diff --git a/module/idoutils/src/db.c b/module/idoutils/src/db.c
index 69acd4a..1d435f5 100644
--- a/module/idoutils/src/db.c
+++ b/module/idoutils/src/db.c
@@ -2440,7 +2440,7 @@ char *ido2db_db_timet_to_sql(ido2db_idi *idi, time_t t) {
                 * set the value explicitely to NULL. mysql, you suck hard.
                 */
                if (t == 0) {
-                       if (asprintf(&buf, "FROM_UNIXTIME(NULL)") == -1)
+                       if (asprintf(&buf, "'0000-00-00 00:00:00'") == -1)
                        buf = NULL;
                } else {
                        if (asprintf(&buf, "FROM_UNIXTIME(%lu)", (unsigned long) t) == -1)