GA4 Ecommerce Events for WooCommerce: Full List and How to Verify Each One

Is your WooCommerce store sending GA4 the full shopping journey, or only the sale?

Google defines 14 GA4 ecommerce events. A WooCommerce store needs the 11 core ones: product views, carts, checkout, purchases and refunds. The other three are optional. The purchase event matters most. Without it, GA4 shows no revenue at all.

Quick answer: The 11 core GA4 ecommerce events for WooCommerce are view_item_list, select_item, view_item, add_to_cart, remove_from_cart, view_cart, begin_checkout, add_shipping_info, add_payment_info, purchase and refund. Every one needs an items array. The purchase and refund events also need transaction_id, value and currency.

Missing events break your reports in quiet ways:

• No add_to_cart means no cart-to-purchase rate.
• No begin_checkout means an empty checkout funnel.
• No refund means revenue that looks higher than it is.
• A missing currency means revenue shows as zero.

This guide lists every GA4 ecommerce event, the WooCommerce action behind it, and the parameters it needs. Then it shows four ways to check each one is firing. If orders are already missing from GA4, start with WooCommerce Orders Not Showing in GA4? instead.

What Are GA4 Ecommerce Events?

GA4 ecommerce events are recommended events that describe shopping actions. Each one has a fixed name and fixed parameters. Google sets the names, such as add_to_cart and purchase. GA4 only fills its Monetization reports when your store sends these exact names.

GA4 ecommerce events differ from other GA4 events in three ways:

• Enhanced measurement does not send them. GA4 tracks page views and scrolls on its own. It never sends ecommerce events. A plugin or custom code must.
• They carry an items array. Each event lists the products involved, with ID, name, price and quantity.
• They feed revenue metrics. purchase and refund change the revenue numbers in GA4.

Ecommerce events are one group inside Google’s wider set of GA4 recommended events. Google’s help center has a short overview of ecommerce events, and it documents every name and parameter in its ecommerce measurement guide. For how these events fit into a full store setup, see Google Analytics ecommerce tracking on WordPress.

GA4 Ecommerce Events List for WooCommerce

The GA4 ecommerce events list has 11 core events and 3 optional ones. The table maps each event to the WooCommerce action that should trigger it. Events are in funnel order, from first product view to refund.

#	GA4 event	WooCommerce action that triggers it	Key parameters	Funnel stage	Needed?
1	view_item_list	Shop, category, tag or search results page loads	item_list_name, items	Discovery	Core
2	select_item	Shopper clicks a product in a list	item_list_name, items	Discovery	Core
3	view_item	Single product page loads	currency, value, items	Product	Core
4	add_to_cart	Shopper clicks Add to cart (product or shop page)	currency, value, items	Cart	Core
5	remove_from_cart	Shopper removes a product in the cart or mini cart	currency, value, items	Cart	Core
6	view_cart	Cart page loads	currency, value, items	Cart	Core
7	begin_checkout	Checkout page loads	currency, value, coupon, items	Checkout	Core
8	add_shipping_info	Shopper picks or submits a shipping method	shipping_tier, items	Checkout	Core
9	add_payment_info	Shopper picks or submits a payment method	payment_type, items	Checkout	Core
10	purchase	Order is placed (Order received page)	transaction_id, value, currency, tax, shipping, coupon, items	Conversion	Core
11	refund	Refund is issued in WooCommerce > Orders	transaction_id, value, currency, items	Post-purchase	Core
12	add_to_wishlist	Shopper saves a product with a wishlist plugin	currency, value, items	Product	Optional
13	view_promotion	An internal banner or promo block is shown	promotion_id, promotion_name	Discovery	Optional
14	select_promotion	Shopper clicks that banner	promotion_id, promotion_name	Discovery	Optional

Three notes help you read the table:

• WooCommerce has no built-in wishlist or promo banners. Skip events 12 to 14 unless a plugin adds those features.
• Event names are case-sensitive. Add_To_Cart is a custom event, not the recommended one. It won’t fill any Monetization report.
• Order matters for funnels. GA4’s checkout journey report expects begin_checkout, then add_shipping_info, then add_payment_info, then purchase.

Discovery and product events

Discovery events show which product lists get attention. view_item_list and select_item tell you if shoppers click through from category pages. view_item is the base of every product conversion rate.

Cart events

Cart events show intent. add_to_cart is the first strong buying signal. For setup details, see how to track add to cart events in Google Analytics. remove_from_cart and view_cart explain where carts stall. They feed your WooCommerce cart abandonment rate.

Checkout and purchase events

Checkout events show where buyers drop off before paying. begin_checkout through purchase build the GA4 ecommerce checkout funnel. A big drop between add_shipping_info and add_payment_info often points to surprise shipping costs.

Which Parameters Does Each Event Need?

Every GA4 ecommerce event needs an items array. Any event with a value also needs a currency. purchase and refund also need a transaction_id. Those four parameters decide whether your revenue numbers are right.

