example-commerce-host.com

Example domain · not a real service

example-commerce-host.com

A stand-in for a third-party shopping cart in documentation about measuring visitors across domains. In those guides, a shop at example-petstore.com sends its visitors to a cart on another domain, such as example-commerce-host.com/example-petstore. There is no cart, checkout or payment page here.

Updated

Sent a key, token, password or payment details here? Rotate them.

Code that still points at example-commerce-host.com sends its requests to this server instead of the real shop or payment provider, including any API key, access token, password, session cookie or card details in them. Treat those as exposed:

  1. Revoke or delete the key, token or password at the real service.
  2. Issue a new one and store it where your code reads it, not in the code itself.
  3. If real card details were sent, contact the card issuer.
  4. Fix the address in your code, so the new credentials only go to the real service.

Where this domain appears

In every example below, the highlighted part is what to replace with your own.

Google Analytics · Tag Manager

A shop and a third-party cart

The classic cross-domain example: the shop runs at www.example-petstore.com, the checkout at a shopping cart provider on another domain. Without cross-domain measurement, a visitor who moves from the shop to the cart is counted as a new visitor, and the sale is no longer linked to how they found the shop. Older snippets linked the two domains in code:

_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);

<a href="https://www.example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart/"
   onclick="_gaq.push(['_link', this.href]); return false;">Checkout</a>

These lines belong to Classic Analytics (ga.js), which no longer collects data, just like Universal Analytics. In Google Analytics 4, both domains go into the admin instead: Admin, Data streams, your web stream, Configure tag settings, Configure your domains. Enter your own shop and the domain of your own cart provider.

Paths per shop

One cart domain, several shops

Because a cart provider serves many shops, the examples give each shop its own folder on the cart domain:

https://www.example-commerce-host.com/example-petstore
https://www.example-commerce-host.com/petStoreCart
https://www.example-commerce-host.com/example-store/

Guides on measuring folders separately use pairs such as /myStore/ and /myCart/ on the same domain. On this server, each of those paths leads to this page.

Sister domain

The shop itself: example-petstore.com

The shop side of these examples, and the other places where it turns up (the sitelinks search box markup, site moves in Search Console, API and scraping tutorials), are described on example-petstore.com.

Landed here from your own site or code?

Questions and answers

What is example-commerce-host.com?

An example domain. In documentation about measuring visitors across domains, it stands in for a third-party shopping cart: a shop at example-petstore.com sends its visitors to a cart at an address such as example-commerce-host.com/example-petstore.

Is example-commerce-host.com a real shopping cart or payment service?

No. There is no cart, checkout or payment page, and nothing can be bought or paid here. Every address on the domain shows this explanation.

Why do visitors or requests from my shop end up at example-commerce-host.com?

Because a cart address from an example was copied and never replaced, in a link, a tracking snippet or a script. Replace it with the checkout address your cart provider gave you.

I sent card details, a key or a password to example-commerce-host.com. What now?

Treat them as exposed. Revoke keys, tokens and passwords at the real service and issue new ones; if real card details were sent, contact the card issuer.

How do I measure visitors across my shop and my cart provider in Google Analytics 4?

In the admin rather than in code: Admin, Data streams, your web stream, Configure tag settings, Configure your domains. Enter the domain of your own shop and that of your own cart provider.

What is example-petstore.com?

The sister example domain: the shop side of the same examples. See example-petstore.com.

Sources