diff --git a/packages/scraper/src/robots/flexoptix-api-sync.ts b/packages/scraper/src/robots/flexoptix-api-sync.ts
index c1d034d..d341bd3 100644
--- a/packages/scraper/src/robots/flexoptix-api-sync.ts
+++ b/packages/scraper/src/robots/flexoptix-api-sync.ts
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ function validateEnv(): { baseUrl: string; username: string | null; password: st
   if (!baseUrl) {
     throw new Error("FLEXOPTIX_API_BASE_URL is required for Flexoptix API sync");
   }
-  const token = process.env["FLEXOPTIX_API_TOKEN"]?.trim() ?? null;
+  const token = process.env["FLEXOPTIX_API_TOKEN"]?.trim() || null;  // empty string -> null so bearer-login fallback fires
   const username = process.env["FLEXOPTIX_API_USERNAME"]?.trim() ?? null;
   const password = process.env["FLEXOPTIX_API_PASSWORD"]?.trim() ?? null;
   if (!token && (!username || !password)) {