Why do Google Ads, your affiliate network and your store show different sales totals?

One order can appear in three reports

Imagine a shopper clicks an ad on Monday, buys on Wednesday and returns the order the following week. This is a fictional illustration, not GMVLY customer data. The store has one order; the ad report may assign conversion credit to the earlier interaction; the network may initially show a pending transaction.

Those records describe different parts of the same journey. Adding an ad-attributed sale to a network-attributed sale can count one order twice. Nor does either attribution record prove that the order would not have happened without the campaign.

Align dates, attribution and the conversion you are counting

Google identifies attribution settings, conversion windows, count settings and processing delays as reasons reporting can differ. Its conversion-time columns can help compare results by purchase timing rather than interaction timing.

Write down the settings beside each export. A daily report taken immediately after trading is a different comparison from a settled monthly report. Check which account, campaigns and purchase conversion actions are included before treating every conversion as an order.

• Use the same reporting period and time zone, and record each export date.
• Identify interaction date, order date and validation date separately.
• Record attribution models, windows and purchase conversion count settings.
• Check for multiple purchase tags or conversion actions counting the same order.

Separate order value, approved sales and commission

A £120 checkout total and a £100 commissionable value can describe the same fictional order if the programme excludes a £20 component. Establish the actual basis in your programme: do not assume VAT, delivery, discounts or refunds are treated identically across reports.

Awin distinguishes pending review, approved and payable transactions. Approval validates the transaction; payment readiness is a separate step. Other networks have their own status definitions, so check the programme rather than treating every tracked sale as settled revenue.

• Compare the same currency and document any exchange-rate conversion.
• Confirm whether value includes tax, delivery, discounts and refunded items.
• Keep pending, approved and declined transactions separate.
• Account for cancellations, partial returns and later value adjustments.

Know which records belong to the managed route

GMVLY’s managed pipeline captures click references and imports affiliate-network sales, including sale value, commission, currency and status. Where a usable reference is available, the sale can be associated with the tracked click. Network formats and available identifiers differ, so a store order number and a network transaction ID should not be assumed to be interchangeable.

For a disputed record, bring the network transaction reference, the store order reference where available, timestamps, value and current status to the discussion. GMVLY can investigate its tracked clicks and imported network-sale records. Order approvals, declines, returns and commission corrections remain with your affiliate manager through the network.

Use the right owner for each difference

Your PPC owner checks ad-platform definitions, your ecommerce team checks store orders, and your affiliate manager checks network validation and commission. GMVLY investigates references and imported outcomes for its own route. Start with a handful of orders that illustrate the difference: an ordinary sale, a late conversion, a returned order and a record with missing attribution. Use approved exports and avoid sharing customer names, addresses or payment details when transaction references are sufficient.

Assign each difference a reason and an owner: report definition, timing, validation, missing reference or suspected duplicate. Resolve that sample before expanding the review. If the remaining difference is material, ask the PPC, ecommerce and affiliate owners to agree the next investigation together.

• Store order reference and network transaction reference, where available.
• Interaction, purchase, import and validation dates, plus reporting time zone.
• Original currency, order value, commissionable value and commission.
• Network status, refund or cancellation amount and last update.
• Attribution/report settings, suspected difference, owner and next action.