Squidoo Payday Questions & Answers

$1.00 is the minimum amount required to receive a PayPal deposit from Squidoo.

You can select the amount you want to reach before you get paid. Start by going to your dashboard. Select the My Profile tab. Scroll down to your Payment Settings. One of the options there is Cash Payout Threshold:. Click on the Change link next to it. You will be able to choose from $1, $5, $10, $15, $20, $50...or $1 million ;)

I always suggest setting your threshold to $1.00. You only see your individual lens pay stats when you reach your threshold and get your PayPal deposit. If you want to wait for a higher sum you can leave it in your PayPal account before transferring it to your bank account.

If you do not reach your Cash Payout Threshold your earnings are held in your "Reserve Hopper" until the next month, or as many months as it takes to reach it.

If you have sold an item through your lens right away your first payday will be 2 months after you published your first lens. Squidoo's payout schedule has a two month delay. Money you earn in January, for example, will be paid out to you in March.

If you haven't made any sales yet through a money maker module, your first payday will come the following month (3 months after publish).

After their first month lenses start to earn a portion of Squidoo's AdSense revenue, so even if sales are few and far between you will typically see a payout every month after that.

One reason you wouldn't is if the lens is a WIP lens, a Work In Progress. If your lens has a symbol on your dashboard it's WIP.

According to Squidoo, expect it on the 15th of the month, and if it comes before that it's early. They really just say that incase they run into a snag. Payday is usually well before the 15th. Update: It's now usually very close to the 15th.

2012 payout dates:
January 12th
February 13th
March 14th
April 14th
May 10th

2011 payout dates:
January 11th
February 15th
March 15th
April 14th
May 13th
June 10th
July 14th
August 11th
September 15th
October 13th
November 15th
December 14th

2010 payout dates:
January 12th
February 10th
March 9th
April 13th
May 6th
June 10th
July 14th
August 13th
September 13th
October 13th
November 16th
December 15th

2009 payout dates:
January 9th
February 10th
March 11th
April 7th
May 14th
June 10th
July 10th
August 13th
September 15th
October 8th
November 5th
December 15th

2008 payout dates:
January 8th
February 7th
March 8th
April 8th
May 7th
June 4th
July 10th
August 7th
September 8th
October 6th
November 10th
December 11th

2007 payout dates:




May 9th
June 8th
July 6th
August 6th
September 7th
October 10th
November 7th
December 12th

AdSense and Glam Ad revenue is not paid out based on clicks from your lens. The amount generated by all of Squidoo's lenses is added together and divvied up based on a Tier system.

There are usually 3 Tiers, I've seen a 4th reported on rare occasions. The "best" (read: worth the most $) is to have a lens in the first tier. The average lensrank, per lens, per month, is used in determining which Tier your lens falls in for payday.

Note:

The lenrsanks posted below are rough guidelines. Lens averages might be off by mere decimals from one another. After your lensranks are averaged they are then reordered based on the calculated ave. of all other lenses.

Tier 1 is for lenses with an overall lensrank of 1 up to 2,000.
Tier 2 is for lenses with an overall LR of 2,001 up to and including 10,000.
Tier 3 is for lenses with a LR of 10,001 up to 85,000.

Each month the amount each Tier receives varies depending on sitewide traffic and Ad click-throughs.

As an example, on the December 2008 payday:
Tier One got 25% of the ad pool
Tier Two got 17% of the ad pool
Tier Three got 8% of the ad pool

These are all of the previous tier payouts since this system was implemented:


