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This guide sets up Upstack Data for a store that Meta has flagged or restricted under its Health & Wellness category. Upstack sends events to a new Meta dataset from its servers only, removes product details from them, and reports them from a separate alias domain instead of your store’s domain. How Upstack Data Solves Health & Wellness Restrictions →
Quick Summary
  • Register an alias domain and publish a one-page splash page on it.
  • In Meta Events Manager, create a new dataset, generate its Conversions API access token, and allow only the alias domain.
  • Turn off every other source that sends events to Meta.
  • In Upstack, add the Meta destination for the new dataset with Tracking Method set to Server. Then, on the Category Mode tab, turn on Restricted Category Mode and the Domain Alias.
  • Check that events arrive from the alias domain, wait 24 hours, then move your campaigns to the new dataset.

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When to use Restricted Category Mode

Use it when:
  • Meta has flagged your domain or categorized it as Health & Wellness
  • Meta has rejected your purchase event
  • You sell supplements, CBD, wellness products, or anything else Meta restricts
The standard Meta setup is enough when your brand is throttled but not categorized as Health & Wellness, or sells products next to that category but not in it. You can turn Restricted Category Mode on or off at any time on the Meta destination’s Category Mode tab.

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Prerequisites

Prefer a guided setup? Book an onboarding call and the Upstack team will go through these steps with you.

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Setup steps

1

Register an alias domain and publish a splash page

The alias domain is the domain Meta sees as the source of your events. It must:
  • Be new and never used with Meta, and not be a subdomain of your store’s domain.
  • Have a neutral name, with no health, medical, or product words (such as “wellness”, “vitamins”, “labs”, or “Dr”) and not the exact brand name Meta flagged.
  • Show one simple page: a headline and an image, with no logo, products, add-to-cart buttons, or links to your store.
  • Stay live. Meta won’t let you add the domain while the page is down.
The domain only needs to serve that page. No DNS records point at Upstack.How to Set Up an Alias Domain for Health & Wellness Tracking →
2

Create a new dataset in Meta

A flagged pixel stays flagged, so Health & Wellness tracking always goes to a new dataset. A pixel that has never received any events also works.
  1. Sign in to Meta Events Manager.
  2. In the left menu, click Connect data.
  3. In Connect a new data source, select Web and click Next. Meta Events Manager: Connect a new data source, with Web, App, Offline, CRM and Messaging
  4. In Connect your data, click Create new dataset. Meta Events Manager: Connect your data, with the Create new dataset link
  5. Under Enter a name, name the dataset (for example, Brand Name - Clean Pixel). Leave Add the Conversions API for web events to all new and existing datasets… unticked, then click Create. Meta Events Manager: Create a new dataset, with Enter a name and the Create button
  6. Note the new dataset’s ID, a 15–16 digit number shown under its name in Datasets.
Don’t connect the dataset to anything else, and don’t send it any events from your store’s domain.
3

Generate a Conversions API access token

Generate an access token for the new dataset. You’ll paste it into Upstack as the Conversion API Key.How to Generate My Facebook Conversion API Key →
4

Allow only the alias domain on the new dataset

  1. In Events Manager, click Datasets and select the new dataset.
  2. Click the Settings tab and scroll to Traffic permissions - Websites.
  3. Click Create allow list. Traffic permissions - Websites section of the dataset settings, with Allow list, Block list and the Create allow list button
  4. In Manage traffic permissions, on Add to allow list, type the alias domain in Enter a domain and click Next. Meta confirms it under Added to allow list, together with all its subdomains. Click Close. Meta Manage traffic permissions dialog: Add to allow list tab, Enter a domain and Next
Don’t add your store’s domain, and don’t add the alias domain to your old pixel.With the allow list on, Meta rejects events from any other domain, so turn on the domain alias in Upstack before any events are sent.You don’t need to verify any domain in Business Manager or Brand Safety → Domains.
5

Turn off other sources that send events to Meta

Any other source that sends events from your store’s domain can get the new dataset flagged. Before you go live:
  • Turn off data sharing in the Shopify Facebook & Instagram app, or uninstall it. See How to Disable Facebook and Instagram Data Sharing in Shopify.
  • Turn off Meta events in other tracking apps, such as Triple Whale Sonar, Elevar, or Stape.
  • Remove any Meta pixel code hardcoded in your theme (theme.liquid and custom snippets).
  • In Events Manager, check the new dataset’s integrations and disconnect any other than Upstack.
6

Set up the Meta destination with Restricted Category Mode

In Upstack, add a Meta Ads destination for the new dataset:
  1. Set Tracking Method to Server, and enter the dataset’s ID in Meta Pixel ID and its access token in Conversion API Key.
  2. On the Category Mode tab, turn on Enable Restricted Category Mode (click Enable in the dialog) and Enable Domain Alias, and enter the alias domain in Domain Alias, such as https://youraliasdomain.com.
  3. Click Create Destination. Upstack Category Mode tab: Enable Restricted Category Mode and Enable Domain Alias turned on, and the Domain Alias field
Every screen and click, including how to change an existing destination: How to Set Up Restricted Category Mode for Meta in Upstack Data.With Restricted Category Mode on, Upstack never loads the Meta browser tag on your store. It replaces product names with placeholders and reports each event from the alias domain with a hashed path. Without the domain alias, events still carry your store’s domain. See How Data Sanitization Protects Health & Wellness Stores.
7

Check events on the new dataset

Events usually show up within about 2 hours. In Meta Events Manager, open the new dataset’s Overview or Test Events and confirm:
  • Events arrive through the Conversions API.
  • The Event Source URL is your alias domain, not your store’s domain.
Meta receives the standard events, such as Purchase. It also receives custom events: ncPurchase, rcPurchase, and the legacy UPSTACK_HW_* events, which Upstack still sends alongside the standard ones. If Meta asks you to review the custom events, approve them. Optimize your campaigns on the standard Purchase event and ignore the UPSTACK_HW_* events.To optimize on new or returning customers, create custom conversions once ncPurchase and rcPurchase show up. See Set Up NC and RC Purchase Events in Meta.
8

Wait 24 hours, then move your campaigns

If Meta flags the new dataset again, it usually happens within the first 24 hours. Wait 24 hours before you launch campaigns on it.Then:
  1. Clone your campaigns onto the new dataset and optimize toward the standard Purchase event.
  2. Move your spend over within about 10 days.
  3. Stop using the old pixel. If its destination is still connected in Upstack, switch it off.
Meta doesn’t deduplicate between datasets. While campaigns run on both, one order can be counted by campaigns on each.

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Troubleshooting

Usually this means the alias domain or its page looked branded or health-related, or another source sent events from your store’s domain. Use a neutral domain and page, turn off the other sources, and set up another new dataset.
The splash page must be live before Meta accepts the domain. Check that the page loads, then add the domain again.
Update Domain Alias on the Meta destination’s Category Mode tab, then click Save Changes. Add the new domain to the dataset’s allow list too (Settings → Traffic permissions).
If your stores run ads from one ad account, send them all to one new dataset: Meta doesn’t deduplicate between datasets, and one dataset gets more data to learn from. Each store needs its own Upstack account, and each store’s Meta destination can point to the same dataset with the same alias domain.
Tell the Upstack team before going live if you use a third-party checkout, such as Phoenix or Checkout Champ, so tracking can be set up for it.

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Need help?

Reach out in your shared Slack channel or contact support with your new dataset’s ID.