This failure is harder to notice than a sale that never starts, because most of it works. Orders come in at the right price, and then one does not, and by the time a customer emails you the rush is over and the evidence is scattered across an order list.
Look for the pattern before the cause
Export the orders from the sale window and sort the ones that paid full price. The pattern is the diagnosis.
| Pattern | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| All in the first few minutes | The price change was still rolling out. Those orders arrived before their variant was written. |
| Specific products, consistently | A scope problem. Those variants were never in the sale. |
| Specific countries or currencies | Markets. A second price list is overriding the sale price for that region. |
| Scattered with no pattern | A stacking or eligibility rule, often a minimum quantity or a customer segment. |
The Markets one is easy to miss
A merchant who reverted a sale found prices still discounted afterwards, and the cause was a wholesale market that was still active. Markets keeps its own prices, and a sale that writes the base price does not necessarily reach them.
What to do about the orders that missed
- Decide the rule before you look at the list, so you are not making a judgement call per customer while tired.
- Refund the difference rather than cancelling and re-placing. It is one action, it keeps the order history intact, and the customer does not have to do anything.
- Send the note before they complain. The complaint costs more than the refund.
Preventing the first-minutes version
If the cause was rollout time, the fix is to start the sale earlier than you announce it. Write the prices at 23:30 and announce at midnight. The gap costs you nothing and removes the window entirely.