2007 Ad Pool

July 6, 2007
$3.80
$0.65
$0.05

August 6, 2007
$5.99
$1.03
$0.06

September 7, 2007
$4.12
$0.73
$0.04

October 10, 2007
$3.32
$0.56
$0.03

November 7, 2007
$4.67
$0.79
$0.06

December 12, 2007
$6.05
$1.03
$0.05

2008 Ad Pool

January 8, 2008
$6.23
$1.06
$0.05

February 7, 2008
$6.91
$1.18
$0.08

March 8, 2008
$8.77
$1.49
$0.08

April 8, 2008
$8.94
$1.53
$0.08

May 7, 2008
$8.32
$1.42
$0.07

June 4, 2008
$7.53
$1.28
$0.07

July 10, 2008
$8.09
$1.38
$0.07

August 7, 2008
$7.78
$1.32
$0.07

September 8, 2008
$11.27
$1.76
$0.08

October 6, 2008
$10.97
$1.85
$0.08

November 10, 2008
$11.75
$1.96
$0.08

December 11, 2008
$12.00
$1.94
$0.08

2009 Ad Pool

January 9, 2009
$11.63
$1.82
$0.08

February 10, 2009
$11.56
$1.82
$0.08

March 11, 2009
$11.43
$1.81
$0.08

April 7, 2009
$11.44
$1.85
$0.08

May 14, 2009
$13.06
$2.10
$0.09

June 10, 2009
$10.15
$1.51
$0.07

July 10, 2009
$10.36
$1.64
$0.08

August 13, 2009
$11.13
$1.79
$0.08

September 15, 2009
$10.22
$1.67
$0.08

October 8, 2009
$10.61
$2.09
$0.08

November 5, 2009
$13.03
$2.12
$0.10

December 15, 2009
$13.20
$2.13
$0.10

2010 Ad Pool

January 12, 2010
$14.63
$2.49
$0.12

February 10, 2010
$16.47
$2.80
$0.14

March 9, 2010
$16.47
$2.80
$0.14

April 13, 2010
$16.84
$2.86
$0.14

May 6, 2010
$16.16
$2.75
$0.14

June 10, 2010
$16.29
$2.77
$0.14

July14, 2010
$20.72
$3.52
$0.18

August 13, 2010
$19.42
$3.30
$0.17

September 13, 2010
$20.57
$3.50
$0.18

October 13, 2010
$20.29
$3.45
$0.17

November 16, 2010
$18.02
$3.06
$0.15

December 15, 2010
$24.98
$4.25
$0.21

2011 Ad Pool

January 11, 2011
$26.09
$4.44
$0.22

February 15, 2011
$26.12
$4.44
$0.22

March 15, 2011
$25.29
$4.30
$0.22

April 14, 2011
$23.15
$3.94
$0.20

May 13, 2011
$23.50
$4.00
$0.20

June 10, 2011
$25.31
$4.30
$0.22

July 14, 2011
$27.93
$4.75
$0.24

August 11, 2011
$31.40
$5.34
$0.27

September 15, 2011
$32.83
$5.58
$0.28

October 13, 2011
$36.28
$6.17
$0.31

November 15, 2011
$35.89
$6.10
$0.31

December 14, 2011
$38.93
$6.62
$0.33

2012 Ad Pool

January 12, 2012
$40.64
$6.91
$0.35

February 13, 2012
$45.42
$7.72
$0.39

March 14, 2012
$36.58
$6.22
$0.31

April 14, 2012
$35.59
$6.05
$0.30

May 10, 2012
$36.05
$6.13
$0.31

You've seen the green, double underlined links that get added into lenses by Squidoo. Those are InfoLinks. If you don't like them they can be turned off, but doing that keeps you from earning from this new revenue source.

The Infolinks pool is separate from the Adsense pool. Although the size of each tier is the same (ie. 2000 lenses in the first tier), the lenses that fall into each tier may vary from the Adsense pool since some lenses are opted out.

InfoLink Tier Payouts:


