Current balance

The formal finalize earnings.

[JCKline]

July was dire, and now my "Current balance" compared to my monthly earnings is even lower. More was "shaved off" than ever before. What is going on with Google these days?

[netmeg]

Nah, most of my sites are strictly targeted to regions; I would notice unusual traffic immediately.

[IanCP]

- 0.32% No other changes.

[netmeg]

So, my answer back from AdSense is that they will

credit advertisers for invalid traffic accrued 60 days prior to the date of investigation. Once we complete our investigation and begin processing the credits, it may take up to 30 days for the adjustment to appear in your account.

So that means that the invalid activity could be as much as 90 days old by the time we see it.

And just because it says finalized doesn't really mean it's final.

[viral]

My earning this month and last month has toppled although my traffic has increased. Crazy days. Time to flick the old email list popup back onto the sites and start earning without adsense.

[IanCP]

So that means that the invalid activity could be as much as 90 days old by the time we see it

My view and, I suspect those of the majority of publishers here, is if we don't "fairly" protect the interests of Advertisers, then we don't have a fair "long-term" AdSense system which advertisers can have confidence in and, then that adversely impacts upon all us Publishers.

In real, relative terms, I've been reduced "pennies" each month, like who cares?

[jabas]

My view and, I suspect those of the majority of publishers here, is if we don't "fairly" protect the interests of Advertisers, then we don't have a fair "long-term" AdSense system which advertisers can have confidence in and, then that adversely impacts upon all us Publishers.

In real, relative terms, I've been reduced "pennies" each month, like who cares?

You can have quality websites and face this kind of problems, it happens. In my opinion (wich is something you are not forced to agree with), you should focus on quality and traffic (and maybe do stuff that other people don't. Quote from someone that used to be here that I love & respect a LOT: do what other people are not willing to do), then you can optimize stuff, and care about these things. (I'm not saying you are NOT already doing that or that it's the way to go, it's just how I think).

TL;DR: Who cares, if you keep everybody happy (even if that is never going to happen: you will always have a micro percentage of unhappy people).

Source: [webmasterworld.com...]
Yeah, baby.

[edited by: jabas at 10:12 am (utc) on Sep 13, 2012]

[viral]

@IanCP if you are saying you still have traffic but adsense isn't working there are other ways to earn revenue. CPA etc. It is surprising how many webmasters don't bother with mailing lists. Lists are slow to start but eventually you will be earning more from an email list than adsense. Having said that I also moved to adsense for the last 2 years due to sheer laziness. Adsense is convenient! just set and forget and I guess that is what Google counts on.

[jabas]

Having said that I also moved to adsense for the last 2 years due to sheer laziness. Adsense is convenient! just set and forget and I guess that is what Google counts on.

I think I'm saying it way too often, but I'm going to do it again, I totally agree with this statement.

[jabas]

Regarding the post I sent a few minutes ago:
Of course advertisers must be treated fairly, just like us, they are not in NOT to make money. That's why I talked about quality and traffic.

(The guy I quoted is still alive, I meant to say he was a WebmasterWorld member.)

[jabas]

Correction, I wanted to say: "Who cares? As long as you keep everybody happy AND do new/different stuff. (blabla..)" (I didn't say it very well/obvious enough)

[netmeg]

Ok guys this thread is not about earnings fluctuations (we have others for that), it's about current and finalized balances - can we keep it to that?

[ken_b]

Recently there was a thread here about a negative balance.

I wonder if that could be caused by the 90 days timeline?

[jabas]

Recently there was a thread here about a negative balance.

I wonder if that could be caused by the 90 days timeline?

I think you are referring to this thread (but I'm not totally sure):
[webmasterworld.com...]

I think it would be awesome to get an answer to this question.

[jabas]

I am really sorry IanCP for trying to be a ridiculous jerk towards you for a moment... it was really not my intention.

I will not do it again.

You have much more experience than me.

[netmeg]

Recently there was a thread here about a negative balance.

I wonder if that could be caused by the 90 days timeline?

I bet it is. I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been more notice of this; I'm sure it's new with the new payment layout.

[jabas]

Well I'm tired of editing my posts to try to please everybody, so I am going to clearly say for people who care:

I do NOTHING shady. NO-THING. That's the point of my messages, but clearly I can't be subtle about this kind of things.

This thing is making me paranoid like crazy, it's totally irrational..

I am NOTHING compared to you guys, ok I totally get it.

And yes, this is new to me.

Lesson learned guys, I will shut my mouth for the rest of my life.

I will now GO TO SLEEP.

[IanCP]

I am really sorry IanCP for trying to be a ridiculous jerk towards you for a moment

I never took it that way so don't worry about it.

[netmeg]

Interesting; I used the new support options to ask about this because it was listed as invalid activity. And as far as I know, I have no history of invalid activity. After several exchanged emails, I was told the invalid activity wasn't on MY part, it was on the advertiser's (like for example if they were using a stolen credit card or hijacked AdWords account) And they had to do an investigation, and that's why it took so long, but they had to give all the money back to the advertiser, so of course Google doesn't get paid and I don't get paid. They also mentioned that they are working on better messages to explain what the adjustments are for when they occur.

[jabas]

Interesting; I used the new support options to ask about this because it was listed as invalid activity. And as far as I know, I have no history of invalid activity. After several exchanged emails, I was told the invalid activity wasn't on MY part, it was on the advertiser's (like for example if they were using a stolen credit card or hijacked AdWords account) And they had to do an investigation, and that's why it took so long, but they had to give all the money back to the advertiser, so of course Google doesn't get paid and I don't get paid. They also mentioned that they are working on better messages to explain what the adjustments are for when they occur.

Thank you netmeg.

[HuskyPup]

They also mentioned that they are working on better messages to explain what the adjustments are for when they occur.

That would be good and allay a lot of suspicion as to what is going on...I just wonder where these people lay their hands on stolen credit cards etc and expect to get away with it?

[netmeg]

There's a whole underground economy in stolen credit cards, probably not difficult to get at all. And you don't even really need to - I get several dozen phishing attempts on my AdWords accounts every month, and if someone falls for it and gets hacked, their credit card number is already associated with their account. So all the bad guys have to do is set up a couple of quicky campaigns, burn through some money and flee, like over a weekend or something. Even if the window is only an hour before it gets shut down, they've still made their money.

[jabas]

I just wonder where these people lay their hands on stolen credit cards etc and expect to get away with it?

That was my first thought, thank you netmeg for the clarification.