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.

The objective is a reusable playbook that clarifies whether the breakage lives inside your tracker, on the transport layer, or at the partner endpoint.

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.

Networks rarely take responsibility unless you provide detailed logs. Without proof, you are expected to fix the issue even if the failure sits upstream.

Common causes

Bucket failures into delivery (callback never sent), transport (callback blocked), and payload (callback rejected).

Delivery issues typically boil down to paused workers or misconfigured endpoints. Transport issues usually implicate firewalls or TLS. Payload issues come from missing or malformed fields.

Step-by-step troubleshooting

Work methodically: prove a conversion exists, rebuild the callback, fire it manually, then inspect tracker delivery logs.

  1. Capture a fresh conversion

    Pull a recent click and sale from the tracker. Note the click ID, goal, payout, and timestamp.

  2. Rebuild the callback

    Use Postback Builder or your template to insert the captured values. Double-check encoding and auth tokens.

  3. Run Postback Tester

    Send the callback manually and archive the full request/response (headers, body, latency).

  4. Inspect tracker delivery

    Review background job queues or delivery dashboards to confirm whether callbacks fire automatically.

  5. Share findings

    Provide your Postback Tester transcript and tracker logs so partners can validate their side.

Tools that help solve the problem

Postback Tester pairs with Postback Builder, Redirect Checker, and Click ID Extractor to reproduce the entire journey.

Conclusion

Document the root cause, the evidence you gathered, and the remediation plan. Store that runbook next to every offer so future incidents resolve faster.

Add monitoring: send scheduled Postback Tester pings or review tracker delivery dashboards daily so you catch outages before finance does.

Related issues

Tracking bugs rarely travel alone. Explore these related guides to build a full remediation plan.

Postback Not Received

Trackers show callbacks firing, yet partners insist nothing arrived because firewalls or filters intercepted them.

View guide >

Postback Macro Not Replaced

Callbacks arrive but contain literal {clickid} or {payout} strings because the template never swapped values.

View guide >

Click ID Not Stored in CRM

Landing pages capture identifiers, but middleware or the CRM drops them before analysts ever see the data.

View guide >

Recommended tools

Use this diagnostic stack whenever you need to capture evidence or verify that a fix worked.

Redirect Checker

Check HTTP redirect chains and status codes.

Open tool >

Click ID Extractor

Extract click IDs and tracking parameters from URLs instantly.

Open tool >

UTM Builder

Create campaign tracking URLs with UTM parameters.

Open tool >

Postback Tester

Fire sample conversion callbacks and read the raw response before launch.

Open tool >

Pixel Scanner

Verify Meta, TikTok, and Google tags fire on any landing page instantly.

Open tool >

Knowledge base articles

Need deeper theory? These long-form KB articles expand on the concepts touched in the troubleshooting guide.

Postback not working

Use a structured checklist to diagnose silent postback failures, missing payouts, and inconsistent partner logs.

Read article >

How to test a postback

Build a repeatable QA routine for postbacks before launching campaigns or onboarding new partners.

Read article >