External booking or ticket sync failed
Use this when a record exists in ToucanTix but not in a connected system (or the other way around): a ticket that will not scan at the entrance, a booking imported from an external system that looks wrong, a customer or membership that does not match.
This article is the fast triage layer; the full evidence workflow is the Integration troubleshooting checklist.
1. Decide which system owns the record
Every synced record has an owning system — the one where it was created. A booking sold in an external system and imported into ToucanTix is owned by the external system; a ticket sold in ToucanTix and validated by entry hardware is owned by ToucanTix. Fixes belong in the owning system; editing the copy usually makes the mismatch worse or gets overwritten.
2. Find the identifiers on both sides
Collect the identifier for the same record in each system:
- ToucanTix side: order number, ticket number, invoice or receipt number, customer email, or the External reference on the customer record
- External side: the external booking ID, ticket code, or customer ID
A "sync failure" where the identifiers do not actually refer to the same record is a data mismatch, not a sync problem — duplicate customers are a frequent cause; see Clean up duplicate customer records.
3. Check the integration connection
Open Admin > Integrations and confirm the affected integration is enabled and its credential fields are present. If credentials were rotated recently, both systems may need the change — use Edit credentials only when you are an authorized admin, and never paste secrets into tickets or screenshots.
4. Check the external system's status
Confirm the external system itself is reachable and shows no outage or error for the same time window. A scan rejected by entry hardware, for example, needs the checks in Scan tickets at the entrance before it can be blamed on sync.
5. Retest one known record
After any fix — credentials, configuration, or data — retest with one known record and compare both sides again. Do not assume missed records catch up on their own: ask ToucanTix support whether missed syncs for your integration are retried automatically or need to be replayed.
Expected result
You know which system owns the record, whether the identifiers match, whether the connection and credentials are healthy, and whether one retested record now syncs — or you have precise evidence for support.
Before contacting support
Collect the evidence table from the Integration troubleshooting checklist: affected system, sync direction, identifiers on both sides, time of the attempt with timezone, recent changes, and the exact error.
