Enforce caps at the tracker vs at the network — where to put the ceiling

Enforce caps at the tracker vs at the network — where to put the ceiling

Daily/offer caps can live in two places. Putting them in the wrong one wastes spend or burns offers.

Cap at the tracker when:
— You want to redirect overflow to a fallback offer instead of dead clicks.
— You're protecting your own budget pacing, not the advertiser's cap.
— You need the cap to reset on your timezone.

Cap at the network when:
— It's the advertiser's hard cap — they enforce it regardless.
— You'd rather get redirected/rejected than overspend on uncredited clicks.

Tradeoffs to log:
— Tracker cap = you control overflow routing but you must keep your number synced to theirs.
— Network cap = authoritative but overflow clicks are pure waste (paid, not credited).
— Mismatched caps: tracker higher than network = you pay for clicks the network won't credit.

Rule: set the tracker cap 5-10% below the network cap and route overflow to a backup offer. Never let the tracker cap exceed the network's.

Save this SOP. Run this before every launch.