Postback troubleshooting

Postback Not Working

Networks show zero conversions because callbacks never trigger or fail validation.

Introduction

Postback Not Working appears when trackers register conversions yet affiliate dashboards stay flat. Callbacks either never leave your infrastructure or arrive missing authentication, goal IDs, or payout data.

Treat postback debugging like a forensic exercise: capture the click ID, rebuild the callback, log the response, and confirm whether the tracker even attempted delivery.

Why the problem happens

Postbacks close the loop between media spend and payouts. When they fail, ad platforms lose optimization signals, finance cannot match revenue, and partner trust erodes.

Common causes

Group incidents into delivery (callback never sent), transport (blocked), and payload (rejected). Knowing the bucket speeds resolution.

Step-by-step troubleshooting

Work outward from the tracker: prove the conversion exists, rebuild the callback, replay it, and inspect automatic delivery logs.

  1. Capture a fresh conversion

    Pull click ID, goal, payout, and timestamp from the tracker or CRM.

  2. Rebuild the template

    Use Postback Builder or your snippet to insert the captured values and verify encoding.

  3. Run Postback Tester

    Send the callback manually and archive the headers, body, status code, and latency.

  4. Check automatic delivery

    Review queues and logs to ensure callbacks are leaving the tracker without errors.

Tools that help solve the problem

Conclusion

Document the root cause, update the template or credentials, and add monitoring so future outages trigger alerts instead of payout disputes.

Related issues

Knowledge base articles