2009 Text link ads

September 15, 2009
$1.75
$0.30
$0.01

October 8, 2009
$1.80
$0.31
$0.02

November 5, 2009
$2.94
$0.50
$0.03

December 15, 2009
$3.22
$0.55
$0.03

2010 Text link ads

January 12, 2010
$3.77
$0.64
$0.03

February 10, 2010
$3.22
$0.55
$0.03

March 9, 2010
$4.48
$0.76
$0.04

April 13, 2010
$3.98
$0.68
$0.03

May 6, 2010
$5.07
$0.86
$0.04

June 10, 2010
$5.88
$1.00
$0.05

July 14, 2010
$6.05
$1.03
$0.05

August 13, 2010
$5.78
$0.98
$0.05

September 13, 2010
$5.34
$0.91
$0.05

October 13, 2010
$5.21
$0.89
$0.04

November 16, 2010
$5.11
$0.87
$0.04

December 15, 2010
$5.80
$0.99
$0.05

2011 Text link ads

January 11, 2011
$6.32
$1.07
$0.05

February 15, 2011
$4.10
$0.70
$0.03

March 15, 2011
$3.97
$0.67
$0.03

April 14, 2011
$5.60
$0.95
$0.05

May 13, 2011
$5.65
$0.96
$0.05

June 10, 2011
$5.74
$0.98
$0.05

July 14, 2011
$5.01
$0.85
$0.04

August 11, 2011
$3.74
$0.64
$0.03

September 15, 2011
$9.02
$1.53
$0.08

October 13, 2011
$9.94
$1.69
$0.08

November 15, 2011
$10.30
$1.75
$0.09

December 14, 2011
$12.29
$2.09
$0.10

2012 Text link ads

January 12, 2012
$12.61
$2.14
$0.11

February 13, 2012
$11.93
$2.03
$0.10

March 14, 2012
$8.74
$1.49
$0.07

April 14, 2012
$9.59
$1.63
$0.08

May 10, 2012
$10.04
$1.71
$0.09

Chitika ads are newest revenue generator for lensmasters. They are only shown to traffic coming to your lens via a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.). Chitika looks at the search term that brought them to your lens and places relevant ads on your page. This appears in the sidebar of your lens as a text list of recommended offers.

The Chitika pool is also separate from the Adsense and Infolinks. Link Infolinks, you can opt out of Chitika ads in your Lens Settings if you choose.

Chitika Tier Payouts:


2010 Chitika

May 6, 2010
$0.95
$0.16
$0.01

June 10, 2010
$0.98
$0.17
$0.01

July 14, 2010
$0.91
$0.15
$0.01

August 13, 2010
$0.14
$0.02
$0.00

September 13, 2010
$0.32
$0.05
$0.00

October 13, 2010
$0.49
$0.08
$0.00

November 16, 2010
$0.42
$0.07
$0.00

December 15, 2010
$0.17
$0.03
$0.00

2011 Chitika

January 11, 2011
$1.64
$0.28
$0.01

February 15, 2011
$1.62
$0.28
$0.01

March 15, 2011
$1.15
$0.20
$0.01

April 14, 2011
$1.01
$0.17
$0.01

May 13, 2011
$0.96
$0.16
$0.01

June 10, 2011
$1.24
$0.21
$0.01

July 14, 2011
$0.77
$0.13
$0.01

August 11, 2011
$0.94
$0.16
$0.01

September 15, 2011
$1.45
$0.25
$0.01

October 13, 2011
$1.47
$0.25
$0.01

November 15, 2011
$0.93
$0.16
$0.01

December 14, 2011
$0.90
$0.15
$0.01

2012 Chitika

January 12, 2012
$0.37
$0.06
$0.00

This was the last Chitika payment on Squidoo.

Squidoo takes 2% out of our AdSense pay to cover PayPal expenses.

That's why you might notice different amounts on the monthly stats verses individual lens stats.

If you see the payday "blue box" on your dashboard and then check to see if you have gotten the deposit in your PayPal account, don't be surprised if it's not there right away.

Some months the deposit happens later that day, some months it happens the next day, and on rare occasions it happens a few days later.

The $$$ column only shows sales that have been made through your lens' money maker modules (Amazon, eBay, CafePress etc.). Adsense earnings will not show up on your dashboard stats.

Since we are paid two months after a sale is made the totals you see are for more than one month's worth of sales. Don't expect to receive all of what you see pending in one payment.

Many lensmasters like to keep record of their earnings. I know there are quite a few of us with spreadsheets and other documents.

If you think you will want to do this it's best to start right away. It can be difficult trying to get it all together months down the road.

I use Excel to keep track of how each lens and group are doing, and to see how much I've contributed to various charities. At a glance I can see how I'm doing over a months time, or year, or since I've started.

I also earn money through my lenses from various affiliate programs that I've joined. I keep track of those sales as well.

It's also a good idea to print or save the lensranks of your lenses. Remember they have started using your average lensrank over the month, so doing this at the beginning, middle, and end of the month might be the way to go. I just print out the final day of the month for a rough idea. This way you verify if your lens was put in the correct tier.

This lens was chosen as

Lens of the Day on October 29th 2010.

:)

For even more info visit Squidoo's recently updated Lensmaster Payment page.
You can also drop by the SquidU.com forum and ask lensmasters there for help.