When the same conversion reaches PalDock more than once, whether by mistake or because you run several tracking methods at once, deduplication keeps a single record of it.
It works through the external_id parameter, the advertiser’s own ID for the order. See Tracking parameters.
How the duplicate is recognised
A conversion is treated as a duplicate when a valid conversion already exists with the same:
- External ID
- Advertiser
- Conversion type
If three requests arrive with the same order ID, one conversion is recorded and one transaction is created, not three.
Because the conversion type is part of the match, a prospect and a sale with the same external ID both pass. They are different events on the same order.
What happens to the duplicate
- The request is accepted and logged, so nothing is silently lost.
- The conversion is marked as a duplicate and stays invalid, so no commission runs on it and no transaction is created.
- You can see it in the conversion log with the duplicate status.
When the Commission ID changes the outcome
If the request carries a Commission ID, deduplication is judged per commission instead of per conversion.
- Without a Commission ID: the second conversion is refused whichever commission would apply.
- With a Commission ID: the second conversion is refused only if that commission already created a transaction for this external ID. Another commission can still be applied.
Why you should always send external id
Even when you are not worried about duplicates, the external ID is what lets PalDock recognise an order later.
- Update requests need it. Without an external ID or a conversion ID, PalDock cannot tell which conversion the advertiser means, so results are never updated. See Recurrence type.
- Recurrence limits are counted per external ID, so repeat orders from the same customer are paid correctly.
- If the first request arrives without one and a later request for the same conversion brings it, PalDock saves it onto the conversion. An external ID that is already stored is never overwritten.
There is no way to add it afterwards by hand, so ask the advertiser to send it from the start.
Deduplication or recurrence
- Deduplication refuses the duplicate conversion itself, before any commission runs. It needs the external ID.
- Recurrence limits how many transactions one commission may create. It works even with no external ID.
