Anyone else seeing missing conversions in Ads Manager?

[Hunthemoney]

Hi everyone, I’m having a pretty frustrating issue with my Meta tracking.

Shopify shows a normal number of orders, but Ads Manager reports far fewer conversions — sometimes only half, sometimes even less.

I already tried reinstalling my Pixel, enabling CAPI, checking for duplicate events, testing inside Events Manager, and reviewing my theme scripts. Everything “seems” to work, yet the reported conversions are still way lower than what actually happens in my store. Because of this, my ROAS looks terrible even though sales are coming in.

For someone who isn’t technical, is there a simple way to figure out why Meta is missing so many conversions? Could it be delayed events, pixel not firing on thank-you page, iOS/AEM limitations, CAPI setup issues, or something else entirely? I just want my tracking to reflect real results so my ad optimization doesn’t suffer. Any beginner-friendly guidance would be massively appreciated.

[EzekielPrice]

This is very common — Shopify will always show more orders than Meta because Meta can only track customers it can identify. Even with Pixel + CAPI, Meta can miss conversions due to:

• iOS 14 / AEM limits (not all purchases can be reported)

• Blocked cookies / ad blockers

• Customers bouncing before the thank-you page loads

• Weak matching signals (missing email/phone in the event)

• Theme or app scripts not firing consistently

A quick, non-technical checklist:

1. Run the Events Manager Test Tool and make a test purchase — confirm Purchase fires both Browser and Server (CAPI).

2. In Shopify → Customer events, confirm your Pixel + CAPI setup is “Active” with no errors.

3. Turn on Advanced Matching so Meta gets email/phone for better attribution.

4. Expect a normal 20–40% difference — Meta will never match Shopify 1:1 anymore.

If your Purchase event fires correctly in testing, your setup is usually fine — the “missing” conversions are mostly due to privacy limitations, not something broken.

[Zotek-Liam]

Hi @Hunthemoney,
I completely understand how frustrating it is to deal with incorrect or missing data in Facebook Ads Reports. In fact, this is a well-known issue that many advertisers have faced for years, and unfortunately, Facebook cannot guarantee 100% accurate tracking. However, there are still technical solutions that can significantly improve the tracking performance.

When an order happens, there are many scenarios where Facebook cannot attribute that purchase to your Facebook Ads, for example:

Case 1: The customer visits your store directly without clicking on a Facebook Ad
→ The order will not be counted in Facebook Ads Report.

Case 2: The customer comes from other platforms such as TikTok Ads, Google Ads, Bing, Snapchat, etc.
→ The order will not be counted in Facebook Ads Report.

Case 3: The customer is referred by your existing customers and visits your store directly
→ The order will not be counted in Facebook Ads Report.

Case 4: The customer clicks your Facebook Ad on an iPhone but does not purchase immediately. Later, they return using another device (Laptop, PC, etc.)
→ The tracking signal is lost, and Pixel cannot recognize this user as a previous ad click, so the order will not be counted in the report.

From a technical perspective:

Facebook determines whether a Purchase event is attributed to Facebook Ads based on these parameters:

FBC

campaign_id

adset_id

ad_id

Therefore, these parameters must be properly sent with Pixel and CAPI data for users who click on Facebook Ads.
If these parameters are missing, Facebook will treat the event as an Organic Event, not an Ad-attributed event.

At the moment, I’m not sure how you are currently installing Facebook Pixel and CAPI on your store, and whether all required tracking parameters are being handled correctly.
That’s why I strongly recommend using third-party tracking apps on the Shopify App Store to ensure proper technical setup, such as Zotek Facebook Pixel & TikTok Pixel.

If you’re willing to share your store link or more details about your setup, I’d be happy to check and support you further.

[dolia_goprofit]

Hey @Hunthemoney! Yes, this is normal. Even with Pixel + CAPI set up correctly, Meta will always report fewer conversions than Shopify. Most stores only see 40–70% of their real sales in Ads Manager.

The main reasons are:

• iOS privacy blocks many purchase events.
• Meta only reports attributed sales, not all sales.
• Some purchases don’t fire the Pixel on the thank-you page.
• Pixel + CAPI deduplication can cause Meta to ignore events.
• AEM limits how many events Meta can track per user.

Your tracking likely isn’t broken — it’s just limited by current privacy rules and Meta’s attribution model.

[J_mah]

HI,

Thanks your for your query.

The challenges you are experiencing with Facebook and Instagram app tracking are not uncommon within the Shopify ecosystem. Many store owners encounter difficulties with Meta Pixel tracking through the native integration

To better understand this issue, I recently consulted with a member of Meta’s technical support team. They confirmed that the current app configuration does not support optimal tracking performance. Specifically, the app is unable to utilize a first-party domain or subdomain to store marketing cookies—such as the _fbc and _fbp parameters—relying instead on third-party cookies, which limits its effectiveness.

the issue is lies on using first party domain/subdomain to store marketing cookies like fbc, fbp and meta pixel.

Recommended Solution:

To get rid of tracking accuracy issue Google tag manager GTM could be the best solution to this problem.

GTM is manual tracking configuration that ensures server side tracking/conversion API with first party domain/subdomain which can bypass IOS 14 update, cookie blockers, ads blockers and so on.

Results from Implementation:

I have deployed a dual-pixel setup for several clients—one via GTM server-side and another through the native app. The performance difference is clear: GTM server-side tracking consistently delivers superior purchase event capture and higher event match quality scores.

Furthermore, in comparative analysis, even native tracking through platforms like Google and YouTube did not match the conversion tracking accuracy achieved via GTM server-side configuration.

Here is the results:

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[sanjnalal]

Hi Hunthemoney,

This can be happening for a number of reasons.

1. Meta can’t “match” the purchase back to the user due to users using incognito mode or ad blockers, iOS 14+ opted out of tracking, and missing customer info.

When Meta can’t match the event > it still fires, but won’t show up in Ads Manager.

Fix: Make sure CAPI (server events) includes email + phone for the highest matching. Shopify’s default CAPI sometimes sends limited data.

2. Pixel not firing or firing inconsistently on the thank-you page because you are using a custom checkout page, third-party apps override scripts, or a Shopify extension blocks script loading.

Check:
In Events Manager > “Test Events” > place a test order and see if the Purchase event fires every single time.

3. If you send both Pixel and CAPI events, but they’re not correctly deduplicated, Meta can think one must be a duplicate > so it discards one.

   This leads to missing purchases in Ads Manager even though everything “looks fine.” Fix:
   Pixel + CAPI must use the same event_id for the same purchase.

4. Attribution windows changed, and Meta no longer counts all purchases the way Shopify does. This is normal but can result in underreporting.

5. CAPI setup issues (common with manual installs)

   If CAPI is:

   Missing parameters

   Sending events late

   Not linked to the right Pixel

   …Meta will drop or delay purchases.

   If you used a theme or third-party script, this is very common.

A few things you can do to ensure accurate tracking:

• Run a test purchase in Events Manager > confirm Pixel + CAPI both fire.

• Check Event Match Quality - aim for “Good” or higher.

• Make sure event_id is matching between Pixel and CAPI.

• Ensure the Pixel is added only via Shopify admin (no duplicates in theme).

• Check the attribution window:

Use “7-day click” for the most accurate comparison.

• If using multiple apps, make sure only one app handles Meta tracking.

I also recommend using a dedicated Facebook Pixel app that will facilitate accurate tracking, and you won’t have to go through all these technical mishaps. As you mentioned, you are not very technical. I would encourage you to use an fb pixel app. Let me know if you need any recommendations