Offline conversions FAQ: the 10 questions we get asked the most, with proper answers

Two weeks of threads later, here are the questions that keep coming up. I've tried to give each a real answer, not a one-liner.

1. Why did my Meta offline upload stop working? The separate Offline Conversions API and offline event sets were shut down in May 2025. Sales now go through the regular Conversions API, into a dataset, and events older than 7 days are rejected. If your process still says "upload to an offline event set", it needs a new shape.

2. Google says my upload worked but nothing shows up. Success usually means the file was accepted, not that rows matched. Check auto-tagging, that the GCLID is exact and complete, the 90-day window, that the conversion time is after the click, and that the conversion action is an import type. Then wait a day and read the upload report.

3. I lost the click ID. Can I still match? On Google, enhanced conversions for leads can match on hashed email or phone, with a 63-day window. On Meta, a hashed email or phone also matches. On LinkedIn, a hashed email matches, but a phone number doesn't.

4. Which stage should I send? The one that separates real buyers from form fillers and still has enough volume to learn from. Booked or showed for most appointment-based funnels. Send several as separate events and optimise on one.

5. Why is my match quality low? Usually the CRM data: missing phone, fake emails, or values hashed before cleaning. It's more a capture problem than a sending problem.

6. Why are conversions counted twice? The browser and server events don't share the same event_id (Meta), or there's no order ID (Google). It's an ID comparison, not a mystery.

7. Why do returning iPhone buyers lose attribution? Safari caps cookies written by JavaScript at 7 days, and Link Tracking Protection can strip click IDs entirely. Save the click ID on the lead record and send hashed email and phone with the sale.

8. Do fake leads get sent as conversions? Website leads can, unless the visit is checked first. CRM events carry no bot check, so qualify honestly before the stage you send. Later stages filter most bots on their own.

9. Will adding offline conversions change my Smart Bidding? Only if you make them primary. Add them as secondary first, watch for a few weeks, then decide.

10. How long can a sale be delayed? Meta: 7 days after the event. Google: 90 days after the click (63 for enhanced conversions for leads). LinkedIn: 90 days.

If you only remember one order of operations, make it this. First, capture: make sure a click ID and a match key exist for every lead. Second, timing: send each stage when it happens, inside the platform's window. Third, meaning: send the stage that separates buyers from form fillers, as its own event. Almost every question above is a failure of one of those three, and fixing them in that order means each fix builds on the last.

If any of the ten is your problem, ask under this post and I'll go deeper. The overview.

Which one would you like a full post on?