be.
For example, last year you sold an item that you no longer sell today, and you've already deleted it from your e-commerce system. We still need to integrate sales data associated with the item; however, as this item no longer exists, we're unable to integrate the data. The same can happen with former (??) customers.
There can also be data issues if you previously used an e-commerce extension that you no longer use today, or if you've had your website system updated, making old data incompatible with your new database.
Recommendations
We generally recommend that you explore other historical data migration options first. For example, CSV import/export features within your e-commerce and Accounting.
However, if that is not a viable alternative for your specific situation, and you would like to use our service to attempt historical data migrations, contact our support team. Acknowledge that you are willing to proceed despite the risks highlighted above. We will then do our best to assist.
Note: If the data was already sent to your accounting system, there's no way for QuickBooks Connector to reverse it.