Glitch in Amazon earnings for May 2020

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   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years ago

   This message is for Matt and the team at HP.
   
   Starting May 1st 2020, and all dates following, all my Amazon sales (within the HP earning program) have been recorded as having 0% commission rate. These are not Amazon Fresh items, nor returns. Please can you investigate as this is seriously denting my income.

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   1. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      We are looking into this issue now and will address it. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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         weezyschannelposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         What is the deal? No update, emails or notices from HP

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Matt updated us on another thread. Basically, the same thing, a glitch in data on Amazons end and they are responding slowly during the covid-19 situation.

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   2. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      There appears to be an issue with Amazon's data. Once Amazon corrects their data, we will update your earnings.

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         viryaboposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you very much Matt. Such a relief.

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         Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Matt. I’m just adding myself here too so you include me when you solve the problem.  All my "earnings rates" for sales in May are zero also.

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         Alison Grahamposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         We are now at the end of May and the problem with Amazon earnings has not been resolved. It is a little worrying that there has been no update from HubPages staff regarding progress (or lack of it) in this matter. Can you tell us anything further Matt?

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            Kierstin Gunsbergposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I agree. I’m hesitant to invest any more of my time into HubPages when half my earnings are unaccounted for.

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         2. STAFF

            Matt Wellsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            We are still working on resolving this issue. I apologize for the inconvenience.

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               Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Really? What exactly is this issue that only Hubpages appears to be experiencing.  What is our new commission rate? Whose side is this issue on HP or Amazon? What is the nature of this issue?

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               Alison Grahamposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               I appreciate that you can’t tell us anything before you know yourself - but I’m sure you appreciate that many of us rely on the income we receive each month. The longer this goes on, many of us can see the prospect of one or more months without the Amazon part of our HubPages earnings. It would be helpful if you could tell us whether you are making progress and whether you have a date when this might be resolved.

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               Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Matt, Would it be possible to let us know the nature of the issue? I realize you might have a NDA that limits your ability to share any info. But if you can at least let us know if it's a software issue or something else, that would be appreciated.

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               1. STAFF

                  Matt Wellsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  There is an issue with earnings data provided by Amazon. When we receive the data, we will update the earnings.

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                     paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Yeah, I consider it a given that Amazon is the problem and not HP. I've been hearing bad things about them all over the place.

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                        Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Can you post a link to some of these bad things regarding not paying affiliates or reporting them?  I am an Amazon affiliate, and they are still reporting to little ole me.

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                           paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           All I remember is that Amazon gutted the commission rates and there have been problems and complaints ever since. I just now did a Google search, it proved interesting...

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                           Cynthia Hooverposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           Same. I am an Amazon influencer on my social channels, still get earnings reports stats updated regularly without issues.

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                     robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     lol

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               2. STAFF

                  Matt Wellsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  We are doing our best to resolve this issue. We will continue to contact Amazon, but there is a severe delay in their account services because of COVID-19. As soon as we receive the data, we will update Hubber earnings.

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                     PaulGoodman67posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks for the update, Matt!

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                     Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Problems with account services should have no impact on determining our current commission rate. What is the agreement with Amazon for our commission rates after April 21st?
                     
                     Thank you in advance.

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                     Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Matt,
                     How much effort have you put into this?  It's been 30 days. It's time to handle the problem. There is no exchange. People are still buying items through our sites, which Amazon is making money. Let's get our due.
                     Interestingly, I can't believe Amazon, being so big that they can't manage their data correctly. I know their software is state of the art. 
                     On my other accounts with Amazon, there appears to be no problem.

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                        Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        IKR

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                     Deb Vesco Robertsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     I stopped seeing sales on April 21. Some say they can still see they are making sales, but can't see the commission. I generally have sales every day, so I'd expect to see sales as well, but don't. My personal Amazon affiliate account continues to still pay me commissions without issue. Can you please tell us exactly what's going on so we can stop speculating?

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                        wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        https://hubpages.com/community/forum/34 … ost4140721

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                        Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        I agree, Deb.

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                        lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        I do see earnings up to the 30th of April. I see sales with no commissions from the 1st to the 4th of May.

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                           Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           Brandon,
                           Where are you see these stats?

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                              lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                              https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/amazon You may have to click see more if your sales from May 1 to 4th take up the already visible section to get to April.

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                                 Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                 Thanks!

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   DrMark1961posted 4 years ago

   I just checked mine when I saw this. It has the same problem.

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   wildernessposted 4 years ago

   Same here.  Over 20 sales in May, but a negative earnings from a few returns.  All "earnings rates" are zero, or negative for those returns.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 4 years ago

   Yep, all zeros or negatives - it's messed up, not seen this happen before.

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   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   Me too.

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   viryaboposted 4 years ago

   Same here too. This is quite distressing.

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   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years ago

   Thanks Matt. Much appreciated.

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   lobobrandonposted 4 years ago

   Thanks, Matt and Beth, just came to the forums to see if anyone else had the probleem.

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   Deb Vesco Robertsposted 4 years ago

   Following.

