Google is billing me for previous months?!?

[MisterXXX]

I want to ask you guys if this is normal: on every first bill of the month Google is charging me for not reported clicks of previous months:

So my first December bill reflects this:

Clicks 1 nov - 30 nov $100,00 3891 $0,05 $193,40
Clicks 1 dec - 6 dec $100,00 5131 $0,05 $249,25

Is this normal?
Why does it take so long to report these November clicks?
How can you ever do real-time analyzing when they report the clicks 3 weeks later?

Thanks for your comments!
Regards,
DJ

[dave741]

Of course they bill you for previous month:
[adwords.google.com...]

"Why does it take so long to report these November clicks?"
Do you know better term to bill the November clicks then the begining of December?

"How can you ever do real-time analyzing when they report the clicks 3 weeks later?"
1. There is no real-time analyzing in AdWords stats. But the stats are just few hours behind reality.

2. You can see your "almost" real-time analyzing (including exact costs) stats in your account.

How could they bill you in real time? Every day, hour, minute?

[PPCBidder]

dave & mister#*$!

I was confused when I first read the post too, but now understand what mister#*$! is saying. I want to rephrase what i think he meant to maybe expedite getting an answer.

When you click on an invoice, for each campaign you get a date range for clicks received. For the bills on the first of the months, you get wild ranges starting from various points in the previous month.

Also, on subsequent days (2-31), you get a large amount reported as from the 1st to the current day (and also varied ranges), but shouldn't the bulk of clicks read current day to current day instead?

I never really paid much attention to this, but it is a good question! Hopefully somebody will know the answer.

[MisterXXX]

PPCBidder knows exactly what I am talking about.

Another example:

In November Google charged my credit card with 3 invoices:

invoice 1
clicks 1 okt - 31 okt
clicks 1 nov - 10 nov

invoice 2
clicks 1 nov - 17 nov

invoice 3
clicks 1 nov - 26 nov

And then in December:

invoice 1
clicks 1 nov - 30 nov?
clicks 1 dec - 10 dec

Why do they charge me in Dec for clicks on Nov 1st?
I can understand that they charge me for clicks from Nov 26 till Dec 1. How long does it take to process these clicks into the billing system?

[MisterXXX]

Could someone tell me if this is normal.

Thanks!

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, MisterXXX!

Could someone tell me if this is normal.

Yes, based on the very limited information possible here, this is almost certainly normal.

With that said, your question is something that would really be best addressed by contacting the AdWords support team, who can actually look at the account and answer your questions in detail.

Most likely, you are seeing information from an underlying system that tracks things such as when the first of a new month is reached, and/or when the advertiser changes daily budget.

AWA

[Syzygy]

This is 'normal'. It can be confusing when you are doing your aw reporting on a monthly cycle. However, our accounts dept tell me that it all tally's up - which is the important thing.

and/or when the advertiser changes daily budget

Invoicing is still like this regardless of whether or not changes have been made to your account.

Syzygy

[FromRocky]

Based on your information, your credit limit is $100 or whatever. Google will charge to your credit card whenever your count reaches over the limit or the end of the month.
The line you saw
1 Nov to 30 Nov means 27 Nov to 30 Nov.

The best way is to check the amount charged for this line. You can tell whether it is for 4 days or 30 days.

My account is always charged when it reaches the limit. For example:

December 2004:
Dec. 4 $#*$!.xx
Dec. 9 $#*$!.yy
Dec. 13 $#*$!.zz

[added] I started this post before I saw AWA's post. I have to work on my typing skill.

[PPCBidder]

I get billed daily, and while I understand that occassionally a few clicks from previous days will be picked up resulting in a big date range, I wonder why the Bulk of clicks seems to follow this pattern:

INV DATE: DATE CLICKS OCCURRED
Dec 1: Dec 1 - Dec 1
Dec 2: Dec 1 - Dec 2
Dec 3: Dec 1 - Dec 3
Dec 4: Dec 1 - Dec 4
Dec 5: Dec 1 - Dec 5
etc.

instead of:
Dec 1: Dec 1 - Dec 1
Dec 2: Dec 2 - Dec 2
Dec 3: Dec 3 - Dec 3
Dec 4: Dec 4 - Dec 4
Dec 5: Dec 5 - Dec 5

or even

Dec 1: Nov 30 - Dec 1
Dec 2: Dec 1 - Dec 2
Dec 3: Dec 2 - Dec 3
Dec 4: Dec 3 - Dec 4
Dec 5: Dec 4 - Dec 5

I don't think i'm being overcharged or anything but the way it is displayed doesn't make sense. It makes it look like extraneous clicks from the first of the month are picked up every single day for the remainder of the month.