Parameter	What it holds	Required?	What breaks if it’s wrong
transaction_id	The WooCommerce order number	Yes, for purchase and refund	A reused or missing ID causes duplicate or lost orders
value	Order total: price × quantity for all items	Yes, for meaningful revenue	Revenue shows as zero or wrong
currency	Three-letter code, such as USD or EUR	Yes, whenever value is set	GA4 can’t compute revenue, so it reports zero
items	The list of products in the event	Yes	Product reports stay empty
tax	Tax charged on the order	No	Tax totals are missing
shipping	Shipping charged on the order	No	Shipping totals are missing
coupon	Coupon code used at checkout	No	Coupon reports stay empty

Each entry in items describes one product:

Item parameter	Example	Required?
item_id	SKU or product ID, such as HOODIE-01	One of item_id or item_name
item_name	Blue Cotton Hoodie	One of item_id or item_name
price	39.00 (the unit price after discount)	No, but needed for product revenue
quantity	2	No (defaults to 1)
item_category	Hoodies	No
item_variant	Large	No

Two rules from Google catch most stores out:

1. value excludes shipping and tax. Send those in their own parameters.
2. Send both item_id and item_name. Google recommends both, and it makes product reports easier to read.

An items array can hold up to 200 products. Missing value or currency is the most common cause of zero revenue. Our guide on how to fix missing revenue in GA4 covers that problem in full.

The purchase event

The GA4 purchase event records a completed order and is the only event that adds revenue. GA4 marks it as a key event by default. It should fire once per WooCommerce order. A healthy purchase event looks like this:

gtag('event', 'purchase', {
  transaction_id: '1042',
  value: 78.00,
  tax: 6.24,
  shipping: 5.00,
  currency: 'USD',
  coupon: 'WELCOME10',
  items: [{
    item_id: 'HOODIE-01',
    item_name: 'Blue Cotton Hoodie',
    price: 39.00,
    quantity: 2
  }]
});

The transaction_id is the order number. GA4 uses it to drop duplicates. So if the same order fires twice with the same ID, GA4 counts it once. If two different orders share an ID, GA4 can drop a real sale.

The refund event (full and partial refunds)

The GA4 refund event subtracts a refunded order from your revenue. It must use the same transaction_id as the original purchase. Without it, GA4 never learns the money went back.

There are two refund types:

• Full refund: send refund with the order’s transaction_id, value and currency.
• Partial refund: also include the refunded products in items, each with item_id and quantity.

WooCommerce refunds happen in the admin, not on the storefront. So the refund event must be sent from the server or by a plugin. A tag on the thank-you page can’t catch it.

Which WooCommerce GA4 Events Does Analytify Send Automatically?

Analytify sends WooCommerce GA4 events automatically, with no code or Tag Manager setup. Its Enhanced E-Commerce Tracking for WooCommerce add-on does the work. The add-on is included in every Analytify Pro plan: StartUp, Agency and Developer.

Here is what Analytify sends for the purchase event:

• Every order parameter GA4 needs: transaction_id, value, tax, shipping, currency, coupon and items.
• A browser copy and a server copy. Both use the same transaction_id, so GA4 counts the order once. If the thank-you page never loads, the server copy still reaches GA4.
• No duplicates on reload. Refreshing the Order received page does not send the order again.
• Consent respected. The server copy is not sent for visitors who decline tracking.

Analytify also sends product view events, including view_item_list on shop pages and view_item on product pages.

You don’t need a Measurement Protocol secret either. Analytify creates it for you under Analytify > Settings > Advanced.

Want to see these events as reports instead of raw data? Analytify shows them inside WordPress under Analytify > Dashboards > Monetization > WooCommerce. Setup takes a few clicks, covered in the ecommerce tracking setup doc.

How to Verify Each GA4 Ecommerce Event

You verify GA4 ecommerce events with a test order. Watch each event arrive in DebugView as it fires. Then you confirm the order in GA4’s Monetization reports a day later. Four tools cover the job:

Tool	Where to find it	What it shows	How fast
DebugView	GA4 > Admin > Data display > DebugView	Every event and its parameters, from your test session only	Seconds
Tag Assistant	tagassistant.google.com	Which tags fire on each page you visit	Instant
Realtime report	GA4 > Reports > Realtime	Event counts from all visitors in the last 30 minutes	Seconds to minutes
Monetization reports	GA4 > Reports > Monetization	Final revenue, product and checkout data	Up to 24 to 48 hours

Before you start, check three things:

• Log out of WordPress, or use a private window. Many setups, Analytify included, skip events from logged-in admins by default.
• Turn off your ad blocker. Blockers stop GA4 requests before they leave the browser.
• Accept the cookie banner. Declined consent can block or reduce events.

Check events live in DebugView

DebugView is the best way to check event parameters, because it shows each event’s full details as it fires.

