# Authentication Problems

Source: https://developer.avalara.com/products/ecm/integration-guides/document-management/ikt7219668731813/

Guide: Exemption Certificate Management (ECM)

# Authentication Problems

Resolve issues with authentication errors or failed API connections.

## What you see or experience

-   You can’t sign in or connect to Avalara services.
-   Authentication errors appear when sending API requests.
-   Manual API calls fail, even though your credentials seem correct.

## Why this happened

Authentication issues can occur if you don't format your API credentials correctly or if your integration doesn't handle authentication properly.

## What helps

Steps

Try the following:

-   Use the [Ping API](https://developer.avalara.com/api-reference/avatax/rest/v2/methods/Utilities/Ping/) to confirmthat your credentials work.
-   Or, Switch to using an [AvaTax SDK](https://developer.avalara.com/sdk/), whichincludes prebuilt and tested authentication code.