Purchase Event

A purchase event is the event recorded at the moment an order is completed, usually carrying the order identifier, the line items and the amount paid.

This event is the last step of the purchase funnel, which makes it the basis of almost every e-commerce conversion rate. The most delicate implementation detail is sending the order identifier with the event: if the event fires on a thank-you page and the visitor reloads or shares that page, the same order is counted several times, and the order identifier is the only reliable way to remove the duplicates. The second error is treating a recorded purchase as final; cancellations, returns and payments that later reverse in the finance system are not subtracted automatically, and that is where the gap with accounting reports begins.