> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ctracker-docs.keywordrush.com/affiliate-networks/importing-orders.md).

# Importing orders

An order is a sale one of your members made. The network reports it; the plugin stores it and works out the member's share.

### How often orders are checked

Two different things happen on two different timetables, and it helps to know which is which.

**New orders** are picked up on the interval you set in `Settings` → `General` → **Download new orders**. Anything from every 15 minutes to once a day, or Never. The default is **every hour**. This only asks each network for the last couple of days, so a short interval is cheap — pick whatever suits how quickly you want a purchase to show up in a member's account.

**Orders already waiting** are re-checked once a day, to see whether the network has approved or declined them. That is not something you configure, and it does not need to be more frequent: networks take weeks to decide. Checking twice a day would not get you an answer any sooner.

So if a member asks why their brand-new order is not showing yet, that is the first setting. If they ask why an order has been *Pending* for a month, that is the network, not Cashback Tracker.

### Checking that orders are actually arriving

The **Networks** screen has an **Orders** column showing, per network, how many orders you hold from it and when it was last checked. If a network cannot be reached its row says so, with the reason underneath.

A count of 0 next to a recent check is not a fault — it means that network has not sent you any orders yet.

### Checking a network right now

Each switched-on network has a **Check orders** link on the Networks screen. Press it and that network is checked straight away, without waiting for the next scheduled run.

Unlike the scheduled check, this one looks back over your whole pending history rather than just the last couple of days — so it is the right thing to use when you are testing new credentials, or when a member says an older order never appeared.

The row shows *checking…* while it runs and updates itself when it finishes.

Worth a glance now and then. A network that has quietly stopped returning orders looks exactly like a network with no sales, and the difference matters.

### How an order finds its member

Every tracking link carries a tag identifying the member — `cbtrkr-412`, where 412 is their WordPress user ID. The network stores it against the sale and hands it back when reporting.

When an order arrives, the plugin reads that tag and credits the member it names.

**When there is no usable tag**, the order is skipped and the reason is written to `Cashback Tracker` → `Logs`. It is not guessed at and not assigned to anybody. That happens when:

* the visitor was **not logged in** when they clicked
* they reached the merchant some other way — a search, a bookmark, another site
* the sale came from one of your own affiliate links outside the plugin, which is your commission and not a member's

The first is by far the most common, and there is nothing to fix: without a login there is no member to credit.

### Cashback and currency

The network reports what **it** is paying you. Your cashback rate decides how much of that the member gets — see [Cashback rates](/shops-and-cashback-rates/cashback-rates.md).

If the network reports in a currency other than your site currency, the amount is converted as the order arrives, at the rate in force at that moment. The order keeps a record of the original figure and currency, so you can always see where a number came from.

You can set your own fixed exchange rates rather than relying on automatic ones — `Settings` → `General`, under **Currency and cashback**. Worth doing if you would rather a member's cashback figure did not drift between the day they earned it and the day they read it.

### Old orders reappearing

An order you have seen before can be reported again, usually because the network changed its status. That is not a duplicate: the plugin recognises it and updates the existing order rather than creating a second one.

This is how an order moves from pending to approved without anybody touching it, and it is why the daily re-check exists.

### How much history you get

Each network decides how far back it will report. A **Check orders** run reaches back across your pending history; the scheduled run deliberately does not, because asking for months of orders every hour would be slow and pointless.

If you have just connected a network that has been sending you sales for a while, run **Check orders** once by hand to pull in what is already there.

### When orders are not arriving

Work through it in this order:

1. **Is the network switched on?** A network that is off is not checked at all.
2. **Does the Orders column show a recent check?** If not, cron may not be running — see [Scheduled tasks](/running-your-site/scheduled-tasks.md).
3. **Press Check orders** and watch what the row says.
4. **Press Log** on the row. Whatever the network refused, it said why, and that is recorded verbatim.
5. **Was the test purchase made while logged in, through a Go to shop link?** If not, there is no member tag and nothing will ever arrive.

### Related

* [The life of one cashback order](/how-cashback-works/the-life-of-an-order.md)
* [Order statuses and the holding period](/how-cashback-works/order-statuses-and-holding-period.md)
* [Finding and fixing an order](/running-your-site/fixing-an-order.md)