There are dozens of complaints, that I found, of Canadian Google AdSense publishers complaining about issues about being paid this month. It appears that Google used the wrong exchange rate, which is not uncommon, and then cancelled certain payments to fix the issue. Somehow this technically caused EFT, or electronic funds transfers, settings to go bad in some accounts and stop payments from going forward.
I have not seen an official Google response outside of someone posting the transcript of an email he received from Google. That email said:
We're writing to let you know about an issue with your March 2010 AdSense payment. As you know, the full amount of your most recent Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment was not transmitted all at one time, due to the use of an inaccurate exchange rate. You’ve already received a payment, which is the bulk of the amount you're owed. The remaining amount will be sent in a separate transaction in a few days.In order to process this second payment, you’ll see several transactions on your Payment History page which we will explain below. You may also notice a hold on your account and/or a change in status to your EFT account, however we kindly ask that you disregard both of these, as we’re working on a resolution on our end.
Your Payment History page in your AdSense account will show the following over the next few days:
1) A 'Payment issued' line posted on March 25, 2010 calculated in USD. (If you click on the 'details' link next to this line you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD : 0.950 CAD.)
2) An 'EFT not successful - earnings credited back' line has posted today, March 31, 2010. This doesn't mean that your EFT was unsuccessful and please rest assured that no money is being withdrawn from your bank account. It's only displayed to balance the amounts within your AdSense account.
During this time, you may happen to see messaging that your account is on hold and to select a new form of payment. Rest assured this is a normal part of the process and we kindly ask that you do not make any such changes until both these payments have been finalized.
3) Then, a 'Payment issued' line will also post, for the actual USD amount of the initial deposit that was sent to your account on March 25th. (If you click on the 'details' link for this payment you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD : 1.026 CAD.)
4) In a few days, an additional 'Payment issued' line will post when the additional payment is processed for the remaining amount that you are due. (When it posts, if you click on the 'details' link for this payment you'll find this payment was calculated in CAD with an exchange rate of 1 USD: 1.026 CAD.)
The sum of these two last 'Payment issued' lines will reflect the correct amount of your payment. So next week, your Payment History page will appear something like the following example:
Payment issued (US $100.00) EFT not successful - earnings credited back US $100.00 Payment issued (US $96.00) Payment issued (US $4.00)
Please be assured that the remainder of your payment will be deposited into your account soon.
Once again, we appreciate your patience as we work to fix the error.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
I am sure Canadian publishers will get paid in full soon, so hang tight.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdSense Help.