Your Lenses, Your Money
Hot dog, lensmasters! We're working to make this page a big uber-FAQ about payment, all in one place, at your request. Hope this helps out with your royalty-related questions.
[BTW, this page will be developing as your questions come in--thanks for the patience. For now, if you don't find what you're looking for here, please stop by SquidU, where there's a live Q&A session, a forum, and links to get help.
For questions on how Squidoo makes and uses money, and for details about our donation goals, visit our Frequently Asked Questions and check out numbers 11 and 12.
- Explaining the Cash Payout Threshold:
Every account has a configurable Cash Payout Threshold. Um, English please? Basically, we want to let you decide when you get paid. If you're the type who likes finding a long-forgotten twentydollar bill in your pocket, maybe this is for you. If you want to get paid when your account reaches $1... $5... $50... and so on, you control your destiny! - The Squidoo default Cash Payout Threshold starts at $10. This means that if you don't edit your threshold, you will get paid when your account (across all your lenses) earns $10 or more in cash (not for charity).
- Reset the threshold to whatever you want! Change it here.
- As you know, when you make a lens you get to choose whether you'd like to receive all your royalties in cash, give all your royalties to charity, or a combination of the two. So, if any portion of your lenses is set to cash payment, that cut is what goes into your account's pending cash bucket (AKA your "reserve hopper"). Then once your account reaches $X in cash (as above), we'll get you paid in a jiffy.
- If 100% of all your royalties on all your lenses are going to charity, the Cash Payout Threshold is a moot point. Why? 'Cause all your cash is paying out each month to charity. (And you get a hearty pat on the back for your generosity).
- Yes, your cash earnings roll over from one month to the next! Let's say one of your lenses earned $2 last month. But your Cash Payout Threshold is set to $10. That $2 will roll over to the next month and the next and so on until your entire account has earned $10. To make it easy, we'll always show your cash Reserve on your dashboard so you know how close you are to your threshold.
- Q: It's the middle of the month, and I just changed my Cash Payout Threshold. Will this new threshold be in effect for the next Squidoo payment?
A: Oui oui. Even if you change to a new threshold the day before we process payment, it will be active. Of course, if you change your threshold the day AFTER we process payment, you'll need to wait until next month's round to get paid out. - Global Payment Setting:
Let's say you're a big fan of the nonprofit organization Donors Choose. (You better believe we are!) Now you can, in one easy step, change all your royalty settings on all your lenses over to donate to that charity. Just visit your Account here and select "Change all my existing lenses to use this payment setting." - Try updating your royalty settings:
We heard that some of our lensmasters were having trouble selecting their royalty settings per lens. "I wanted to give my money to charity, but I got cash instead!" or vice versa. Well, your payment selections should be a lot stickier now. But it might be worth a quick check to make sure you're sending your payment settings are what you expect them to be. Check in on them here. - So do I have to pay to build a lens?
No, no and no! We guarantee that building lenses will always be free--that's a cornerstone of why we're here. - What does "pending $$" mean on the "my lenses" dashboard?
- When do I get paid?
Close to the beginning of every month! If your lenses have generated cash or money for charity, keep an eye on your My Lenses dashboard for a report of your earnings. If you're one of those people who refreshes your screen and keeps an eye on your money like a hawk, consider the 15th the deadline, and anything before that is a bonus! - How do I get paid?
Squidoo uses PayPal to send you cash. And if you've selected to send your royalties to charity, we make a donation to them in your name. (Find out more about our growing charity choices below). PayPal serves over 96 million customers in 55 countries and is a trusted eBay company.At the close of every Squidoo pay period, two things will happen.
1) Squidoo will send you an email with a report of total money earned across your account (for all lenses), and the breakdown of where you're sending it. For example, if you have 2 lenses that pay cash directly to you, but 10 lenses that pay the YMCA, this email report will confirm how much money is going where.
2) If you're to receive cash (and you've reached your Cash Payment Threshold), you'll also get an official email from PayPal with instructions for how to pick up your money. The PayPal email will go to whatever email address you use for Squidoo.Tip: If you're already using PayPal, you might want to make sure you're using the same email address for both PayPal and Squidoo. It's not a requirement for getting paid, but it could help smooth the way. You can add your existing PayPal email address to our system here. But don't worry. If your royalties are sent to an email address that's different from your already registered PayPal address, you can always go into PayPal, to your Profile settings, and "add" your other email address to that account.
If you don't have a PayPal account yet, the payment email you get from them will include directions for how to claim your Squidoo money. It's fast and simple to sign up. Takes about 30 seconds.
- HELP: I'm not in any of PayPal's supported countries!
Find out which countries do and don't accept PayPal.If you're from a country outside of PayPal's reach, here's what a few of our other lensmasters in the same situation have recommended: a) find someone in an "included" country to accept payment for you or b) send your royalties to the charity of your choice. We're hoping to extend our support over time and apologize for the inconvenience!
- How can I make more money?
Every lens carries Google AdSense ads. Those are used to generate royalties for the whole co-op (ie, everyone gets a cut). If you want to increase your direct royalties, though, you should consider adding commercial modules that the visitors to your lenses will appreciate. Our top moneymaker modules include: Amazon, eBay, and CafePress. Every single one of these modules generates directly attributable revenue for your lens, and we pay a royalty to you or to your chosen charity based on that income.
Build good lenses, feature great stuff, share your lenses as much as possible, and earn more royalties.
SO, here's how it works:
It's worth knowing that if you go more than twelve months without reaching a payout, we'll assume you've abandoned your account and that money will be returned to our system and applied to our overhead and our charity fund. In January of 2009, for example, we'll zero out any funds earned prior to the end of 2008 but not paid out. So if you want to make sure you get your money, keep your Cash Payout Threshold low.
Why did I get a refer-a-friend bonus? If you invited a friend to make a lens, and his account earned its first $15 during our recent pay period, you and he both get a $5 bonus! W00t! Learn more about that, here.
The Pending $$ column on your dashboard indicates estimated royalties that you've earned recently from affiliate partners (Amazon, eBay, CafePress, etc) and are still pending clearance from those affiliates. Most affiliate programs have a 30 day processing delay, which is why there's always a 1 month lag time between when money is earned and when it is paid. The totals can sometimes fluctuate if sales are cancelled or returned, which is why the Pending $$ numbers are just estimates. So look at this sample scenario: In early September we processed payment for your money earned from July 1 - 30. If your July earnings reached your Cash Payout Threshold, you get paid via PayPal right away. If your July earnings DON'T reach your Cash Payout Threshold, they get moved into your Reserve Hopper. And if your July earnings were all set to go to charity, we donate them immediately. SO... any royalties your lenses earned after July 31 are what appear in the live Pending $$ column on your dashboard. These are your estimated affiliate sales (Amazon, CafePress, eBay, etc) that occurred from August 1 on. When we process payment again in early October, we'll pay you the portion of your Pending $$ that was earned during August 1-August 31.
Why is there a lag time between when I earn money and when I get paid? Most affiliate programs have a 30 day processing delay, which is why there's always a 1 month lag time between when money is earned and when it is paid. The totals can fluctuate if sales are canceled or returned, so the Pending $$ numbers are just estimates.
