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Understanding Cin7 Customer Sync Issues When Xero Has a Duplicate Name

When syncing new customers from PencilPay to Cin7, all customers must be created in Xero first, then pushed to Cin7 from Xero. If a customer with the same name already exists in Xero, PencilPay cannot create a new Xero contact and therefore cannot create or update the corresponding Cin7 customer.

How PencilPay Syncs Customers to Cin7

PencilPay creates or links the customer in Xero based on the credit application details such as name and ABN.

Once the customer exists in Xero, PencilPay syncs that customer to Cin7.

If Xero blocks the creation of the new customer due to a duplicate name, the customer will never appear in Cin7.


Why the New Customer Does Not Appear in Cin7

Xero does not allow multiple active contacts with the exact same name.

PencilPay follows this rule and will not create a second active Xero contact with the same name.

Since the new customer contact cannot be created in Xero, no customer record is available to sync to Cin7.

As a result, users will not be able to find the new customer contact in Cin7 even though a new application has been submitted in PencilPay.

Resolution Options

There are two main ways to resolve this issue:

Rename the existing Xero contact

Update the existing Xero contact name to make it unique, for example by adding a suffix (e.g.-OLD, - Do not Use, QLD, NSW, VIC, etc)

Once the existing contact name in Xero is changed, PencilPay can create a new Xero contact for the new entity using the original name.

After the new Xero contact is created successfully, PencilPay will then sync that new customer to Cin7.

  1. Link the existing Xero contact and create a new Cin7 contact

     

  2. Link the existing Xero contact to the new credit form in PencilPay.


From there, PencilPay can push a new Cin7 contact with the requested name, even though Xero is using the existing contact record.

If you do not want to link the existing Xero contact to the new credit form or if you do not want to rename the existing Xero contact, PencilPay will not be able to create a new Xero contact and therefore cannot sync a new customer to Cin7.

Recommended Steps for Users

When you have a new customer with the same name as an existing Xero contact but a different ABN or ownership:

  1. Confirm whether the new entity should be treated as completely separate from the old one.

  2. Decide which resolution option you prefer:

  3. Rename the existing Xero contact, then allow PencilPay to create a new contact in Xero and sync to Cin7.

  4. Link the existing Xero contact to the new credit form and have PencilPay push a new Cin7 contact.

  5. Inform PencilPay Support if you encounter any issues after updating the existing old Xero contact name in Xero and it still won't push a new Xero customer and Cin7 contact.

  6. This process keeps customer records compliant with Xero’s naming rules while still allowing the correct customer to appear in Cin7 for ordering and invoicing.