Adsense thinks that I won't receive a payment this month

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   Aya Katzposted 13 years ago

   Since my current balance in Google Adsense is nearly $150, I was expecting that I would receive a payment this month *Feb." But when I went and clicked "when will I be paid" this morning, this is what it said:
   
   "A payment will not be issued this month. Your unpaid earnings prior to February 1, 2011 was calculated to be ninety-two [I'm rounding off b/c of Google prohibition on sharing exact numbers]. Payments are issued within 30 days after the end of the month in which your unpaid earnings reach $100.00."
   
   Actually, the sum they mentioned was my unpaid earnings at the end of December. This is not the first time that something weird like this has happened. Has this happened to anyone else?

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      Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I've never had any problems with them. It took me a while to figure out just when you get your checks, but it's always been right, sorry.

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         Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Bill. Now I feel really lonely, though. I wonder why they picked my account to do this to?

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            Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Are you sure your looking at it right? It can be a bit confusing trying to figure out when several months of payment finally add up to over $100.00.
            
            Then you have to wait till the next month to get that. If it really seems to be a mistake I would send them an email, can't hurt.

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               Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I don't think it's that confusing. They give me a daily balance, and today's daily total balance is just a couple of dollars short of one hundred and fifty dollars. Besides, the ending balance for January they now quote on the payment page is the exact same number they gave for December's ending balance.
               
               Where do I email them about this? Is there a specific address for this kind of thing?

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                  Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  They don't make it easy to contact them. I'd just hit that "help" link in the top right and see where you can contact them. Have you looked at your "view payment history" link?
                  
                  That gives you detailed payment info and when to expect your next one. If that is what your referring to then sorry I asked. Maybe someone else knows more and will chime in here.

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                     Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I did look at the payment history, too. It doesn't show January earnings yet at all. So, maybe Wilderness is right that this will fix itself in about ten days.

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                  Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I doubt you need to. You have simply misunderstood how they accrue and when they pay.
                  
                  I have been getting monthly payments from Google since 2003. They have never, ever screwed anything up in any way. They pay when they say they will. You have misunderstood.
                  
                  I know it must be frustrating, especially if this is your first payment - you've waited a long time! - but it will come, and from the looks of it, it will be March.
                  
                  By the way, my wife gets confused by this all the time. She looks at the reports and is always surprised to find the actual deposit is less.  I keep explaining it, but she keeps expecting the larger number

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                     Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     It's not my first payment. I think it's my fourth.
                     
                     It's the plain English of their message:
                     
                     "A payment will not be issued this month. Your unpaid earnings prior to February 1, 2011 was calculated to be ninety-two [I'm rounding off b/c of Google prohibition on sharing exact numbers]. Payments are issued within 30 days after the end of the month in which your unpaid earnings reach $100.00."
                     
                     Wouldn't it have been better to say:
                     
                     "We do not yet know whether a payment will be issued this month. Your unpaid earnings prior to January 1, 2011 were just short of one hundred dollars. We have not yet verified your January earnings. We will know whether a payment will be issued this month after February 10, 2011. Please check this page again on that date."

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      Susana Sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The payments that people are receiving now are for up to the 31st December. Jan's earnings won't be finalized until around the 10th Feb - so there shouldn't be any data/info about February yet. If you click on "view payment history" you might find that the payment for up to the end of Dec has been issued??
      
      Edit: I'm using the old interface...

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         Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Susana, thanks. The end of December was just short of a hundred, so no payment was issued. I'm still a slow earner. ;-<
         
         Hopefully when they do decide how much they think my January total was, they will issue a check for the total balance as of that date, while retaining my February earnings against the next one hundred dollar total.

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            Susana Sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I can't deal with the new interface - it's not very intuitive for me and I find it confusing But by the sounds of it you will get paid at the end of Feb for all your outstanding earnings up to 31st Jan - great!
            
            On around the 10th Feb they will have finalised exactly how much you will get, so you'll know at that point how much cash you're going to get paid. And yes, your Feb earnings will not be included, but hopefully if you reach $100 in Feb you'll get that at the end of March.

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      melbelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Google actually does not prohibit you from telling others how much you make. Tons and tons of people believe that you cannot share what they make with Google and this is simply untrue. From the TOS:
      
      Confidentiality. You agree not to disclose Google Confidential Information without Google's prior written consent. "Google Confidential Information" includes without limitation: (a) all Google software, technology, programming, specifications, materials, guidelines and documentation relating to the Program; (b) click-through rates or other statistics relating to Property performance in the Program provided to You by Google; and (c) any other information designated in writing by Google as "Confidential" or an equivalent designation. However, You may accurately disclose the amount of Google’s gross payments to You pursuant to the Program. Google Confidential Information does not include information that has become publicly known through no breach by You or Google, or information that has been (i) independently developed without access to Google Confidential Information, as evidenced in writing; (ii) rightfully received by You from a third party; or (iii) required to be disclosed by law or by a governmental authority

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         Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Melbel! That's good to know.

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   wildernessposted 13 years ago

   Are you using the new or old adsense interface?  The new one has a spot that tells you the accumulated amount (and you can get it from the old one as well, but it takes a couple of clicks).
   
