HubSpot API: Unpacking the 'updatedAt' Sorting Glitch for Developers and E-commerce
Hey ESHOPMAN community! As experts living and breathing HubSpot and e-commerce, we know that reliable data is the bedrock of every successful online store and RevOps strategy. Whether you're tracking product updates, customer interactions, or content changes, getting your data in the right order, at the right time, is crucial. That's why a recent discussion in the HubSpot Community caught our eye, highlighting a peculiar hiccup with HubSpot's API that could impact developers and anyone relying on precise data sorting.
The thread, titled initially as "Sort parameter doesn't work with updatedAt," delved into an issue concerning the HubSpot CMS Blog Authors API endpoint. The original poster was trying to sort blog authors based on their updatedAt property – a pretty standard requirement for any system needing to display the most recently modified content or entities first. However, they found that no matter how they formatted the sort parameter (e.g., ?sort=-updatedAt or ?sort=updatedAt), the results remained unsorted by update time.
The Problem: 'updatedAt' Sorting Fails & Docs Confuse
The original poster outlined their attempts to use the sort parameter with various permutations of "updatedAt" and "updated." Interestingly, they noted that sorting by created (for creation date) worked perfectly. This suggested the issue wasn't with the sorting mechanism itself, but specifically with the updatedAt property or its internal naming.
Adding to the confusion, they also pointed out a discrepancy in the HubSpot API documentation itself: while the reference indicated a GET request for the endpoint, an example in the docs suggested a POST request with a body. This kind of mixed messaging can be a real headache for developers trying to integrate, leading to wasted time troubleshooting basic API calls.
Community Validation: The Bug is Real
Thankfully, the HubSpot Community is a fantastic place for collective problem-solving. A senior community moderator quickly jumped in, acknowledging the post and tagging other experts. Soon after, a community member and expert confirmed they could replicate the issue exactly as described. This is invaluable: it moves a potential user-error situation to a confirmed bug.
The expert provided concrete examples using curl commands, demonstrating how two requests – one sorting by updatedAt ascending and another descending – yielded identical, unsorted results. Here’s what those requests and their identical (unsorted) response looked like:
Request 1: Sort by updatedAt descending
curl --location 'https://api.hubspot.com/cms/blogs/2026-03/authors?sort=-updatedAt' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer pat-xxx-redacted-xxx'Request 2: Sort by updatedAt ascending
curl --location 'https://api.hubspot.com/cms/blogs/2026-03/authors?sort=updatedAt' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer pat-xxx-redacted-xxx'Identical (Unsorted) Response Body for both requests:
{
"total": 2,
"results": [
{
"avatar": "https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e",
"bio": "",
"created": "2024-01-18T01:55:38.315Z",
"deletedAt": "1970-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"displayName": "Test Author",
"email": "",
"facebook": "",
"fullName": "Test Author",
"id": "90785153008",
"language": "en",
"linkedin": "",
"name": "Test Author",
"slug": "test-author",
"twitter": "",
"updated": "2024-01-18T01:55:38.315Z",
"website": ""
},
{
"avatar": "",
"bio": "test author 2 bio",
"created": "2026-05-20T03:52:49.745Z",
"deletedAt": "1970-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"displayName": "Test Author 2",
"email": "test-author-2@example.com",
"facebook": "",
"fullName": "Test Author 2",
"id": "407901951173",
"language": "en",
"linkedin": "",
"name": "Test Author 2",
"slug": "test-author-2",
"twitter": "",
"updated": "2026-05-20T03:52:49.745Z",
"website": ""
}
]
}Notice how the "updated" timestamps ("2024-01-18T01:55:38.315Z" and "2026-05-20T03:52:49.745Z") are not consistently ordered in the response, regardless of the sort direction specified. The first author's update date is earlier than the second, but it appears first in both requests, indicating no sorting is applied.
The expert also reiterated the documentation inconsistency, specifically noting that the "Sorting and paginating" example incorrectly used a POST method, suggesting it should be a GET with no Content-Type header. This level of detail from community experts is invaluable for pinpointing exactly where the problem lies.
What This Means for E-commerce & RevOps
While this specific bug was identified for blog authors, it highlights a crucial point for any business built on HubSpot: the reliability of API data. For ESHOPMAN users, RevOps teams, and marketers running stores, accurate and timely data synchronization is paramount. Imagine needing to display your newest products, updated inventory, or recently modified customer profiles, only to find the API isn't sorting by the actual update time.
- Product Listings: If you're pulling product data from HubSpot (or a connected system) and sorting by
updatedAtto show the latest changes, a bug like this could mean outdated information is displayed prominently. - Customer Segmentation: For RevOps, sorting contacts or companies by their last interaction
updatedAtis key for targeted outreach. An unsorted list could lead to inefficient marketing or sales efforts. - Content Management: Beyond blog authors, similar issues could affect other content types, making it harder to manage and display fresh content on your storefront or in marketing campaigns.
The good news is that the issue has been officially flagged internally by HubSpot's team, and they've committed to providing updates. This community interaction is a prime example of how user feedback drives improvements in the HubSpot ecosystem.
Workarounds and Best Practices
Until a fix is deployed, what can developers do if they encounter similar sorting issues on other HubSpot API endpoints?
- Prioritize
created: If sorting by creation date is an acceptable alternative for your use case, use thecreatedproperty, which was confirmed to work in this thread. - Client-Side Sorting: For smaller datasets, you could fetch all relevant data and perform the sorting on your application's side. Be mindful of performance implications and API rate limits for larger datasets.
- Stay Updated: Keep an eye on the HubSpot Community and official API changelogs for updates on known issues and fixes.
- Report & Validate: If you suspect an API isn't behaving as documented, follow the lead of the original poster and community expert: try to replicate it, test different parameters, and report it to the HubSpot Community with clear examples.
ESHOPMAN Team Comment
This community discussion highlights why ESHOPMAN is built to leverage HubSpot's strengths while also being robust against potential API quirks. While this specific bug affects blog authors, it's a stark reminder that even robust platforms can have edge cases. We believe HubSpot's prompt internal flagging is commendable, but developers building storefronts or complex integrations must always validate API behavior against documentation. For critical e-commerce data, always have a fallback plan or client-side validation for sorting, especially when depending on 'updated' timestamps.
The HubSpot Community remains a vital resource for developers and power users. Engaging with it not only helps resolve individual issues but also contributes to the overall improvement of the HubSpot platform for everyone. For ESHOPMAN, our goal is to ensure your e-commerce operations run smoothly, and understanding the nuances of HubSpot's API is a big part of that. Keep building, keep integrating, and keep leveraging the power of HubSpot for your store!