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What is rate limiting?

Rate limiting is a way to prevent a platform from becoming slow, or experiencing downtime. This article describes how Spotler Connect handles rate limiting in external platforms.

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What is rate limiting?

Rate limiting means that there is a cap on the number of data requests that can be made to a platform within a given time unit (usually per second). When too many requests arrive at once, the platform may become sluggish or even experience downtime. To protect itself, the platform temporarily refuses additional requests until a cooldown period has passed.

How Spotler Connect handles rate limiting

Spotler Connect attempts real-time data communication whenever possible. If an external platform enforces rate limits, Spotler Connect:

  • Breaks data into smaller “bite-sized” batches for import or export.
  • Retries each request according to the platform’s specified cooldown period.
  • Cancels any request that remains unprocessed after three hours and sends you an error notification.

You can see when a platform is rate-limiting Spotler Connect. In the dashboard overview, the icon below your connector will display an hourglass symbol and will show 'rate limited' when hovered.

What can you do about rate limiting?

Rate limiting can disrupt your workflows. You have two main options:

  • Upgrade your plan. Several platforms let you upgrade your shop subscription to increase the number of data requests per second. For example, Shopify allows twice as many requests on its Shopify Plus subscription as on the basic subscription. Upgrading is usually the simplest way to resolve rate-limiting issues.
  • Throttle your own changes. When upgrading isn't possible, you can limit the number of changes you make to data in your system at once. When Spotler Connect detects a change in a contact, product or order, it will immediately take action. If you update data through mass import, like CSV import or bulk edit, these changes will be detected and processed at once. While Spotler Connect does honour rate-limiting when an external platform informs us to, the issue can be prevented altogether if changes are spread out over time. Plugins or custom software can assist you with this. Contact Spotler support for more information.