Connect Pinterest to your Shopify store with the Conversions API

By the HonestTag team · Published October 16, 2026

What you need

• A Pinterest ad account. HonestTag sends to one ad account, identified by its ID (digits only).
• A conversion access token. Pinterest's Conversions API guide says to "Go to Ads Manager, and select Ad Account Overview > Conversions > Conversions API > Set up API", then "Select Conversion access token, and click Generate new token." The token "is displayed with your ad account ID."
• The right role on the ad account. Pinterest's API reference says the token's user "must either be the Owner of the specified ad account, or have one of the necessary roles granted to them via Business Access: Admin, Analyst, Audience, Campaign."
• No other checkout source. HonestTag must be the only thing sending Pinterest checkout events for the store. The card will not save without that confirmation.
• A paid HonestTag plan for delivery. The free Mirror does not send your orders to Pinterest. You can connect on the Mirror; saving the token still sends Pinterest one test event, and while connected HonestTag sends one test event each night to check the token. Pinterest says test data "is not processed for reporting or optimization." Orders start going to Pinterest when you choose a paid plan. See pricing.

Connect Pinterest, step by step

1. Turn off other checkout sources. If the Pinterest app for Shopify, a Pinterest tag in your theme or another tool sends checkout events to this ad account, turn checkout events off there first.
2. Generate a conversion access token. In Pinterest Ads Manager, select Ad Account Overview > Conversions > Conversions API > Set up API. Select Conversion access token and click Generate new token.
3. Copy the token and the ad account ID. Pinterest shows the new token with your ad account ID. Copy both.
4. Paste them into the Pinterest card. In the HonestTag app, go to Setup and open Paste a conversion access token on the Pinterest card. Paste the ad account ID and the token, and tick the box confirming HonestTag will be the only thing sending Pinterest checkout events for this store.
5. Check and save. Click Check the token and save. HonestTag sends Pinterest one test event and saves nothing unless Pinterest accepts the token and the ad account.

The save sends one event with Pinterest's test flag. Pinterest says "Test event data is sent to a sandbox environment" and test data "is not processed for reporting or optimization." If Pinterest refuses the token or the ad account, nothing is stored and the card says why. To change the ad account or replace the token later, paste them again; both are checked the same way.

The four purchase goals in Pinterest

For each order it sends (see which orders are sent), HonestTag sends Pinterest's standard checkout event, which counts all purchases (the HonestTag_Purchase goal). It also sends a custom event when the order counts toward one:

• HonestTag_Purchase_NC: new customers.
• HonestTag_Purchase_RC: returning customers.
• HonestTag_Purchase_FCNC: new customers whose first recorded ad click was on Pinterest. See first-click attribution.

Pinterest asks you to "Make sure to map any custom event to a Pinterest standard event", and says that otherwise "those events are untracked and cannot be used for reporting or optimization." Mapping makes Pinterest handle the event "as the standard event for campaign optimization purposes", and the only standard type that fits a purchase goal is checkout. HonestTag already sends checkout for every order, and Pinterest does not say whether a custom event mapped to checkout is counted beside it, so HonestTag does not map them for you. If you map them yourself in Ads Manager, keep in mind that Pinterest has not said whether one order then counts more than once in checkout optimization. Pinterest lists unmapped events in Ads Manager under Conversions, in the table "Custom events not tracked". For how the goals work on other platforms, see the HonestTag conversion actions.

What HonestTag sends to Pinterest

For each eligible order HonestTag sends one request to your ad account's Conversions API endpoint, with action source web. It holds:

• The checkout event, plus the goal events above, each with its own event ID derived from the order, the same on every retry.
• Order details: the order time, the page URL the order landed on (or your storefront address), your Shopify order ID, the currency, the order value without tax and shipping, as Pinterest asks ("Use pre-tax, pre-shipping total."), and up to 50 products (product ID, unit price and quantity) with the item count. A zero value is left out.
• Matching data: SHA-256 hashes of the buyer's email (lowercased) and phone (digits with the country code, dropped when the country is unknown), a SHA-256 hash of HonestTag's random visitor ID as the external ID when HonestTag has one for the order, the Pinterest click ID (epik) when HonestTag's pixel recorded it from a Pinterest ad link, and the IP address and user agent Shopify recorded on the order.

