# How long does it take sales to show up in KDP reports?



## MartinWrites (Aug 17, 2011)

Hi,

Published a new short story yesterday. A friend of mine swears blind that she went straight out and bought it. However, no sales have appeared in my month-to-date sales report. Anyone have a feel on how long it takes for sales to hit the report? I thought it was pretty much instantaneous but perhaps not? Or perhaps there's a problem?

Cheers,
Martin


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## MartinWrites (Aug 17, 2011)

Anyone?


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## AmberC (Mar 28, 2012)

Sometimes it seems like that pop up instantly and other times they all come in all at night for me.


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## MartinWrites (Aug 17, 2011)

Has always seemed pretty instant for me. Maybe I just need to learn patience...


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

There can be a significant delay. And sometimes friends tell us what they think we want to hear.


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## Steve Warren (Jun 3, 2012)

I paid for a copy of my own book and the sale didn't show up on my sales report until the following day.


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## StephenEngland (Nov 2, 2011)

I have been told that KDP Reports and the ranking is not affected at point of sale, but rather when they download it to their device. I'm skeptical, can anyone confirm/deny this?


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## milamarch (Jun 19, 2012)

Would this delay apply to rankings too? If someone, for instance, released a new story yesterday and someone bought it, but it didn't show up in the sales report, would a sales ranking at least show up? (asking for a friend lol)


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## AmberC (Mar 28, 2012)

I think the ranking change takes even longer.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

> I have been told that KDP Reports and the ranking is not affected at point of sale, but rather when they download it to their device. I'm skeptical, can anyone confirm/deny this?


The sale takes place when Amazon delivers the book to the customer library or archive. That's all it takes to qualify as a sale under SEC regs and GAAP. It has been delivered to the customer's control.

So the revenue is recognized as a sale, the book is delivered, Amazon takes the sale into it's monthly statements, etc. That means Amazon owes the 70% for the sale. Given all that, it's not reasonable for them to keep the sale out of KDP until a download.


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## PorterlanceBooks (Jan 12, 2012)

I find most of my sales are on a 3-7 hour delay.  Even when you have free downloads, there is typically a 3-7 hour delay.  

The rankings are about the same...and they don't really change hourly like the site suggests.  Sometimes the rankings will change before the sale even shows in your reports.  

If you're selling a ton, or having a ton of downloads for a free giveaway, it seems like the reports actually update quicker/more instantaneous.  

I remember when I first started with KDP in December, it seemed like sales were all in real-time.  Not anymore...

Today, also, it seems like sales reports are frozen for the time being.  It could be they are getting remittance emails ready to go out this week.  Who knows?


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## *Sandy Harper* (Jun 22, 2011)

MartinWrites said:


> Hi,
> Published a new short story yesterday. A friend of mine swears blind that she went straight out and bought it. However, no sales have appeared in my month-to-date sales report. Anyone have a feel on how long it takes for sales to hit the report? I thought it was pretty much instantaneous but perhaps not? Or perhaps there's a problem?
> Cheers,Martin


IF takes more than couple day, there is certainly some problem. I assume the sales show by next day.


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## AndreSanThomas (Jan 31, 2012)

Reporting delays are common.  Eventually it all catches up.  Sometimes it trickles in from servers 1-1000 but doesn't come for a few days from servers 1001-2000, etc.  So, it can be as soon as an hour or so, or as long as a week or two.  Usually, it is the same day.


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## AndreSanThomas (Jan 31, 2012)

StephenEngland said:


> I have been told that KDP Reports and the ranking is not affected at point of sale, but rather when they download it to their device. I'm skeptical, can anyone confirm/deny this?


Does not seem to be true. It has to do with the sale.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

I think the confusion comes from gifts. There is no sale until Amazon delivers the book to the gift recipent's control. This can't happen until the recipient hits the "accept." Even then the book doesn't have to be downloaded to a Kindle. It just has to be put in the recipients library under his control.

A simple principle: There is no sale until the seller delivers the goods to the buyer's control. This the case even if  the seller has charged the buyer's bank account. No delivery of goods means no sale.


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## AndreSanThomas (Jan 31, 2012)

Terrence OBrien said:


> I think the confusion comes from gifts. There is no sale until Amazon delivers the book to the gift recipent's control. This can't happen until the recipient hits the "accept." Even then the book doesn't have to be downloaded to a Kindle. It just has to be put in the recipients library under his control.
> 
> A simple principle: There is no sale until the seller delivers the goods to the buyer's control. This the case even if the seller has charged the buyer's bank account. No delivery of goods means no sale.


Right. Because with a gift, they have the choice of using your credit on anything they want at Amazon. They don't have to spend it on your book. So it wouldn't be credited to anyone's author account (or product account) until it is "spent" on something, hopefully, the book you want them to get and not a glow in the dark tie.


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