Full royalties not showing up on sales chart on Amazon

[alhawke]

Has this ever happened to any of you before? Over the past week I've had four sales with royalties at $1.40 and $1.70 on Amazon. These are four books that are $4.99 USD in the US market. Royalties should be at $3.45. At first I thought the books were set at 30% accidentally, but they are not. Nor are they price matched on the market. It looks like it's just an error in royalty payment?? Problem is, this is going to add up  .

I've sent an email to KDP to look into it. I'll let you know what they say.

[TimothyEllis]

That happens when someone buys outside of their local market, or they don't have one.

The sale is at 35%.

If someone in Malaysia buys from the US store, that sale will be at 35%.

If someone in Australia buys form the US store, that sale will be at 35% as well, where buying from the AUS store would be 70%.

[alhawke]

Oops. That solves it. I never saw it until now.
(a new disadvantage to setting affiliates to one country. I didn't bother adding other areas with links. I'm thinking this could be a culprit.??)

[Sleeping Cat Books]

If someone in Australia buys form the US store, that sale will be at 35% as well, where buying from the AUS store would be 70%.

I don't believe that's possible. Amazon would detect the customer's location from their IP address and inform them that the ebook is not available (from the US site) and ask if they'd like to shop on the AU site instead.

[TimothyEllis]

If someone in Australia buys form the US store, that sale will be at 35% as well, where buying from the AUS store would be 70%.

I don't believe that's possible. Amazon would detect the customer's location from their IP address and inform them that the ebook is not available (from the US site) and ask if they'd like to shop on the AU site instead.

Yes, but they don't force the choice. I can switch back to the US store if I want to.

A lot of Australians still buy US, because not all books available in the US are available in Australia.

That goes for products as well. A hell of a lot never comes to Australia.

So people who buy more often off the US store, just use that for everything.

Asian countries with the exception of Japan, don't have a store. So everything they buy is 35%, no matter where they buy it from.

[Sleeping Cat Books]

Just to clarify: as an Australian resident, you've bought an ebook from Amazon US? Interesting.

[TimothyEllis]

Just to clarify: as an Australian resident, you've bought an ebook from Amazon US? Interesting.

Not lately, but yes.

I've changed it three times now. US to Aus to US to Aus. Then left it there.

[alhawke]

Yep, KDP customer service confirmed the four books were purchased this week from outside US stores, hence 30% royalties.

[Bill Hiatt]

I once bought a DVD from France that didn't have an American release (I was interested mostly because one of my former students was starring in the movie. It turned out to be a pain in the butt anyway because of region encoding. I now have an extra DVD drive on my computer that is set to the region that includes France).

And when Americans discovered how much the American editions of Harry Potter were edited, many started buying from Amazon.UK (with the result that later books in the series weren't editing as much for the American market).

Amazon encourages people to buy from the correct country store but doesn't seem to force the issue.

On afflilate codes, D2D alleges that its links (which can include affiliate codes) will automatically direct customers to the right national store. So does booklinker (which I used to use). So do Vellum store links (which can also include affiliate codes, though that wouldn't do you any good for Amazon codes, which won't earn you anything unless they're clicked from a website). However, I can't personally verify that these claims are true. 

[alhawke]

On afflilate codes, D2D alleges that its links (which can include affiliate codes) will automatically direct customers to the right national store. So does booklinker (which I used to use). So do Vellum store links (which can also include affiliate codes, though that wouldn't do you any good for Amazon codes, which won't earn you anything unless they're clicked from a website). However, I can't personally verify that these claims are true.

Problem is, some of my affiliate links are direct. Those are to the US store. I use D2D and direct Amazon links on my website (and on independent book pages). The D2D link is linked to the cover. My reasoning is that readers are more likely to click my "Amazon" button then go through the directory under the D2D universal link.

Another thing to consider is that D2D lists Amazon as "Kindle". Believe it or not, outside our writing world, some people don't know that Kindle and Amazon are linked to the same store.

Anyway, the question is, does my US direct affiliate link go to the ISP store? I don't think it does. So now I'm losing money from affiliate links    Don't you love it? The D2D might go intl, like you said, but again, many readers will just click on my Amazon button. So...  Whatever. I give up.

[Bill Hiatt]

I've never used genius links, though I've heard of them. This article claims that they can be used to create universal direct links: https://www.tckpublishing.com/universal-amazon-affiliate-links/

[Bill Hiatt]

Oh, it turns out that booklinker, which I have used, is now powered by geniuslink.

Claim: "Booklinker automatically localizes your Amazon and Apple Books links so readers in other countries go straight to their local storefronts for easier purchasing."

Unlike D2D, Booklinker lists Amazon as the label, not Kindle.

https://booklinker.com/

[alhawke]

Oh, it turns out that booklinker, which I have used, is now powered by geniuslink.
Claim: "Booklinker automatically localizes your Amazon and Apple Books links so readers in other countries go straight to their local storefronts for easier purchasing."
Unlike D2D, Booklinker lists Amazon as the label, not Kindle.
https://booklinker.com/

I'll check it out. Thanks!

[djmills]

Just to clarify: as an Australian resident, you've bought an ebook from Amazon US? Interesting.

Not lately, but yes.

I've changed it three times now. US to Aus to US to Aus. Then left it there.

Wow! I went to Amz.com and discovered it knew me, automatically logged me in, displayed my delivery address, town and postcode.  Since Amz forced me to shop in Australia I have not used amz for anything but searching in subgenres. But I do use Book Depository, and Fabric which are both owned by Amz.

Where is the setting to change back to US website for purchases?