Reverse an Ecommerce Transaction in Analytics

[RMATVMC]

I am looking for help on using Googles Reverse an Ecommerce Transaction in Analytics work flow documented here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1037443?hl=en&ref_topic=1037062

Essentially an incorrect transaction was processed that was for such a large number that it is really messing up reporting. I have never used Googles outlined process and from my research it looks like it might not reverse the transaction for the date it was placed but ad a negative amount to offset it on the date submitted. This will still work for year of year reporting but it will mess up the data for two different days in one month. If someone who had done this before has any insight please chime in thanks!

Here is a support thread about the reverse transaction messing up a different days data.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/analytics/reverse$20transaction/analytics/gDiVNJDwx5I/BwlNJ9D6Lp8J

[DeanAndrews]

Hi Jared,

Thanks for the heads up re the applied date. I will look out for the improved Google solution.

[RMATVMC]

Dean,

Thanks for your reply! It seems that not many people are familiar with this scenario. Currently I have been using the advanced filter for reporting. However other Managers within the company use GA for some minor reporting and are not familiar with using it so I was hoping to apply the reverse an ecommerce transaction method.

Before implementing the reverse an eCommerce transaction method I discussed the scenario with my Adwords rep who talked with some GA engineers, and confirmed what I had feared which is the reverse transaction will be applied to whatever day it is uploaded not to the day the faulty transaction took place. Which means I will have two days with terribly bad data. Especially because at best a transaction like this will not be found in GA until the next day.

They did state that this has been a very common complaint and that GA is working on a solution to make the process much easier and so that it can apply to back data.

[DeanAndrews]

The Reverse an Ecommerce Transaction in Analytics work flow show work fine as it mentions that you should check you are using the same transaction ID for the transaction and item-form data as the one you used for the original purchase. therefore reversing that single transaction.

However they also mention that cancelling a transaction does not remove it. Both the original transaction and the cancelled transaction are included in the transaction count so basically you can only zero the transaction value.

You could also apply an advanced filter to your report excluding the offending transaction ID which would be a simpler solution.