An ad conversion and a payment answer different questions
An advertising result depends on the tracked event and attribution rule. Collected revenue describes money received. Before comparing them, define what you count: a submitted form, booking, reported purchase or confirmed payment.
WhoBuys keeps available payment data separate from the offer quoted on a call. A €3,500 offer followed by a €1,750 first payment is not €3,500 collected. Without contract evidence, the remaining amount due stays unknown.
Read the outcome of an ad
Start with spend, then inspect matched leads, distinct buyers and payments. Net cash reflects known refunds. A buyer paying in two instalments is still one person with multiple payments.
Cash divided by ad spend is a reporting ratio, not profit margin. It does not on its own subtract service delivery costs, commissions or taxes. Check currencies and dates before comparing campaigns.
The records you need
You need Meta spend, a lead source carrying usable attribution data and payments belonging to those people. Connecting Stripe and Meta without an identity link is not enough to attribute every sale.
Meta forms can provide a precise origin when permissions and data are available. For landing pages, verify that source parameters are captured and preserved with the lead. A UTM link does not automatically identify a buyer.
Progressive access and visible unknowns
Meta access depends on granted permissions and connection availability. Assisted setup checks what works for your account. Check connector requirements and the last synchronization date before comparing results.
A sale without a supported origin stays unknown. It is not arbitrarily distributed across ads to improve their numbers.
Match Meta Ads and Stripe: three checks before comparison
Meta supplies spend; the lead source must preserve ad origin; Stripe supplies available payments. All three records need to refer to the same person. Enabling two connections does not create that identity link.
In Ads, open the ad detail and inspect the people behind the total. Check the payment, its status and related refunds. Resolve ambiguous identities against source records before presenting a sale as attributed.
- Origin: an ad identifier or other usable trace retained with the lead.
- Identity: a verifiable match between lead, sale and payer, never a first name alone.
- Scope: the same currency, acquisition cohort, observation window and known refunds.
Why totals can differ from Meta
A tracked Meta conversion and a received payment are different measures. Date definitions, instalments, refunds, synchronization delays and unknown origins can also explain differences.
Before assuming an error, inspect one journey and compare its sources. If a payment was received but its origin is missing, keep the cash visible and the attribution unknown. Arbitrarily spreading it across ads would make the comparison misleading.