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It's common knowledge among SEOs that AdSense tends to be disabled a few days before the supposed payout. I haven't lost any big sum - only $2000 but I know one

by fear91 12y ago

It's common knowledge among SEOs that AdSense tends to be disabled a few days before the supposed payout. I haven't lost any big sum - only $2000 but I know one person that lost $40,000. It was all legitimate traffic coming straight from Google themselves, no click fraud no bought traffic etc. PS: I was using AdSense from 2008 to 2013 - over 5 years so it's not like only new users got banned.

gukov 12y ago
So you lost $2,000 because of Google. Would you do more about it if the sum suddenly disappeared from your bank account or the cell company overcharged you? I find most are afraid to stand up to Google because they're so omnipresent.
- freshhawk 12y ago
  I don't know if it's afraid as much as just knowing that you are entering a one sided relationship when you use them and knowing there is nothing for you to do if this happens. It's the current sad state of the online advertising market.
- dangrossman 12y ago
  You'd have recourse if those things happened, whereas you don't have recourse if Google terminates your account. You enter into a contract where you agreed that they had this right and that payments would be forfeit. If a cell company overcharges you, you have a legal case for recovering that money. If Google terminates you, you have none, and going to court to fight a contract you agreed to is likely going to result in further losses.
  - dhimes 12y ago
    Why can't you challenge the legitimacy of the contract? Not every contract stands up to court scrutiny.
    - dangrossman 12y ago
      Google has good lawyers, and their terms are both brief and written in plain English with no "fine print". Printed, the AdSense terms are less than two pages long. The part about termination and forfeiting unpaid commissions is two sentences long. There's not much to argue or for a court to "scrutinize". The fact that a large number of people have had five-figure payments forfeited under this agreement (sufficient to afford and warrant evaluating options like this), yet none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK, is pretty good evidence that there's nothing so unconscionable present that a court would void the contract.
      - pktgen 12y ago
        > The fact that a large number of people have had five-figure payments forfeited under this agreement (sufficient to afford and warrant evaluating options like this), yet none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK, is pretty good evidence that there's nothing so unconscionable present that a court would void the contract. I'm curious if it hasn't happened or if Google has simply settled them all to avoid having their contract challenged in court.
      - Silhouette 12y ago
        Google has good lawyers, and their terms are both brief and written in plain English with no "fine print". It doesn't matter how many lawyers they've got. For one thing, in most places in the West, if you're in a small claims court or the equivalent then professional lawyers probably won't be allowed. And if your case is large enough to be heard in full court, it's worth hiring your own lawyer, and they're going to drive a pretty obvious hole through any contract of adhesion where the terms are essentially "We can decide arbitrarily that you're in violation and thus refuse to hold up our end of the deal". ...none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK... Are you familiar with the case of Aaron Greenspan? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-i-sued-google-and-won_b_172403.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-i-sued-goo... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bothered-to-ap_b_213176.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bot... The key facts as reported appear to be that he did take them to small claims court after they shut down his account and wouldn't explain why, and he won. They then appealed, and they won, but only after identifying two specific ways in which they considered one of his sites did violate their terms (at least one of which is explicitly identified in the wording they use today, though I don't know whether either or both was at the time) which is all he was asking for in the first place. Net result: Google were probably out far more in time and money than he was, and got a healthy dose of bad press for their behaviour throughout. The lawyers might call it a win, but I bet neither the accountants nor the PR guys did.
pktgen 12y ago
Sue them in small claims court. The filing fee is usually low so you're not risking much. Just because the contract says "Google can fuck you in the ass" doesn't mean that will actually hold up in court. I hope the person who lost $40,000 consulted an attorney as well, as that easily passes the "worth paying for an hour of one's time" threshold.

by fear91 12y ago

gukov 12y ago

So you lost $2,000 because of Google. Would you do more about it if the sum suddenly disappeared from your bank account or the cell company overcharged you? I find most are afraid to stand up to Google because they're so omnipresent.

freshhawk 12y ago
I don't know if it's afraid as much as just knowing that you are entering a one sided relationship when you use them and knowing there is nothing for you to do if this happens. It's the current sad state of the online advertising market.
dangrossman 12y ago
You'd have recourse if those things happened, whereas you don't have recourse if Google terminates your account. You enter into a contract where you agreed that they had this right and that payments would be forfeit. If a cell company overcharges you, you have a legal case for recovering that money. If Google terminates you, you have none, and going to court to fight a contract you agreed to is likely going to result in further losses.
- dhimes 12y ago
  Why can't you challenge the legitimacy of the contract? Not every contract stands up to court scrutiny.
  - dangrossman 12y ago
    Google has good lawyers, and their terms are both brief and written in plain English with no "fine print". Printed, the AdSense terms are less than two pages long. The part about termination and forfeiting unpaid commissions is two sentences long. There's not much to argue or for a court to "scrutinize". The fact that a large number of people have had five-figure payments forfeited under this agreement (sufficient to afford and warrant evaluating options like this), yet none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK, is pretty good evidence that there's nothing so unconscionable present that a court would void the contract.
    - pktgen 12y ago
      > The fact that a large number of people have had five-figure payments forfeited under this agreement (sufficient to afford and warrant evaluating options like this), yet none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK, is pretty good evidence that there's nothing so unconscionable present that a court would void the contract. I'm curious if it hasn't happened or if Google has simply settled them all to avoid having their contract challenged in court.
    - Silhouette 12y ago
      Google has good lawyers, and their terms are both brief and written in plain English with no "fine print". It doesn't matter how many lawyers they've got. For one thing, in most places in the West, if you're in a small claims court or the equivalent then professional lawyers probably won't be allowed. And if your case is large enough to be heard in full court, it's worth hiring your own lawyer, and they're going to drive a pretty obvious hole through any contract of adhesion where the terms are essentially "We can decide arbitrarily that you're in violation and thus refuse to hold up our end of the deal". ...none of them have invalidated the contract in a courtroom thus far AFAIK... Are you familiar with the case of Aaron Greenspan? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-i-sued-google-and-won_b_172403.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-i-sued-goo... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bothered-to-ap_b_213176.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bot... The key facts as reported appear to be that he did take them to small claims court after they shut down his account and wouldn't explain why, and he won. They then appealed, and they won, but only after identifying two specific ways in which they considered one of his sites did violate their terms (at least one of which is explicitly identified in the wording they use today, though I don't know whether either or both was at the time) which is all he was asking for in the first place. Net result: Google were probably out far more in time and money than he was, and got a healthy dose of bad press for their behaviour throughout. The lawyers might call it a win, but I bet neither the accountants nor the PR guys did.

pktgen 12y ago

Sue them in small claims court. The filing fee is usually low so you're not risking much. Just because the contract says "Google can fuck you in the ass" doesn't mean that will actually hold up in court. I hope the person who lost $40,000 consulted an attorney as well, as that easily passes the "worth paying for an hour of one's time" threshold.