Kontera Is Officially A SCAM By My Records

1. 71

   Inspirepubposted 14 years ago

   Hi all,
   
   I have been keeping a careful record of the Kontera earnings, since someone commented, and I noticed, that my earnings seemed to be hovering just under the payout level, month after month.
   
   I have now discovered why.
   
   I saved the detailed report each month for a couple of months, and I have proof positive that Kontera is deleting my earnings from the early months that I had it switched on.
   
   I have always earned more than $5 a month, so that was not an issue.
   
   However, Kontera only retains 5 months of earnings on its records. As of right now, everything I earned before November 1 last year has been deleted.
   
   This means that in order to make it to payout level ($100), you need to earn more than $20 a month. Any less than that and it gets whittled away as fast as you earn it.
   
   This means there is only a handful of people on HubPages with enough traffic to have any hope of ever getting any money out of Kontera.
   
   The rest of us are simply cannibalising our Adsense revenue, enriching Kontera and the HubPages team, and gaining nothing at all from the exercise.
   
   I will be switching it off, and I would ask the HubPages team to revise the information about Kontera to make it quite clear than only people with incredibly large amounts of traffic to their Hubs should switch it on.
   
   I get over 10,000 views per month on my Hubs, and that is not enough to average the $20 per month required to ever make the payout figure. It is a little over half.
   
   My guideline would be to trial it when you reach around 17,000 page views per month on your Hubs, and not before.
   
   I am somewhat pissed off about the whole exercise, especially since Mark Knowles raised these concerns when Kontera was first suggested. It seems a bit cynical of HubPages to implement it without a strong warning to innocent Hubbers, knowing that the HubPages share would be big enough to hit the payout limit either way.
   
   If you get less than 17,000 page views per month, switch Kontera off!
   
   Jenny

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   1. 66

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hopefully someone somewhere can shed more light onto the whole Kontera debacle.
      
      I'm still not happy that they have the audacity to remove anything under $5 per month from a persons account. But whatever they're doing with this other bit is confusing and leaves a lot to the imagination.

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   2. 57

      guidebabaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I Agree. KONTERA is a SCAM. They did the same thing to me and now they don't allow me to Sign-In with the correct e-mail ID and Password.

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   3. 81

      LiamBeanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I never used it; can't stand pop-up ads triggered by a misplaced mouse pointer. I figured none of my readers would appreciate that either.
      
      Adsense on the other hand pays out, provides good interaction (I always know my daily earnings) and is not a scam.

      replyreport
2. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   I got rid of it a while ago.

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3. 69

   cindyvineposted 14 years ago

   Have never bothered with Kontera or adsense

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4. 72

   Maddie Ruudposted 14 years ago

   Hi Jenny:
   
   Just a note, Kontera's help section reassures users that no data has been lost, they simply do not display reports older than 180 days:
   
   
   
   We do warn users in our FAQ that if you don't have a lot of traffic, it's not worth signing up for Kontera.  If you have a suggestion as to how we can give a "strong(er) warning" to people, we're very open to hearing it.

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   1. 71

      Inspirepubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am aware of this Maddie, and yet I would have reached the payout level by now if they weren't deleting the money from my "account" each month. They may have kept records of what they have subtracted from my account each month, but that won't get me paid.
      
      I would suggest a warning which specifically mentions reaching a minimum number of page views per month before you turn it on.
      
      My Adsense earnings were more than $50 per month, but that was because Adsense pays well for many of the keywords on my Hubs, and Kontera doesn't, so $50 in Adsense earnings is not a particularly good indicator.
      
      You could ask the Hubbers who are getting paid by Kontera how much they are making in Adsense on HubPages, and use that number. I'll lay odds it's more than $50.
      
      Jenny

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5. STAFF

   pauldeedsposted 14 years ago

   On their help page they mention that the reporting tool only shows 6 months worth of data, which seems to be consistent with what you are seeing  They also suggest using the contact form to resolve payment issues.  Have you done so, and gotten no response or an unsatisfactory response from Kontera? (they also mention that it can take up to 3 days to get a response)

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   1. 71

      Inspirepubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Does it count as a "payment issue" that your account hovers between $50 and $80, and never quite reaches $100?
      
      
      
      Jenny

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      1. STAFF

         pauldeedsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Well, they claim that they have record of your earnings outside of the 6 month window and just don't show them in the reports.  That does seem kind of lame, and a bit suspicious to me.  I think we're all curious what their response will be to the whereabouts of your missing earnings.  Please forward along any communications you have with Kontera to team@hubpages.com and we'll do what we can.

         replyreport
   2. 83

      Whitney05posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I've contacted them before when I received payment less than what my account said I was owed. They said that my payment was right and my account showed a payment I would get the next month (which is this month), but when I further questioned them, I never received another response. It's been about a month, and I still haven't received the payment they claimed I was still owed.
      
      My further question was pretty much asked, why with my previous payout, the exact dollar and change WAS listed in the same spot in my account as I now see a dollar amount that wasn't put in my account. And further questioned why I was about $30+ short.
      
      I've since deleted Kontera, and my Adsense has increased, on average, so I highly doubt I enable it again.

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      1. 61

         lawrettaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         HI DEAR, I ONLY USE AD SENSE, AMAZON,AND EBAY.

