[aniaahlborn]

Has anyone had the displeasure of dealing with a KDP glitch where it doesn't report your number of sales correctly?

This morning I noticed I had a certain number of sales. This afternoon, I gifted a couple of books to book reviewers, and I was also told by a few people that they had just purchased my novel. When I went to check my KDP numbers, they were exactly the same as they were this morning.

Now, I know for a fact that Amazon counts gifted books as a sale, so I know for certain that this number should have changed. But it hasn't moved all day... and my ranking is starting to suffer.

Has anyone had an issue like this? If so, did it get resolved? Or were those sales just 'lost' unto the world? What about royalties for the sales not showing up?

Any information on this at all? I'm seriously frustrated.

-Ania

 

[Decon]

Has anyone had the displeasure of dealing with a KDP glitch where it doesn't report your number of sales correctly?

This morning I noticed I had a certain number of sales. This afternoon, I gifted a couple of books to book reviewers, and I was also told by a few people that they had just purchased my novel. When I went to check my KDP numbers, they were exactly the same as they were this morning.

Now, I know for a fact that Amazon counts gifted books as a sale, so I know for certain that this number should have changed. But it hasn't moved all day... and my ranking is starting to suffer.

Has anyone had an issue like this? If so, did it get resolved? Or were those sales just 'lost' unto the world? What about royalties for the sales not showing up?

Any information on this at all? I'm seriously frustrated.

It's a new one on me. The only time I had a panic was when I opened a new account by mistake after my computer crashed and of course there were no sales listed or books.

-Ania

 

[Erica Sloane]

I think their system is slow this week, for whatever reason. I uploaded something new on Sunday and it still says "Publishing." The book is live, though.

I know it's frustrating, but the system will probably catch up. Hang in there.

 

[aniaahlborn]

I'm just concerned because after snooping around on the KDP boards, I found posts by people who had sales that were lost due to a glitch and were never paid royalties for those sales.

I plug my book on Twitter and through other various avenues all the time, but I'm hesitant to plug anything unless the sale will be recorded.

I mean, unless Amazon wants to pay me salary.

 

[Sarah Woodbury]

I honestly don't know if this another day like that, but my sales are REALLY down today.  Not zero, but 1/3 to 1/2 of normal.  It could be that there's glitch, which is pretty common and seems to occur at random intervals and to different people at different times. Or things could be slow from the 'sunshine' sale. Give it until tomorrow and see if the sales catch up.

As far as I know, Amazon has never actually 'lost' sales, though the Lady Gaga incident last week hammered many people's rankings and sales.

 

[aniaahlborn]

I'm fully expecting 'slow days', but when you know you should have more sales than you do (especially if those sales are coming from you yourself 'gifting' books to others), not seeing the number total to what it should is really disturbing. I just hope that the numbers that are supposed to be there eventually make it onto the report. 

 

[JRainey]

I honestly don't know if this another day like that, but my sales are REALLY down today. Not zero, but 1/3 to 1/2 of normal.

Mine are at zero, which is weird. I haven't had a zero day in over a month, and now I've had two in a row (so far). I've heard a lot of other people are struggling, too, but I don't know why. Nice weather? More Gaga exploits?

As far as sales not being reported, I wouldn't be surprised if they were still ironing out some of the wrinkles from last week's fiasco. I'm sure they'll show up eventually.

 

[aniaahlborn]

Well, it certainly makes me feel better that it isn't only me seeing this issue. But I really don't believe sales are down, just that they aren't being recorded properly. As I said, if they were just down, that would be okay... but my count for today isn't where it's supposed to be, even if I was my only customer today.

That, and ranks are suffering. I started out at #61 in Horror>Occult today and I'm down to #85 because nothing is being recorded. Not happy about that in the least.

 

[Fredster]

What I've discovered about gifts is that they don't get credited to your sales until the giftee claims the book.


Wouldn't you know that everyone else is having a slow sales day? After a LONG holiday no-sales-weekend, I sold two today.

 

[edwardgtalbot]

I had decent sales yesterday and I just checked and my rank has improved today (won't check sales for another couple hours or so), so I haven't noticed anything particularly unusual. I didn't see any noticeable problems last week, either, though, when loads of people were seeing them.

 

[MH Sargent]

Yesterday my sales weren't at their normal level, but not bad. Today, it is like a tsunami wiped out all my books. I have had very few sales. So, since misery loves company, glad that's not just me.   My rank on each book does reflect the loss in sales, still no tags. 

 

[BTackitt]

What I've discovered about gifts is that they don't get credited to your sales until the giftee claims the book.

It also won't count as a sale if the receiver of the gift claims it for the $ instead of the book. Yes, they have that as an option.

 

[libbyfh]

Very sluggish here too... not sure why...

 

[Joseph.Garraty]

Mine are at zero, which is weird. I haven't had a zero day in over a month, and now I've had two in a row (so far). I've heard a lot of other people are struggling, too, but I don't know why. Nice weather? More Gaga exploits?

I sure hope that's it. It's been a slow start for me!

 

[catjournalist]

I know that unless someone actually purchases the book you gifted, it won't reflect back to us as sales...

But your friends said they did buy it. I have found, however, many times people say they're going to get it today, definitely, positively today, and I check the numbers and nothing.

Also, are your gifts in the States? I gifted a track from my audio cd to friends in London and Africa, paid for it, and discovered later that  MP3's are only available as gifts in America. I have no idea where that leaves me.

 

[Andrew Ashling]

I had a very good few days until about a day ago when things started to really slow down. 
Maybe it is indeed that sunshine-thing.

 

[Holly A Hook]

My sales seem to have completely stopped, and last month I was selling 15-20 per day on average.  Well, at the start of the month.  Sales dropped by over half in the second part of May, and they seem to get worse all the time. 

I'm doing a few marketing things this month that hopefully will pull me out of it. 

 

[Terrence OBrien]

Amazon charges the giver when they order the gift book. However, a sale does not occur until goods are delivered. So a sale is not recorded until the recipient clicks the ACCEPT button.

Additionally, the recipient can use the gift amount to buy something else. In that case there is never a book sale.

If the book is never accepted, and if the dollar amount is not used for something else, Amazon keeps the money.

 

[ndrake]

Sales for me on Kindle are zip today....  Smashwords is selling a bit though.

N

 

[valeriec80]

My sales are a little slower today, but nothing major. I think it's disconcerting to see the numbers so low at the beginning of the month for me.

Anyway, it seems that Wednesdays are my new slow days. It's been that way for the past four weeks. No idea why.