1. Open Tag Assistant and enter your store URL. This turns on debug mode for that tab.
2. In GA4, go to Admin > Data display > DebugView.
3. Browse your store in the Tag Assistant tab. Each event appears on the timeline within seconds.
4. Click an event, such as add_to_cart. Check that currency, value and items are there.
5. Click into items and confirm the product ID, name, price and quantity match the product.

Use Tag Assistant to see what fires on each page

Tag Assistant shows which events fire on which page. That helps you spot events on the wrong page. I’d use it to answer three questions:

• Does begin_checkout fire on the checkout page, not the cart page?
• Does add_to_cart fire once per click, not twice?
• Do add_shipping_info and add_payment_info fire when a method is chosen, not on page load?

Run a test order from start to finish

A full test order is the only way to confirm the whole funnel works in sequence. Use a test payment method, such as Cash on delivery or a gateway’s sandbox mode.

Note your order number. You’ll need it for the next step.

Confirm the data in Monetization reports

Monetization reports confirm that GA4 processed the events, not just received them. Google says data processing can take 24 to 48 hours. So wait that long after your test order, then open these three reports under Reports > Monetization:

• Ecommerce purchases: your test product shows views, add-to-carts and purchases.
• Checkout journey: each step shows at least one user.
• Transactions: find your order number in the Transaction ID column, with its revenue beside it.

If the order shows in DebugView but not in reports after 48 hours, I’d check currency first. A missing currency is the most common reason revenue reads zero. To read these reports in depth, see how to analyze sales and ecommerce metrics in GA4.

What to Do When a GA4 Ecommerce Event Is Missing

When an event is missing, find the symptom in the table below and apply the fix in that row. Most gaps trace back to a handful of causes. I’d start with the first row, because it’s the quickest to rule out.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
No events at all in DebugView	You’re logged in as admin, or an ad blocker is on	Test logged out, in a private window, with blockers off. More checks: Google Analytics not working
Orders missing from GA4	Thank-you page doesn’t load, or a payment gateway skips it	Follow WooCommerce Orders Not Showing in GA4?
Revenue shows as zero	currency or value missing	Add both to every event that has a value. See how to fix missing revenue in GA4
Purchases counted twice	Two tracking setups, or a changing transaction_id	Remove the second tag, then keep one ID per order. See how to run Analytify with custom GTM tracking
add_to_cart fires twice per click	The script is loaded twice	Check for a theme, plugin or Tag Manager tag that adds the same code
Checkout funnel looks wrong	begin_checkout fires on the cart page	Move it to the checkout page load
refund never appears	Refunds happen in admin, where no browser tag runs	Send refund from the server or a plugin
Events appear in DebugView but not in reports	Normal processing delay	Wait 24 to 48 hours before you troubleshoot. Still empty? See how to fix No Data Available in GA4

Fix one row at a time, then rerun the test order. Two changes at once make it hard to tell which one worked.

See Your WooCommerce GA4 Events Inside WordPress With Analytify

Analytify sends WooCommerce ecommerce events to GA4 without code. It then shows the results as reports in your WordPress dashboard. You skip Tag Manager, custom events and GA4’s report menus. For the full store setup, follow our WooCommerce conversion tracking guide.

Under Analytify > Dashboards > Monetization > WooCommerce, you get:

• Shopping Behavior: how shoppers move from product views to carts to orders.
• Checkout Behavior: each checkout step, so you can see where buyers leave.
• Product Performance: sales, transactions, average order value and refunds per product.
• Sales Performance: revenue over time.
• Coupons and refunds: which coupons get used and your refund rate.

Here’s how the two setups compare:

Task	Manual setup (code or Tag Manager)	Analytify Pro
Send the purchase event	Write a data layer and a tag	Activate the add-on
Back up orders when the thank-you page fails	Build a Measurement Protocol call	Included (server copy, same transaction_id)
Add currency, tax, shipping, coupon	Map each field by hand	Included
View revenue and product reports	GA4 > Reports > Monetization	Inside WordPress
Maintenance after WooCommerce updates	You retest and fix tags	Handled in plugin updates

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Steps

Your next step is one test order, checked in DebugView, against the 11 core events above. That single test tells you which events work and which need fixing.

A quick checklist:

• Log out and turn off your ad blocker
• Run a test order from category page to Order received page
• Confirm one purchase with the right transaction_id, value and currency
• Refund the test order and confirm the refund event
• Check Monetization reports 48 hours later

If you’d rather skip the code, Analytify Pro sends the WooCommerce events and shows the reports inside WordPress.

Further Reading

• Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking on WordPress (Explained)
• How to Set Up WooCommerce Conversion Tracking (Complete Guide)
• Understanding DebugView in Google Analytics 4
• GA4 vs Analytify eCommerce Metrics: Which Metrics to Trust and Why
• Micro-Conversions: How to Track the Signals That Drive Sales
• Google Analytics Best Practices for WordPress
• Best WooCommerce Plugins for WordPress (Top 10)