diff --git a/dvuploader/nativeupload.py b/dvuploader/nativeupload.py
index 7296c86..e9b4835 100644
--- a/dvuploader/nativeupload.py
+++ b/dvuploader/nativeupload.py
@@ -301,14 +301,19 @@ def _get_json_data(file: File) -> Dict:
     Returns:
         Dict: Dictionary containing file metadata for the upload request.
     """
-    return {
+
+    metadata = {
         "description": file.description,
-        "directoryLabel": file.directory_label,
         "categories": file.categories,
         "restrict": file.restrict,
         "forceReplace": True,
     }
 
+    if file.directory_label:
+        metadata["directoryLabel"] = file.directory_label
+
+    return metadata
+
 
 async def _update_metadata(
     session: httpx.AsyncClient,
@@ -414,7 +419,6 @@ async def _update_single_metadata(
     if response.status_code == 200:
         return
     else:
-        print(response.json())
         await asyncio.sleep(1.0)
 
     raise ValueError(f"Failed to update metadata for file {file.file_name}.")
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_native_upload.py b/tests/integration/test_native_upload.py
index ae80990..ebd7327 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_native_upload.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_native_upload.py
@@ -212,11 +212,11 @@ def test_native_upload_by_handler(
             file = next(file for file in files if file["label"] == ex_f)
 
             assert file["label"] == ex_f, (
-                f"File label does not match for file {json.dumps(file)}"
+                f"File label {ex_f} does not match for file {json.dumps(file, indent=2)}"
             )
 
             assert file.get("directoryLabel", "") == ex_dir, (
-                f"Directory label does not match for file {json.dumps(file)}"
+                f"Directory label '{ex_dir}' of expected file '{ex_f}' does not match for file {json.dumps(file, indent=2)}"
             )
 
             assert file["description"] == "This is a test", (
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index bd386d9..45d8a1c 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ def test_return_files_list(self, httpx_mock):
     def test_raise_http_error(self):
         # Call the function under test and assert that it raises an HTTPError
         with pytest.raises(httpx.HTTPStatusError):
-            retrieve_dataset_files("http://example.com", "12345", "token")
+            retrieve_dataset_files("http://demo.dataverse.org", "12345", "token")
 
 
 class TestSetupPbar: