Q3 Pay

[Lily]

Has anyone gotten their Q3 pay yet? In July, they paid earlier than the last day of the month - just wondering if we'll see anything today - Oct. 31.

[Ted]

They pay 30-40 days following a quarter. Maybe later today. I've never gotten my notice from PayPal before 8pm Pacific Standard Time.

[Lily]

Thanks Ted - hope it does appear tonight. I know it could be longer, but since I've been getting paid at SW, it has never gone into the next month after the quarter ended.

[Julie Harris]

Just got mine.

[Ted]

So did I.

[Lily]

Yep - me, too! Thanks everyone!

[anita]

Got mine, too! Of course, I've been griping about the fact that several retailers have not reported sales/payments for September. I fell shy of my goal to beat last quarter's payout, though I am certain that I would have reached it if those missing sales were included.

Is anyone else still missing:

The payments for September from Barnes & Noble,?

The payments from Kobo for August and September?

Most of the Sony payments for September?

The payments from Apple for August and September?

[Nathaniel Phillips]

Like you, I had a sales report from B&N on Aug 1 and another on Sept 1, but no report on Oct 1. Last month the B&N report came several days late, but we're nearly ready for the Nov 1 report.

[candace907]

Hello board I'm new here and have a question. Is it common practice for Smashwords to apply payments to your account AFTER they've already issued the quarters payments therefore making you have to wait an additional quarter to get paid?
They paid us money made from SW on the 31st. Then the next day applied the payment to my account that should have been paid on the 31st. I just want to know is this is a usual occurance. Thanks

[Ted]

That is quite common, candace907. It depends upon when a retailer submits a payment to Smashwords. In this instance the retailer paid sometime after the quarterly cutoff date, perhaps the day following the 31st payment to you.

Smashwords can't pay royalty payments for sales which haven't been paid by the retailer, and I'm not aware of any company doing so. They aren't trying to scam you.

[candace907]

I don't believe they're scamming but it sure is a convenient way to hold on to the money that should be paid out to Authors after waiting all quarter. It's VERY odd that that actual money from Barnes and Noble and Apple came the VERY next day AND was applied to all of our accounts the VERY next day. Add to the fact payment didn't even come till near 5pm pst anyways. Sorry I just find it hard to believe the money wasn't all ready in. They just didn't pay. I'm sure that adds up to a lot of money that was held ,able to be made interest on etc on their end. I was trying not to think this way which is is why I posed the question did this usually happen. Then for you to respond that it is a usual occurrence for them to delay payment. Makes me feel all the more that it's intentional. I also find it hard to believe that that ALL the distributors pay late therefore not allowing SW to distribute their payments on time. I've read all the TOS and clearly understand the process. I just think it's conveniently set up to pay US a quarter behind. Just my thoughts on it. I don't think SW is a bad company to deal with every place has their loopholes to make it work for them...I believe this is theirs. It would be just as easy for them to have sent the delayed payments especially since they in essence have another quarter to catch up. As quickly as they updated our accounts the VERY next day to show what we SHOULD have been paid,they could have sent another Paypal payment. So I've expressed my thought I'm done on the topic.

[Ted]

Smashwords isn't perfect, I'll agree, but it is unlikely they are holding back royalties intentionally. If they were holding back royalties then their business would collapse if that was ever proven.

Authors earning a goodly income ($100.00 per month or more per ebook) can always upload directly to a retailer and bypass distributors such as Smashwords, bookbaby, or Amazon New York. Dealing with retailers individually is a bit more work, but many authors have chosen that route.