Why is my postback not firing?

Five common causes: empty sub5, wrong macro name, the destination is rejecting the request (4xx/5xx), the postback was auto-deactivated after repeated failures, or HTTP/HTTPS mismatch.

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If your postback is not firing — or fires but your tracker is not crediting the conversion — the cause is almost always one of five things. Work through them in order.

1. Empty sub5

The postback fires, but {sub5} resolves to an empty string. The cause is almost always that the click ID was never captured into sub5 in the first place — your landing page is not appending it, or the URL parameter your landing page is reading does not match what your tracker expects.

Check by examining a recent click in Everflow. If sub5 is blank in the click report, the issue is at the link level — fix it on the tracking link, not the postback.

2. Wrong macro name

Macro names are case-sensitive and must match Everflow's spelling exactly. {Sub5}, {sub_5}, or {sub-5} all get sent literally as a string instead of being substituted. If your destination is receiving a literal placeholder string instead of a click ID, this is the cause.

3. Destination is rejecting the request

Open Everflow's postback log. If the destination is responding with a 4xx or 5xx, your postback URL is reaching the destination but being rejected. Common causes:

  • A required parameter is missing.
  • The URL was malformed by manual edits.
  • The destination expects POST and you are sending GET.
  • An access token is missing or expired.

4. Auto-deactivated

If a postback URL fails repeatedly, Everflow can automatically deactivate it. Re-enable it from your dashboard once you have fixed the underlying issue. Always verify the destination is responding 200 OK before re-enabling, or it will deactivate again.

5. HTTP/HTTPS mismatch

Modern destinations require HTTPS. If you saved the postback URL as http:// by mistake, the request will be rejected without a useful error. Always use HTTPS unless the destination explicitly requires HTTP.

Test before going live

Use Everflow's built-in postback test feature to fire a test postback before relying on real conversions to validate. The test postback article covers how.

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Official Everflow documentation: helpdesk.everflow.io

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