Fees report vs Orders report: you're reading the wrong number

Fees report vs Orders report: you're reading the wrong number
The Associates dashboard shows Ordered Items (clicked) and Shipped Items (paid). New affiliates optimize on Ordered and get surprised.
n=30 days, typical gap:
— Ordered Items: 1,000
— Returned/cancelled: ~9-12%
— Shipped (what you're actually paid on): ~880-910
EPC and conversion must be calculated on Shipped, not Ordered, or you'll overstate page performance by ~10-12% and mis-rank your content.
So what: always reconcile against the Fees report (shipped + paid), not the live Orders feed. Your "best" page might just be your highest-return page.