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Amazon not tracking Kindle ebook sales at the moment?

Amazon used to offer (almost) real-time sales tracking for Kindle ebooks. I say used to offer the service because it has been down for about the last 24 hours. A number of authors and publishers are complaining in the KDP forums that they’re not seeing the sales they would expect.

Sales seemed to have dropped off right around 7pm eastern last night. And this isn’t just 1 or 2; I’ve counted a dozen different complaints now. What’s worse is that no body is countering it with a report that their sales are unaffected.

I’ve been watching this for 8 or 9 hours now, and it’s beginning to concern me. I’ve been waiting all day to see if Amazon would respond, but they have not. I sent an email this morning, and I have kept a constant eye on the KDP forum threads where the problem is being documented (this thread, other thread). There’s no sign that Amazon have even noticed the problem.

Update: I managed to go right past a post in the second link that contains a response from Amazon. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Timothy.

Right now I’m still hoping that the sales were at least recorded, even if amazon are not updating the public records. But we won’t know for sure that the missing sales happened until after the problem is fixed.

Does anyone want to start a pool on how long the bug will be around?

image by steffenz

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Comments


Julia Hughes August 11, 2011 um 7:37 pm

uh huh. Just been sticking pins in a voodoo doll named 'ideal reader.' Wondering why no one loved me. Now I feel less abandoned. Thanks for the heads' up.

Nate Hoffelder August 11, 2011 um 7:43 pm

"a voodoo doll named ‘ideal reader.’ " LOL


Timothy Wilhoit August 11, 2011 um 8:19 pm

I noticed at post #41 (I think) of the second link you posted, the poster got a response from Amazon that begins,
"Hello James,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

We’re currently experiencing a reporting issue that’s affecting the display of KDP sales information. Our engineers are working to resolve this as soon as possible. While recent sales may not be displayed correctly, we’ve verified sales are still correctly being recorded. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused, and appreciate your patience…"

It sounds like Amazon is working on it…

Nate Hoffelder August 11, 2011 um 8:34 pm

Crap. I scrolled right past that comment at least once.

Timothy Wilhoit August 11, 2011 um 8:49 pm

That forum isn’t particularly skim-friendly. It’s a wonder I noticed it.


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