03 · Revenue
How each sale finds the visit that earned it
Each payment is tied to the browser that made it by the strongest evidence there is, and credited to a visit by one rule. Both show on its receipt.
01The visitor's id
In cookie mode the snippet gives each browser an id and keeps it in a first-party cookie, _tally_vid, for a year. Your checkout carries that id to your payment provider, and when the payment arrives Tally finds the browser, and the visits it made.
A visitor who arrives with DataFast's datafast_visitor_id cookie keeps that id, so checkout code written for DataFast keeps working. In consent mode the id exists once the visitor agrees; in cookieless mode there's none, and the success page and email matching do the linking.
02How a payment is linked, strongest first
| Method | What it means | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Checkout metadata | Your checkout passed the visitor's id to Stripe. | High |
| Payment link tag | The snippet tagged a Stripe Payment Link with the visitor's id. | High |
| Success page | The visitor reached your success page with this checkout's session id. | High |
| Email match | The customer's email matched one the visitor identified with, compared as a hash. | Medium |
| Subscription | Renewals and upgrades belong to whoever started the subscription. | High |
| Original payment | Refunds and chargebacks belong to whoever made the payment they reverse. | High |
| Not linked | Nothing tied these to a visitor. They count in revenue, and in no source. | None |
Every method that applies is tried, and the strongest wins: its confidence first, then its place in this list. A stored link is only ever replaced by a stronger one, so later evidence can upgrade a sale but never weaken it. An id counts only for a visitor the site has seen.
Linking runs on the server as payments arrive, usually within seconds, and again, for the last 30 days' payments, when newer evidence turns up: an identify after the payment, or a success page that loads late.
03Which visit gets the credit
- A sale is credited to the buyer's last visit before it that didn't come direct, else to their last visit. Their first visit is recorded too, so you can see both.
- A buyer with no visit before the payment, such as one who paid through a Payment Link in an email, is credited with their first visit that starts within 15 minutes after it: the return to your success page.
- Renewals and upgrades are credited as the subscription's first payment was; refunds and chargebacks as the payment they reverse.
04Receipts
Every sale on Sales unfolds into its receipt: the first visit, the visit that gets the credit, what tied the payment to that browser (the handle and where it was seen), and the payment, with ids you can look up at your provider. When nothing links a sale, the receipt says so. It is never guessed.
05Coverage and fixes
Coverage is the share of your sales, by revenue, that's tied to a visitor. Refunds and chargebacks follow the sale they reverse, so they're left out of it.
Under it, Coverage and fixes groups the sales that aren't linked by why, from the largest amount down, each with the code that links the next ones. Sales without a visit goes through each fix.
06Your provider
07What can't be linked
Something missing, or not what you see? Write to support@tallybyoutpost.com and say which page.