diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/appservice_events_table.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/appservice_events_table.go
index 53864b9d7..c6b23ac46 100644
--- a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/appservice_events_table.go
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/appservice_events_table.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS appservice_events_as_id ON appservice_events(as_id);
 `
 
 const selectEventsByApplicationServiceIDSQL = "" +
-	"SELECT event_id, origin_server_ts, room_id, type, sender, event_content FROM appservice_events " +
+	"SELECT id, event_id, origin_server_ts, room_id, type, sender, event_content FROM appservice_events " +
 	"WHERE as_id = $1 ORDER BY id ASC LIMIT $2"
 
 const countEventsByApplicationServiceIDSQL = "" +
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ const insertEventSQL = "" +
 	"VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8)"
 
 const deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingIDSQL = "" +
-	"DELETE FROM appservice_events WHERE event_id <= $1"
+	"DELETE FROM appservice_events WHERE id <= $1"
 
 type eventsStatements struct {
 	selectEventsByApplicationServiceIDStmt *sql.Stmt
@@ -93,19 +93,21 @@ func (s *eventsStatements) prepare(db *sql.DB) (err error) {
 }
 
 // selectEventsByApplicationServiceID takes in an application service ID and
-// returns a slice of events that need to be sent to that application service.
+// returns a slice of events that need to be sent to that application service,
+// as well as an int later used to remove these same events from the database
+// once successfully sent to an application service.
 func (s *eventsStatements) selectEventsByApplicationServiceID(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	applicationServiceID string,
 	limit int,
 ) (
-	eventIDs []string,
+	maxID int,
 	events []gomatrixserverlib.ApplicationServiceEvent,
 	err error,
 ) {
 	eventRows, err := s.selectEventsByApplicationServiceIDStmt.QueryContext(ctx, applicationServiceID, limit)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
+		return 0, nil, err
 	}
 	defer func() {
 		err = eventRows.Close()
@@ -119,7 +121,9 @@ func (s *eventsStatements) selectEventsByApplicationServiceID(
 	for eventRows.Next() {
 		var event gomatrixserverlib.ApplicationServiceEvent
 		var eventContent sql.NullString
+		var id int
 		err = eventRows.Scan(
+			&id,
 			&event.EventID,
 			&event.OriginServerTimestamp,
 			&event.RoomID,
@@ -128,12 +132,14 @@ func (s *eventsStatements) selectEventsByApplicationServiceID(
 			&eventContent,
 		)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, nil, err
+			return 0, nil, err
 		}
 		if eventContent.Valid {
 			event.Content = gomatrixserverlib.RawJSON(eventContent.String)
 		}
-		eventIDs = append(eventIDs, event.EventID)
+		if id > maxID {
+			maxID = id
+		}
 
 		// Get age of the event from original timestamp and current time
 		ageMilli := time.Now().UnixNano() / int64(time.Millisecond)
@@ -187,8 +193,8 @@ func (s *eventsStatements) insertEvent(
 // deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingID removes events matching given IDs from the database.
 func (s *eventsStatements) deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(
 	ctx context.Context,
-	eventID string,
+	eventTableID int,
 ) (err error) {
-	_, err = s.deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingIDStmt.ExecContext(ctx, eventID)
+	_, err = s.deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingIDStmt.ExecContext(ctx, eventTableID)
 	return err
 }
diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/storage.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/storage.go
index 12b8f0016..6046f1e51 100644
--- a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/storage.go
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/storage/storage.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func (d *Database) GetEventsWithAppServiceID(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	appServiceID string,
 	limit int,
-) ([]string, []gomatrixserverlib.ApplicationServiceEvent, error) {
+) (int, []gomatrixserverlib.ApplicationServiceEvent, error) {
 	return d.events.selectEventsByApplicationServiceID(ctx, appServiceID, limit)
 }
 
@@ -80,13 +80,14 @@ func (d *Database) CountEventsWithAppServiceID(
 	return d.events.countEventsByApplicationServiceID(ctx, appServiceID)
 }
 
-// RemoveEventsBeforeAndIncludingID removes events from the database given a slice of their
-// event IDs.
+// RemoveEventsBeforeAndIncludingID removes all events from the database that
+// are less than or equal to a given maximum ID. IDs here are implemented as a
+// serial, thus this should always delete events in chronological order.
 func (d *Database) RemoveEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(
 	ctx context.Context,
-	eventID string,
+	eventTableID int,
 ) error {
-	return d.events.deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(ctx, eventID)
+	return d.events.deleteEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(ctx, eventTableID)
 }
 
 // GetTxnIDWithAppServiceID takes in an application service ID and returns the
diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
index 671824a1c..5a511c43c 100644
--- a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func worker(db *storage.Database, ws types.ApplicationServiceWorkerState) {
 		ws.EventsReady = false
 		ws.Cond.L.Unlock()
 
-		eventIDs, events, err := db.GetEventsWithAppServiceID(ctx, ws.AppService.ID, transactionBatchSize)
+		maxID, events, err := db.GetEventsWithAppServiceID(ctx, ws.AppService.ID, transactionBatchSize)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.WithError(err).Errorf("appservice %s worker unable to read queued events from DB",
 				ws.AppService.ID)
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func worker(db *storage.Database, ws types.ApplicationServiceWorkerState) {
 		ws.Backoff = 0
 
 		// Remove sent events from the DB
-		err = db.RemoveEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(ctx, eventIDs[len(eventIDs)-1])
+		err = db.RemoveEventsBeforeAndIncludingID(ctx, maxID)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.WithError(err).Fatalf("unable to remove appservice events from the database for %s",
 				ws.AppService.ID)