API status codes

The BigCommerce B2B Edition APIs use standard HTTP response status codes. When there's an error, the response body also contains an error message to help resolve the problem.

2XX Success

2xx codes are returned for requests that the server understood and processed successfully.

Code	Text	Purpose
200	OK	For successful GET and PUT requests.
201	Created	For a successful POST request.
202	Accepted	For a request that created a scheduled task to perform the actual request.
204	No Content	For a successful request that produced no response, such as DELETE requests.

3xx Redirection

3xx codes are returned for requests that require further action.

Code	Text	Purpose
301	Moved Permanently	When the API routes have changed, or the incoming request uses an insecure protocol such as http, the request will be redirected to the secure (https) version of the current API route.
304	Not Modified	This status code will be returned if the request includes an If-Modified-Since header, but the resource has not been modified since the specified date.

4xx Client Error

4xx codes are returned for requests that could not be processed because there were problems with the request or the data.

Code	Text	Purpose
400	Bad Request	Issued when a malformed request was sent.
401	Unauthorized	This response is sent when your client failed to provide credentials or its credentials were invalid.
403	Forbidden	Returned when permissions do not allow the operation.
404	Not Found	When a particular resource doesn’t exist or couldn’t be found.
405	Method Not Allowed	The resource was found, but doesn’t support the request method. Issued when either a specific method isn’t yet implemented on a resource, or the resource doesn’t support the method at all. For example, a PUT request to /companies is invalid, but a PUT request to /companies/{companyId} is valid.
406	Not Acceptable	When the client specifies a response content type in the Accept header that is not supported.
409	Conflict	A change requested by the client is being rejected because it did not meet a condition imposed by the server. The exact reasons for this response vary from one resource to another. For example, attempting to delete a category whose deletion would orphan products. Additional information about the conflict, and about how to resolve it, may be available in the response's details section.
413	Request Entity Too Large	When the client requests too many objects. For example, the limit parameter exceeded the maximum.
415	Unsupported Media Type	There are issues with the Content-Type header.
422	Missing or Invalid Data	The request could not be processed, either because it omitted required fields or because it contained invalid data. See the response for more details.
429	Too Many Requests	When an OAuth client exceeds the rate limit for API requests to a store.

5xx Server Error

5xx codes are returned for requests that could not be processed because there was an internal error with the API or server.

Code	Text	Purpose
500	Internal Server Error	When an error has occurred within the API.
501	Not Implemented	When a request method is sent that is not supported by the API, such as TRACE or PATCH.
503	Service Unavailable	When the store is “Down for Maintenance”, being upgraded to a new version, or is suspended due to administrative action or a billing issue.
507	Insufficient Storage	When the store has reached a limitation for the resource.

Troubleshooting

Code	Common Causes	Solutions
204, 301, and 302	Redirects	Try the www or non-www version of the URL.
400	Invalid syntax, required data missing, Content-Type header missing	Double-check request body for syntax errors and missing data; check the Content-Type header.
401	API credentials are missing or invalid.	Double-check the authToken. Send cURL request with the same credentials to rule out app or config issues.
403	API account lacks required OAuth scopes, the store owner account changed, the requests exceeded an internal platform limit, or the route is incorrect.	Double-check OAuth Scopes. Check the endpoint route. Are the URL and authToken correct?
415	Request headers specify an unsupported Content-Type, or the Content-Type header is missing altogether.	Double-check the Content-Type request header.
500	Expensive API calls or an internal server error.	Re-attempt the request three to five times, with increasing delays of at least a minute between attempts.