Quick tipDeveloperSmart CRM

Owner ID vs user ID: assigning record owners through the API

Setting the owner to a user ID silently fails or assigns the wrong person. Owners have their own IDs.

Subscription
All tiers
Permissions
App with owners read and CRM write scopes
Time
4 min · Intermediate
Last verified

Short answer

Records store their owner in hubspot_owner_id, which takes an owner ID, not a user ID. HubSpot's docs note three different IDs: the user's ID in one account, hs_internal_user_id across accounts, and the owner ID. Get the owner ID from the read-only /crm/v3/owners/ endpoint, then set it like any other property.

1. Look up the owner

GET https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/owners/?email=rep@example.com

2. Assign it

PATCH https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/contacts/CONTACT_ID
{ "properties": { "hubspot_owner_id": "OWNER_ID" } }

3. Notes

  • Owners are created automatically when users are added or synced from Salesforce.
  • Custom HubSpot user properties also take owner IDs.
  • For importing owners from a spreadsheet instead, see bulk assigning owners.

Sources

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