Questions about Amazon earnings.

1. 86

   aa liteposted 10 years ago

   My Amazon report for Saturday the 1st of March still shows 0 clicks and 0 sales. The other days have updated normally.
   
   Initially I assumed it might be a problem with Amazon reporting or a glitch, which would be fixed in time, but it's getting to be a rather old glitch.
   
   Strangely enough if I look at the items sold, I have an item listed for the 1st of March (so I assume it was shipped, because we only see items that were shipped). But I don't think I've been credited with the revenue.
   
   As long as it gets fixed in the end, I guess it doesn't matter, but it would be nice to know what is going on.

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is possible that the purchase made (completed) on the 1st, was from a Amazon capsule that the author clicked on the previous day as there is a time period after click in which the transaction if credited.
      http://askville.amazon.com/Amazon-pay-c … d=78981953

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      1. 86

         aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         There are no orders (or shipments) on the day before, and I have not been credited with the revenue from the item sold on shipped on Saturday.
         
         I had 40 clicks on Thursday, 24 clicks on Friday, 41 clicks on Sunday, etc. do you really think it is reasonable that I had 0 clicks on Saturday?
         
         I've emailed you with screenshots from my Amazon earnings, I would really appreciate you looking at this further.

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         1. 70

            Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            >>There are no orders (or shipments) on the day before, and I have not been credited with the revenue from the item sold on shipped on Saturday.
            
            It is not abnormal to have no clicks in a single day period.
            A person could have clicked the capsule on Friday and then not made a purchase until Saturday.
            If you look here, you can see earnings on March 1st from a sale.
            https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/amazon
            
            If you have any further questions about your specific account, please email us at team hubpages dot com

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            1. 86

               aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I had emailed you at team hub pages dot com!!!
               
               I have looked at my Amazon sales. They show there was a sale on that Saturday! See attached image!
               
               It is very abnormal for me not to have clicks on any one day!!!!! Hasn't happened for months!
               
               I know it is difficult to see the screenshots, but one report clearly shows I had an item shipped on March 1st, while the other shows that I had 0 items shipped. I am afraid simplistic explanations about how the Amazon program works are not really the solution here.
               

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      2. 86

         aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Ok here's a screenshot. Don't know if it will come up big enough for you to see.
         
         

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         1. 0

            calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            
            
            
            
            Just to be helpful, here are your enlarged images.  (To make them larger in the first place, upload them to your account first, and then grab the full-size url and code them manually in your post.)  I am interested in how your problem gets resolved because I am hesitant to switch over to the new program.  If reporting errors are left unresolved, I'd rather keep my own aff. id and accept the lower commission rate.

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            1. 86

               aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks so much for doing this, calculus-geometry, I have often wondered how to do this, now I know!.
               
               I've sent a couple of emails at team hub pages etc. No reply yet, I guess they are 'working on it'. In the meantime, I've switched over back to the normal Amazon affiliate code. I'll keep you informed if there are any other developments.

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               1. 87

                  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I must admit, looking at those figures, they look well beyond pure chance.
                  
                  My conversion rate (non-HP code) has been high this month, over ten per cent, for not wildly dissimilar items.

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                  1. 86

                     aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Well I've switched over to normal Amazon, I'll see whether things look up. I've had HP Amazon for almost a month now, and the conversion rate has been this bad throughout the period, so I think I've tested it long enough.

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2. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 10 years ago

   Paradigmsearch wanders by on a Saturday morning...

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   1. 86

      aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      And has Paradigmsearch noticed whether he had any clicks or sales last Saturday?

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      1. 61

         paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, he did. The numbers were 0 and 0.

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         1. 86

            aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            But can he be sure that these numbers represent the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth?
            
            My numbers are also 0 and 0. And yet in another place it claims a printer was sold. (Also I haven't had a day with less than 20 clicks for months now)

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            1. 61

               paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I've chalked it up to just another HP space-time anomaly.

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               1. 86

                  aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  You are probably right, but in that case it would be nice to get a formal announcement from the Captain or his Chief Communications Officer

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                  1. 61

                     paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Personally, it looks like I'll be switching to straight Amazon soon. I'm having a hard time believing my marketing skills are really that sucky; I'm becoming curious as to what direct Amazon stats would have to say.

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3. 80

   HollieTposted 10 years ago

   I'm also showing 0 clicks and sales for that day, but I rarely get clicks and sales at HP anyway.

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4. 93

   SmartAndFunposted 10 years ago

   When my stats for that day finally updated, there were 10 clicks and one sale for that day. This past Thursday I had 90 clicks and zero sales. I guess there's no predicting it.

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   1. 86

      aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So you got clicks for Saturday 1st March? The amazing thing with me is that I had 0 clicks, but I show an item shipped on that day, that was not ordered previously, that I didn't get the money for.
      
      I haven't had 0 clicks on a for months!

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5. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 10 years ago

   Well, sports fans...
   
                              Clicks 
   Fri, Mar 7, 2014    0   
   Thu, Mar 6, 2014    3   
   Wed, Mar 5, 2014    3   
   Tue, Mar 4, 2014    3   
   Mon, Mar 3, 2014    2   
   Sun, Mar 2, 2014    1   
   Sat, Mar 1, 2014    0   
   
   Switched to Amazon direct. Nothing to lose.

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   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      .
      In the interests of fairness and full disclosure, thought I'd do an update.
      
      Above are my stats while on the HP Amazon program. The awesome total is 12 clicks.
      
