Kindle Forum banner

Kobo is not paying my royalties :(

2K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  TripEllington 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

So I posted about three weeks ago with my missing Kobo royalties and lack of communication from the support team. So, I heard back. First it was an issue with my bank code and that's why I hadn't been paid. Never mind I'd been paid previously with no problems. After I gave them this, it was a week with no correspondence. So after I sent another email I got a response saying the 'problem was more complex and required further investigation.' Again, I waited. And still nothing. Now my February payments are missing too. And it's been a month with no money from January.

Has anyone had experience with this? All my records show I'm entitled to these royalties and Kobo is seeming to be refusing to pay. I'm kind of at their mercy here, despite those being my royalties. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
#2 ·
Don't worry about being a pest. This is your income, your royalties, and you should be paid immediately. Keep going through customer care and if there's no phone number for your location, call the US number at 1-800-368-5390, whatever it takes.

That said, there are problems that arise with the banking industry. I got a direct deposit for articles from About.com (now Ask network) for several years and then my bank wouldn't accept the deposits. No explanation, but it wasn't About's fault. I tried for two months on both ends and finally set my deposit to another bank account and it was fine again. Still, don't know why, but I don't bank with Wells Fargo anymore.
 
#3 ·
ALWMOE said:
Don't worry about being a pest. This is your income, your royalties, and you should be paid immediately. Keep going through customer care and if there's no phone number for your location, call the US number at 1-800-368-5390, whatever it takes.

That said, there are problems that arise with the banking industry. I got a direct deposit for articles from About.com (now Ask network) for several years and then my bank wouldn't accept the deposits. No explanation, but it wasn't About's fault. I tried for two months on both ends and finally set my deposit to another bank account and it was fine again. Still, don't know why, but I don't bank with Wells Fargo anymore.
Thank you so much for that number. I've been looking for one everywhere on their site and they don't seem to have one. I can't fathom that a company like this is not paying royalties twice in two months and then not resolving it. I sell a reasonable amount of books on Kobo, and have been a bestseller for a long period, so their customer care is well below par.

I'm considering pulling all my books from sale with them if this continues.

Thanks for the advice :)
 
#4 ·
I just checked my sales statement from Kobo for March. It reported ZERO sales. Oops. Went back and checked (and I have NO idea why I haven't before) and the report for January also shows zero sales. (Apparently, I never received a sales report from February.)

I don't make a ton from Kobo, but I do have sales there every month on a fairly consistent basis. So. I emailed them and asked for help, and when I have time (not now; going to bed), I'm going to pull my bank statements and check to see what's what. I could've sworn I'd gotten a payment from Kobo recently, though, so the zero sales thing is perplexing.
 
#5 ·
I'm not sure how much use this will be, because I am in the UK, but we have a law here that states if a debtor doesn't pay within the stated time limit  that is initially agreed upon, you are entitled to charge them interest. You could also take them to the small claims court. It sometimes works that if you write officially giving them notice that if they don't cough up within seven days you will be taking them to the small claims court, they suddenly decide to pay out straight away. Perhaps you something similar in the States.
 
#6 ·
C.D. Watson said:
I just checked my sales statement from Kobo for March. It reported ZERO sales. Oops. Went back and checked (and I have NO idea why I haven't before) and the report for January also shows zero sales. (Apparently, I never received a sales report from February.)

I don't make a ton from Kobo, but I do have sales there every month on a fairly consistent basis. So. I emailed them and asked for help, and when I have time (not now; going to bed), I'm going to pull my bank statements and check to see what's what. I could've sworn I'd gotten a payment from Kobo recently, though, so the zero sales thing is perplexing.
Are you talking about the Excel one they send you by email?
Mine always show zero on that first page. It took me a while to realise I had to click the 'details' tab at the bottom to see the sales! :)
 
#11 ·
My first Kobo payment was due Jan 30. It didn't come. They messed around so long that the window for a feb payment passed, so nothing then either. Promised it'd be in May 30. Nope. Now I'm hanging on a whim that they may dean to pay me April 30.

What's so falling is that the issue could have been sorted in Feb if they'd allow off cycle payments, but no, that's in the too damn hard basket.

Yes, I'm feeling bitter, mostly because Kobo is currently by far my biggest venue so I can't afford to rip my books down (which is where I'm at right now)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
Email the author liaison Mark Lefebvre at mlefebvre@kobo.com

Kobo has had this issue for a long time. I and several other authors that I know were on this not-so-merry-go-round back in 2012. I finally got action when I threatened to blog about why I was delisting all my kobo titles (and of course threatening to delist them) and invite other authors with the same issue to add to the blog with their experience.
 
#13 ·
Had a similar issue happen to me. Kobo isn't a huge store for me, but when I was preparing my taxes, I realized that the payments from them just stopped back in July (whoops!). The routing number for my direct deposit had changed from what I'd entered though the account # was still correct...strange indeed.

In any case, once I contacted support, they straightened everything out, though there was a huge lag time since they use Western Union to process payments. I hate that I didn't catch it sooner, but I had a lot going on at the time. Keep in contact with them, ask for updates, etc. and they'll get it sorted for you.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top