Pinterest needs an email, or the IP address and user agent together, so an order with neither is not sent. A bundle is sent as one product. Consent rules are the same as for every destination and are on the server-side delivery page. Pinterest reports whether it processed each event. HonestTag marks an order delivered only when Pinterest processed every event in it; if any event is not processed, the order's proof shows it as rejected with Pinterest's message.

What HonestTag reads, and what it never touches

• Reads: nothing. A conversion access token can only send events, so HonestTag reads no Pinterest spend and no Pinterest-reported conversions, and the Mirror does not show Pinterest claims.
• Writes: checkout and goal events to your ad account.
• Never touches: campaigns, ad groups, ads, pins, boards, budgets or event mappings.

Avoid counting a purchase twice

Pinterest's rule, from its Conversions API guide: "Pass the event_id and event_name parameter in all the sources you use, making sure that the event_id is identical for each redundant event." and "In the case of redundant events, Pinterest retains the first event captured and removes duplicates within 48 hours." HonestTag's event ID is computed on its server, so no browser tag can send the same one. A retry of HonestTag's own event carries the same ID, so Pinterest removes it.

So if the Pinterest app for Shopify, a Pinterest tag in your theme or another tool also sends checkout events to the same ad account, every order would be counted twice. Turn checkout events off in that tool before you connect, then tick the confirmation on the card. The duplicate purchase events guide shows how to find every purchase source on a store.

Refunds, edits and which orders are sent

• Refunds: HonestTag sends Pinterest no refund or retraction event, for any of the goals. The refund is recorded in the order's proof as "refund recorded; HonestTag sends Pinterest no refund or retraction event".
• Order edits and upsells: Pinterest keeps the value sent at purchase time.
• Which orders: orders from your online store are sent. Point of sale orders and subscription renewals are not sent to Pinterest; the first order of a subscription is an online store checkout and is sent. Orders from other apps and sales channels are kept out unless you switch them on, as described in which orders are sent.

How to check it works

1. On the card. After you save, the Pinterest card shows the ad account and what is sent.
2. In HonestTag order proof. After the next online order, open it in the HonestTag app. The proof shows Pinterest as the platform, the delivery status, the event ID and which events were sent, with checkout shown as the HonestTag_Purchase goal.
3. In Pinterest Ads Manager. Pinterest says "To check the quality of your conversion data, go to the Conversions Health page in Ads Manager." Test events, such as the one sent when you save, are checked under Campaign manager > Conversions > Test events.

Error messages and what to do

• "paste the ad account ID Pinterest shows beside the token. It is digits only". The ad account field was empty or not a number.
• "confirm that HonestTag will be the only thing sending Pinterest checkout events for this store. Nothing was saved". Tick the confirmation after turning off other checkout sources.
• "Pinterest did not accept this conversion access token. Check that you copied the whole token. Nothing was saved". Copy the token again from Ads Manager.
• "this token cannot send events to ad account ...". The token's user does not own the ad account or hold the Admin, Analyst, Audience or Campaign role on it.
• "Pinterest did not find ad account ...". Copy the ad account ID shown beside the token.
• "Pinterest did not confirm the token ... Try again in a minute". Pinterest did not answer clearly. Nothing was saved; try again.
• "Pinterest Conversions API did not process ... event(s)". Pinterest received an order but did not process one of its events; its message follows and is in the order's proof.
• Reconnect needed. Pinterest answered 401, 403 or 404 to a delivery: the token was revoked, its user lost access to the ad account, or the account was not found. Paste a new token on the card.

Disconnecting

Disconnect from the Pinterest card, or uninstall the app. Delivery stops at once and the stored token is deleted. Everything already measured stays, per the published retention schedule. Moving from another tracking app is covered in switching apps.

Frequently asked questions