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    Glenn Stokposted 4 years ago

    Matt, it's been two weeks since your last post above. I hope you see this on Monday and let us know the status. I'm sure you can understand that this is a great concern for all of us, just as I realize it's a concern for HubPages too.
    
    After all, if Hubbers are losing half our residuals (assuming Amazon is half of HubPages earnings as it is for me), then that means HubPages is losing half also. So some feedback on what's taking place would be appreciated.

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    Nell Roseposted 4 years ago

    My earnings are appalling at the moment. Didn't make the deadline last month, and now my earnings this month are not even near last months. maybe hubpages needs to lower the threshold at this time for all of us as now more than ever the little bit of earnings comes in handy.

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       weezyschannelposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Agreed! I don't even have any incentive to write. I turned off articles that weren't performing well to see if it would help. Less than .$.50 a day is meaningless for hub earnings. Amazon earnings are only thing that helps. Used to meet threshold every month...now it's every 3 to 4!

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    Deb Vesco Robertsposted 4 years ago

    I just received this response from HP:
    
    "There is an issue with Amazon data. Once Amazon resolves this issue and provides us with earnings data we will update your earnings. This is a sitewide issue."

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    Jonathan Wylieposted 4 years ago

    Still no news? It's been almost a month...

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       Deb Vesco Robertsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Nope and it's a bunch of b.s. to not tell us EXACTLY what the issue is and what to expect

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    hclpdposted 4 years ago

    While I don't make as much money from Amazon as some of you folks, it makes me kind of worried.

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    Glenn Stokposted 4 years ago

    I also see sales up to April 30th, and I received payment for them at the old 8.5% rate despite the fact that Amazon reduced the rate as of April 21st.
    
    I also have sales from May 1 to May 4th, but they show zero earnings. After May 4th I only have a "pending" status with no data on sales.
    
    My private Amazon account on my own website has no reporting problems.

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       theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Same.

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    Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years ago

    The good news: Amazon earnings are now showing on our accounts.
    
    The bad news: commission rates are cut by more than half! Yikes.
    
    The figures are painful to see, but anything is better than seeing nothing.

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       Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       That's hellish. Amazon must be dealt with. Not by me or you, or anyone at Hubpages or Maven.
       
       So we need another store to sell from. One which pays decent commissions.

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          DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          I agree but do not know of another company that is marketing in this way. Do you suggestions that we can make to HP? An alternative would be great.

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             Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Shareasale is one of several programs that could work.  We would have to individually change our product links over and then HP staff approve those new products, which would be a lot of work for them, given how controlling they have been in the past regarding product links.
             
             Here is ShareASales sampling of merchants.  Cherrybrook is one of their merchants not listed under pets, but their site carries 17,000 items, so we would be able to find a lot of products there to suit the pet niche.
             
             https://www.shareasale.com/out-programs.cfm
             
             Others are Avantlink, Clickbank is for digital product,  Awin is the largest affiliate marketing platform with over 15,000 advertisers, 200,000 active publishers, and it generated 139 million sales in 2018.
             
             There are options, if they want to go there.

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                Em Clarkposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                I would love to see HubPages give us other options for affiliate links.

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       Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I show 2 items shipped,  no earnings.

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          Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          @Kenna
          Have you had any returns? Take a look at the detail of the "Amazon Sales Report" for that date.
          
          If that doesn't explain the zero, you could post a screenshot and perhaps someone here can spot the issue.

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             Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Yes. I have some returns.

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          Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          It appears on one of my sales that I had a return and got 100% of the return fee, lowering my net earnings from 60% to around 50%.  I requested someone look into that on another thread.

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             Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             I don’t see that problem. I examined several returns in my account. Each one shows the same dollar amount debited for the return that was previously posted as earnings for the sale.

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       eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       8% to 3% for home and garden before we get our 60% cut of that.

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       Butterfly67posted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, a lot of mine are now showing at 1% commission but like you say, better than nothing I guess

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    eugbugposted 4 years ago

    I wish we could earn from Amazon UK ads. Some of my articles are read mostly by UK readers. Amazon.com ads aren't of much use.

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       Alison Grahamposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Same here - being able to show Amazon ads for the country the reader is viewing the article from would help - but it would help Amazon more - and right now, I don’t feel very charitable towards them!!

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       Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Yes and UK Amazon did not get the commission cuts that USA Amazon did.

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       Cynthia Hooverposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I would think HP could actually work towards this. I am also an amazon influencer outside of the amazon affiliate earnings here. As such I do have the option to monetize traffic for international viewers so it shows relevant ads based on the country the viewer is from. I would think if there was enough international traffic that perhaps that is something HP could negotiate towards for our articles considering the ability to do so does exist?

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    Deb Vesco Robertsposted 4 years ago

    The commissions are finally showing up but severely lower than before! I have one article that produces most of my amazing earnings and I made pennies. I have an Amazon affiliate account for my personal blog—am I allowed to use that Instead now? I still get a good percentage from that.

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       Kenna McHughposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I don't see why not, but perhaps Samantha and let you know. Good luck!

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