Contact deleted in UI; API v3 thinks the email is still in use

[JulieK7237]

A contact was initially added using API v3. It was then manually deleted via the UI. An attempt to add it (again) via the API results in a 409 response: contacts.api.conflict, "Validation failed: Email already exists for contact <contactID>".

Is there a delay or some sort of caching that would prevent UI changes from being immediately visible via the API? If so, what is the expected timeframe and/or is there a workaround available?

[Jimmy_D · Accepted solution]

Hello @JulieK7237,

Thank you for reaching out to Constant Contact's API Support.

If the contact has been created previously it still exists in the account even if it has been deleted. You will need to use the PUT method to update the contact and make it active again.

https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_reference/index.html#!/Contacts/putContact

[JulieK7237]

Thank you, Jimmy D. Something tells me you've heard this before, but just in case: if I delete the contact via the Constant Contact UI, it asks me to confirm that I want to completely remove the Contact from my account. So either the UI behaves differently than the API, or the terminology is inconsistent in the worst possible way. Either way it's really, really, misleading == frustrating, time-consuming, and cost-inducing.

[Jimmy_D]

Hi @JulieK7237,

The terminology for the UI is more focused on an end-user that is not familiar with our API and programming integrations. I can bring this up to our Product Owners and see what we can do to make everything more consistent.