   If that figure is above $100 I would think you should be paid.  However, it will also take google some time (a couple of weeks?) to verify the income figures from January.  It could well be that you will be paid when they have done this
   
   If I go to "my account" and then "payment history" in the old interface it says that Jan. earnings will be finalized by Feb. 10, but at this time shows no Jan. earnings.  Only at that time will they admit they owe you the money.
   
   At this time the figures I see on the overview page are only estimates; until they are finalized I have not "earned" them.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Wilderness, I'm using the new beta interface, and it shows a daily total balance that well exceeds one hundred dollars. However, if they simply haven't gotten around to figuring out the January total, then why tell me it's the same as the December one? Why not say instead: we don't know yet?
      
      However, if it's something that will fix itself in ten days, I can wait!

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         wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I think you will find that that is all it is.  Adsense often deducts a few cents or a dollar or two from the estimated figure (and the beta interface even says that it is "estimated") during the first few days of the following month.  Only if you are just barely over the $100 should it really matter.

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   Pandoras Boxposted 13 years ago

   They're not showing January totals yet. Give them a couple of days to run their month-end reports and balance everything. Then they'll finalize the month.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Pandora.

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   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   BTW, it is perfectly fine to divulge gross earnings from AdSense. It's in their TOS.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      So what is it they don't want us to tell? B/c I remember being reprimanded once for giving an exact figure, but was told it would be okay if I rounded off.

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   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   You get paid a month in leu so for Decembers earnings for instance, are accrued in January and Paid in February.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah. I know. I don't make payout every month. What doesn't get paid out is kept in the current balance. According to estimated earnings, I should get payout this month, because my balance exceeded one hundred dollars, all told. Now... I also understand that estimated earnings are not completely accurate, and that they have to check something before they are sure of the balance.
      
      To say: "We have not yet determined whether you have made payout in January" would be fine.
      
      But why would they say that I definitely won't be paid this month, when all they mean is that they have yet to determine when I will get paid?
      
      It's as if they don't understand that there is an intermediate position between yes and no: "I don't know."
      
      Somebody said that we earn nothing until it is calculated. That can't be right. Whatever we earned in January is already earned. The calculation is based on the facts that already occurred. To say that they haven't calculated yet is different from saying that we haven't earned yet.

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   Aya Katzposted 13 years ago

   Thanks, Susana. Hopefully so! Glad I'm not the only one who thinks the interface is counterintuitive!

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      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Most definitely not!
      
      Adsense payment confusion is extremely common.   
      
      I have seen worse though.  There's a place called "affiliates.com" - I can NEVER figure out what I'm actually going to get paid this month. Compared to them, Google Adsense reports are a walk in the park!

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         Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         PCUnix, do you ever use Linkshare? I just recently started with them, and I'm not sure how their payments work. (Not that I'm entitled to one yet...)

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            Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            No, sorry, never heard of it.  Maybe they copied Affiliate.com reporting!

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               Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Perhaps. ;->

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   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   When did you pass the $100 mark? If you passed $100 in December, it will be accrued in January, and payed in February.
   
   If you passed the $100 in January you will not be paid until March.
   
   It sounds like you passed $100 in December and were expecting to be paid in January, however I think the Google payout for January has actually already been paid to us! You should receive your payment in February.
   
   The earnings are double checked at the end of every month for validity, invalid clicks, etc. If you look on your daily AdSense report for instance you will see that it talks about 'estimated earnings'. These are not finalized until they are passed to pay.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No, I didn't quite make one hundred by the end of December, though it was close. So I expected to be paid for December and January together, by the end of February. What was confusing was that they gave me the December total as if it were the cumulative total as of February 1st.

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   Flightkeeperposted 13 years ago

   Aya, didn't you say that you have a youtube account?  They are usually two months behind when it comes to youtube.  Maybe this is why there is that extra weirdness in your account.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I do have a YouTube account, and I did read that about Youtube earnings, but I don't actually think I have any revenue coming in from there...

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   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   Sorry, I just double checked this and I got it wrong, Dec was paid in Jan, so Dec + Jan should be paid in Feb.

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      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. That's what I thought.

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    mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years ago

    This may have been covered in other answers, but in case not, and to simplify, you are always being paid 2 months behind in effect. In other words if I earn $100 in December, this figure is finalised/confirmed by the 10th of January and I will then receive it at the beginning of February.
    
    If I only earned $90 in December, I would not get receive it in February because I didn't reach the $100 mark, so the earnings for Jan would later be added to the Dec total, and I would therefore receive the full amount in early March, (this is because the Jan earnings would not be finalised until the 10th of Feb, so I could not receive payout of the full amount Dec + Jan total any sooner than early March).
    
    PS. I think the problem figure you referred to that Adsense do not allow you to reveal is the CTR rate. This is confidential information.

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       Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Mistyhorizon, if that is true, it's not what they seem to be saying. They seem to be saying that whatever is verified by Feb. 10 -- or whenever the verification date is for January earnings -- will be paid out by the end of February. (Although, if a check is involved, I suppose it might not arrive till early March.)

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          mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Perhaps I worded it in a confusing way. When I said you 'receive' it in early March, the payment is actually sent around three days before the end of February, but it takes several days for the payment to reach your bank account, or for the cheque to arrive, so you 'receive' around the 1st of March. This makes it appear you are always 2 months behind, Jan earnings received in March, Feb earnings received in April, March earnings received in May etc. In each case the payments were sent towards the end of the previous Month.

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             Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Okay. That makes sense.

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