diff --git a/manifester/manifester.py b/manifester/manifester.py
index 04bd002..5cc3747 100644
--- a/manifester/manifester.py
+++ b/manifester/manifester.py
@@ -349,7 +349,8 @@ def trigger_manifest_export(self):
                 break
             request_count += 1
         if limit_exceeded:
-            return
+            self.content = None
+            return self
         export_job = export_job.json()
         export_href = export_job["body"]["href"]
         manifest = simple_retry(