Common Errors with the Xero - Retail POS Integration
Sometimes you may receive an error when attempting to post your on-account sales, register closures or stock orders through to Xero. Below are a list of the most common errors customers encounter. For more information on why they occur and how to go about fixing them click the error you've received:
Error Message:
Xero says your payments are more than the invoice's balance. This happens when you add extra items in Retail POS, or take payment and give change..
Why have I got this error?
This error occurs when more products have been added to an existing account sale. When more products are added, the sale total becomes larger than the invoice total in Xero. For example, in the on account sale below:
How can I fix it?
To fix this, you will need to add the extra products manually in the Xero invoice.
To do this navigate to Xero and select Invoice Options - Edit:
Add the extra product(s) you added in Retail POS as new lines in the Xero invoice with the correct name, price and account code:
From here we want to add the payment(s) from Retail POS into Xero:
Once this is done, click the Retry Sync flag next to the on-account sale in the Retail POS Sales History to send it through correctly.
Note: If some payments in Retail POS have already carried across to the Xero invoice you will need to remove these from the invoice, add the new products to this invoice and then reapply the payments just as they are in the Retail POS on-account sale.
If this does not fix the issue please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
[Input|Output] Problem: The Retail POS tax rate on one of the products in this sale has a tax type (expense or income) assigned in Xero that doesn't match the account code tax type.
Why have I got this error?
This error can occur when you have an account code on a product that does not exist or an account code that has a different tax type to the product it's attached to. An example of this may be a product with income tax that is being sent to a Xero account that's set up to be tax on expenses.
How can I fix it?
If you recognise the account code listed on the error and know which products are attached, check these products to make sure the account code is correct or that the account code exists in your Xero account. If you aren't able to locate this account code, you can export your product list to CSV and search for the code there.
You can then change the account code in the product edit screen. If the code is correct, but the tax is wrong, you can change the tax in this same edit screen.
If this does not fix the issue please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
One of the payment types used for your [sale|register closure] is trying to send to a Xero account that can't receive payments.
Why have I got this error?
This message appears if one of your Accounts for payment types does not have enable payments ticked in Xero or is not a valid bank account/account type.
How can I fix it?
To fix this navigate to the Xero setup page in Retail POS and check your 'Accounts for Payment Types' section. Ensure that each payment type in Retail POS is posting to an account that has payments enabled. You can check if an account has payments enabled by going to your chart of accounts in Xero, selecting the account in question and checking 'enable payments' is ticked.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
Xero can't find this customer because they've been archived or merged.
Why have I got this error?
This most regularly happens with account sales and stock orders. It's usually caused by merging two contacts in Xero, as this archives the original contact.
How can I fix it?
To fix this, you'll need to find the original contact in Xero and un-archive it. Once you have done this go back to Retail POS, click the Retry Sync flag against the affected on account or stock order in Sales History. To learn how to un-archive contacts in Xero check out this article here.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
We don't know where to send some of your data.
Why have I got this error?
This error occurs when an account mapping is empty on the Retail POS setup page. This generally happens when a new payment type or sales tax has been added in Retail POS, but it has not been mapped to an account code in Setup -> Apps -> Xero. This means that the sale is being processed however Retail POS doesn't know which account in Xero to send this payment to.
How can I fix it?
Navigate to Setup -> Apps -> Xero, identify any blank fields and select which accounts you'd like us to record them in.
You should now be able to click the red Xero button to send the sale to Xero.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
Xero can't accept negative payments.
Why have I got this error?
This error arises when there are one or more negative payments on an on-account sale.
How can I fix it?
If you are trying to return this on-account sale, it is best to follow the standard returns process rather than returning it through the on-account sale itself. To do this create a new sale and add each item you wish to return but change the quantity to a negative amount. This will cancel out the items in your on-account by balancing your totals and returning the inventory to your store.
Once this is done, press 'pay'. You'll be prompted to refund the customer the amount they paid.
If you weren't trying to process a return and have accidentally applied a negative amount to an on-account sale, navigate to the sale in your sales history and remove the negative payment line.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
One of the products in this sale/register closure/stock order has an account code that we can't find in Xero.
Why have I got this error?
This error occurs when an account code attached to a product does not exist in Xero or is an invalid account.
How can I fix it?
If you recognise the account code listed on the error and know which products are attached check these products to make sure the account code is correct or make sure the account code exists in your Xero account. If you aren't able to locate this account code, you can export your product list to CSV and search for the code there.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
Bad request. No data has been processed for this endpoint. This endpoint is expecting Invoice data to be specified in the request body. - .’
Why have I got this error?
As a result of how Retail POS sends information and how Xero receives it, an error can sometimes occur when information you post to Xero contain special characters such as ampersands and forward slashes. This information could include the product name, customer name or sales note on an on account sale or stock order.
How can I fix it?
To fix this, try to identify any products or customer names that contain special characters and remove these characters. Ampersands, forward slashes and commas are most often the culprits here; however, any special characters can generate this error.
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.
Error Message:
There's something wrong with the customer's email address. The format should be name@example.com.
Why have I got this error?
This error occurs when a customer attached to the on-account sale has an invalid email address. The format needs to be name@example.com.
How can I fix it?
To fix this, head to the customer, click edit and ensure the customer's email forms a valid address (e.g. includes the @ and the .com).
If you need any extra help with this please sign in here to contact Retail Support and let us know which error message you've received and some information about the on-account sale, register closure or stock order that is affected.