If you've noticed your counter keeps climbing even on days where you've issued a few refunds, that's not a bug — it's just how most basic setups work by default. The counter isn't wrong exactly; it's just answering a slightly different question than the one you're actually asking.
What's really being counted
Most simple counter feeds track one thing: how many "order created" events have happened. That's a straightforward number to generate, which is why it's usually the default. The problem is that "orders placed" and "orders that actually stuck" aren't the same thing, and a counter that only tracks the first one will always run a little (or a lot) ahead of reality.
A refund, a cancellation, a partial return — none of these subtract anything from a basic order-created count. The number just keeps going up.
Why this matters more than it seems
If you're using the counter to motivate a team, celebrate real sales, or just get an honest read on how the store is doing, a number that silently overstates things isn't just a cosmetic issue. Over a week or a month, the gap between "orders counted" and "orders that actually happened" can get surprisingly wide, especially in categories with higher return rates.
What "ignoring refunds" actually requires
To get this right, whatever generates your counter's number needs to do three things:
Watch for cancellations and refunds, not just new orders — that means listening for those events specifically, not just the initial order. Handle partial refunds correctly — a customer returning one item out of three shouldn't zero out the whole order, it should adjust the total by the refunded amount only. Recalculate rather than just subtract once, since orders can be partially refunded more than once (a second item returned a few days later, for example), so the logic needs to reflect the order's current state, not just react to the first refund event it sees.
This is genuinely more involved than the initial "count new orders" setup, which is exactly why so many DIY feeds skip it — it's the harder 20% that most guides don't cover.
The direct way to get this: an app that already handles it
Flipcounter excludes cancelled and refunded orders automatically, including partial refunds — it's on by default, not something you have to configure or build. If you're already using it and orders still look off, double-check the setting is switched on in your counter's settings page; it's the one toggle that matters most for keeping the number honest.
If you're setting things up for the first time, here's how the initial connection works.
If you're building your own feed
If you're maintaining your own script or server, this is the piece worth prioritizing over anything else. A feed that only counts new orders is a good first version, but it's not a finished one — refund handling is what actually makes the number trustworthy day to day.