Facebooks Ads showing purchases but no orders on shopify

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Topic summary

A store owner is experiencing a major discrepancy where Facebook Ads reports 105 purchases while Shopify shows zero actual orders. The Pixel and events are set up, but the ‘Purchase’ event appears to be firing incorrectly.

Likely cause: Misconfigured Facebook Pixel tracking the Purchase event on wrong pages or actions rather than only on completed transactions.

Recommended troubleshooting steps:

  • Verify Pixel ID is correct in Shopify Admin > Online Store > Preferences
  • Check Purchase event configuration in Facebook Events Manager
  • Use Facebook Pixel Helper Chrome extension to test when events fire during the checkout flow
  • Set up Facebook & Instagram Sales Channel properly on Shopify
  • Configure Conversion API (CAPI) alongside the Pixel

Additional concern: Running traffic campaigns instead of conversion campaigns may attract clicks without purchase intent, leading to inflated metrics.

A follow-up question asks how to track which purchases originate from Facebook Ads when the Ads Manager doesn’t show purchase attribution despite the Pixel firing correctly.

Summarized with AI on November 9. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
2

Hi @baggypack

I think there is a misconfiguration in how the Facebook Pixel tracks the ‘Purchase’ event on your website. It may be incorrectly firing on pages or actions that are not actual purchases.

Here are the actions you can take to fix it:

1. Review your pixel installation

  • Go to your Shopify Admin panel.
  • Click on ‘Online Store’ and then ‘Preferences’.
  • Scroll down to the Facebook Pixel section and ensure your Pixel ID is correct.

2. Verify your purchase event configuration

  • Open Facebook Ads Manager.
  • Navigate to the ‘Events Manager’.
  • Select your Pixel and look at the setup for the ‘Purchase’ event.

3. Test the Pixel with Facebook Pixel Helper

  • Install the Facebook Pixel Helper extension for Google Chrome if you haven’t already.
  • Visit your store’s checkout page and conduct a test purchase.
  • The Pixel Helper should indicate a ‘Purchase’ event fired when you complete the order. If it fires at any other time, there’s your issue.

4. Adjust your pixel

  • If the Pixel fires incorrectly, you need to adjust the event in the ‘Events Manager’.
  • Use the ‘Event Setup Tool’ within the Manager to specify when the ‘Purchase’ event should fire (ideally on the ‘Thank You’ or order confirmation page).

Remember to place an order test to see whether your change fixes the issue or not.

I hope that this helps!