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6. 57

   lindagoffiganposted 14 years ago

   Done.

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7. 0

   TheSandmanposted 14 years ago

   Maddie apparently is either naive or working for the company. Read my Hub Called "The Dream" you will see my feelings. WE are all selling ourselves cheap or free we are the talent that keeps Hub Pages alive. I have worked for Westwood One Broadcasting owned By CBS owned by Viacom,  the biggest media company in the world is Viacom and I know first hand how they rip off the talent to profit the few.

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   1. 76

      Lissieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Sandman - that's your problem you are thinking like a writer for hire - no thanks I don't like being told to write by an editor and then paid or not paid after I've written it :-)
      
      You are not selling yourself - if you want to make money online you should be working out what your customer wants and then writing a hub which fulfills that need.

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   2. 81

      LiamBeanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Maddie is not naive and she's a hubpages employee. Be nice to her; she's got a lot to do.

      replyreport
8. 0

   TheSandmanposted 14 years ago

   PS...try all the avenues you want you will not win against the majors, and if you want to win you will have to take them to the carpet, investigate , report and confirm.

   replyreport
9. 60

   GeneriqueMediaposted 14 years ago

   Kontera is most annoying to me, and if I don't like it...I certainly won't bug my patrons with it.
   
   G|M

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   1. 81

      LiamBeanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Perzactly!

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10. 62

    rancidTasteposted 14 years ago

    I think Kontera isn't suitable for me. I also figured out the same problem. There is no clear description about the earnings like Google AdSense. So, it's quite hard to me to use and calculate the total earnings.
    
    I even don't know how to find out total earnings in Konterar. I tried many times but I failed to figure out the total earnings of my account.
    
    After reading this thread posts, I'm thinking I would remove Kontera adds form my pages. I don't know whether it's a good idea or bad idea....???
    
    ....

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11. 65

    WeddingConsultantposted 14 years ago

    Thank you lawretta...I haven't had the chance to use this in a while:
    
    

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12. 0

    shinujohn2008posted 14 years ago

    I contacted them last week regarding the same doubt.
    
    They informed me as follows,
    
    "If you want to see your overall revenues earned since you joined, please send us an e-mail with that request through the "Help" tab in the Kontera Publisher Center. In the "Select Issue" field please select "Payment Issue" from the drop-down menu and your request will be automatically directed to our Accounting Department that will issue the comprehensive revenue report per you request"
    
    When i made the request , they mailed me my Total earnings.
    
    Also when i enquired why Total unpaid earnings was not available in Reports, Kontera Team replied as follows,
    
    "We are currently working to provide complete revenue history reports again in the coming months and thank you for your patience as we implement this much needed upgrade"

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13. 62

    rancidTasteposted 14 years ago

    After hearing to all of you and after checking my Kontera account, I think Kontera is not suitable for me..... So...I disable all of the Kontera ads from my hubs...
    
    I think my Googel AdSense income will be grow now ....
    
    I don't know whether I take the right or wrong decision. But I think I'm right.
    
    [Thanks all of you to tell about Kontera.]

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14. 71

    Inspirepubposted 14 years ago

    I emailed Kontera with my concerns and they immediately paid me $106.31.
    
    While I am glad to have the money, it appears to me that I wouldn't have it if I hadn't been keeping my own records and asked for it when it was due.
    
    That is WAY too much effort for the measly amount of money that Kontera pays.
    
    There is no logical or technical reason why they can't display the total unpaid earnings online. If the info is available to the people who answer emails, it can be available to the publisher, too.
    
    Until their accounting is transparent and accurate, I'll stay away, I think.
    
    HubPages team, you are probably a big enough customer that you could successfully apply some pressure to them to smarten up their act.
    
    I am happy to let Kontera run if the money turns up in my Paypal account without me having to run my own set of accounts and take manual action to get paid correctly.
    
    Jenny

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    1. 72

       thranaxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I am with Jenny on this one...I like knowing how much I have total all the time without monthly restrictions. Adsense ALWAYS shows total income total. I wish Kontera would imply that as well, because especially my income from Kontera is low enough it will not reach half in 6 months but I still wish to use it in case of a change.
       
       ~thranax~

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    2. 83

       Whitney05posted 14 years agoin reply to this

       That's good to hear... I'm about to email again in regards to my situation...

       replyreport
15. 61

    Weigh-lessposted 14 years ago

    Stay away from Kontera and adsense they are both scams. Kontera pays very low, and it is not worth the trouble. And adsense disables your account when you hit the $100.0 paid out. Google adsense does not want to pay, so they just disable accounts, stay away! Can anyone recommend a trustworthy company?

    replyreport
    1. 79

       Uninvited Writerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I have been paid by AdSense 6 times...they are not a scam.

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       1. 92

          habeeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Adsense always pays me every month, with no probs!

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    2. 72

       relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I think your HubScore tells the story of your troubles better than your words.
       
       I get paid regularly by both AdSense and Kontera.  If you are building quality web content, neither program is a scam.

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    3. 70

       thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I get paid by Kontera and Adsense with no issues whatsoever. I have earned hundreds through Kontera, and tens of thousands with Adsense.
       
       Adsense definately does not delete your account without reason.

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