      On the Amazon direct program, my total clicks from March 8-13 inclusive? The awesome total is 10 clicks.
      
      So, as to my sales and marketing abilities, Amazon and HubPages both agree that I suck.
      
      Back to the drawing board.
      
      Will be wandering back to the HP program in due course. Might as well pick up that 8% when a sale actually does come along.

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6. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 10 years ago

   I shall spend a week or two becoming amazon report coordinated.
   
   Oh, good. Link-Type gives me impressions and clicks.
   
   If I see the same miserable stats, probably good-bye amazon capsules.
   
   If I don't see the same miserable stats, I'll poke HP with a stick.

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7. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 10 years ago

   I think it would help if you posted relevant screenshots of your Amazon reports, with your earnings and items blacked out of course, and the discrepancy highlighted. That way when the staff come in on Monday they can see exactly what you're talking about without you having to clarify and reclarify what the problem is.

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   1. 86

      aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks I might do that. But surely the staff can see into my account without me having to post it on a public forum. I guess I could email the screenshots to staff on Monday, if I get no answer. I was just wondering if other people still had a '0' for the 1st of March. Initially everybody's reports were delayed.

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8. 33

   Writer Foxposted 10 years ago

   It looks like HP tried this a couple of years ago, according to this old forum thread:
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/85072
   
   Does anyone know what happened when HP tried this before?

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   1. 94

      Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It's been in the pipeline all this time, so that post is the original announcement for the program that has just been implemented.

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   2. 96

      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      For some reason it was never implemented.  Perhaps Amazon, perhaps HP internal programming - I don't know.  Just that it was talked about, many hubbers were afraid of it and it never happened.

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      1. 33

         Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Well, that's odd.  Was there ever an explanation from HP about why it wasn't implemented?

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         1. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            As far as I'm aware, the problem was that they weren't able to finalize their agreement with Amazon at that time.

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9. 55

   descentiongalposted 10 years ago

   What I dont get here, and this is just me, is why is there no clear explanation about why this report shows constant daily earnings then one day with nothing. Few things can explain that, and it being accurate is not one of them. That is far from something that is normal. Most threads like this get put up and at least explained rationally within a few hours or even a day or two, but not this one. I am not trying to rock the boat, but what is the real deal here?

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   1. 86

      aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I suspect it's because Matt told me to email them about my account, perhaps they don't want this kind of discussion on a public forum.
      
      In case anyone is interested I sent two emails, on Monday, and have not had a reply to either of them.

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      1. 33

         Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe you should email Paul Deeds.  He seems to know the most about these types of questions.

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         1. 86

            aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            That's a good idea, if I can find his email. To be honest the loss from that 1st of March is $3.90 so it is not the end of the world. However I have changed to regular Amazon affiliate ID.
            
            One word of warning to anybody doing that, when you switch off your HP affiliate, make sure you put in your old Amazon ID back in, it doesn't do it automatically! I ended up without Amazon affiliation for one day before I noticed this!

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            1. 33

               Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               http://pauldeeds.hubpages.com/#email

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               1. 86

                  aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks!

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10. 86

    aa liteposted 10 years ago

    Just to say that I've been emailed by Matt, apparently HP engineers engineered a solution to the problem, and I've now got the money for that purchase. So all is good.

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    1. 33

       Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       So, what was the explanation about what happened and are you still going to keep the HP Amazon Ad Program?

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       1. 86

          aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Apparently there were some errors in how they got reports from Amazon. I'm not sure, yesterday I changed back to the Amazon Amazon program. I think I'm gonna stay with it for a bit and see whether my conversion rate improves.
          
          The one day discrepancy was less worrying than the fact that my conversion rate really fell after I switched. I'm still not clear whether there was any connection between the two. It is always possible that I just went through an 'unlucky period'.
          
          I really want to use the HP program, because getting $ cheques in the UK is a pain, but having a really bad conversion rate sucks.
          
          I might give it a bit of time to let the 'system' settle down, and see whether they can iron out any wrinkles.

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          1. 0

             calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Good to hear they credited you, thanks for updating us.

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          2. 33

             Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks for the info.
             
             I was going to switch on March 1st, but didn't.  I think I'm going to wait for some more feedback from people who are trying the new program now. I don't have time to monitor it as closely as you did and I don't want to make less than I'm making now on Amazon. I've been eating too many chickens; I think I'm turning into one.

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             1. 86

                aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                I do know that some people (wilderness perhaps) seem to be liking it. I think he (if it really was he) was enjoying getting 8%. I sell a lot of electronics which are capped at 4% so that is not such a big incentive for me.
                
                From what I've been able to see, I don't think the my problems are universal. But that still doesn't mean that they are not real, they might just not affect all accounts.  But it is also possible that I am going through a dry period. I will see what happens now that I am back with my own affiliate ID.

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                1. 96

                   wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   You're right - so far I'm pleased.  I can't detect any decrease in either clicks or conversions (not enough data).  The only shipment I had on Mar. 1 went at 7+% and it has gone up to 8+ since then (till today when something was capped at 4%).  I normally see 6%, so it is a definite increase in income.
                   
                   I do see something new, however - all my shipments this month are now earning 8+%; even the 7% has now jumped to 8+.  I didn't think that was supposed to happen on the HP plan.  Oddly, later ones are a quarter percent lower than early ones - wonder if there is still a glitch.  Or do dietary supplements all go at 8.5%?  More likely, those at 8.5% are all on the first, probably ordered last month, and should not be at that rate.

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