HOW EARNINGS
ARE COUNTED
A haul pays once 90% of the file has reached a new visitor. Everything else on this page is a consequence of that one sentence.
Counted on bytes, not on clicks
A click is not a haul and a started transfer is not a haul. The counter adds up the bytes that actually reached the visitor across every request they made, and pays the moment that total crosses 90% of the file. A visitor who stops at half and comes back later still gets there — the two legs add together. A visitor who stops at half and never returns pays nothing.
One credit per visitor per day, across the whole site
The first publisher to convert a visitor inside 24 hours is the one paid. If the same person downloads a second file that day — yours or anyone else's — it finishes, it counts as a haul, and it earns nothing. This is sitewide and not per file, which is why a burst of downloads from one person moves the haul count without moving the balance. At most 4 devices behind one address can be credited in that window.
Your own downloads never pay
A download from the address you last signed in on is recorded and never credited. This is the single most common reason a publisher testing their own link sees the haul count rise and the balance stay flat. It is not a penalty and it costs you nothing else — the event is simply marked and priced at zero.
Datacentre and automated traffic is refused
Requests from 22 known datacentre networks are refused outright, before any bytes move, and requests the edge scores as automated are refused with them. Traffic through a VPN, proxy or relay usually arrives on one of those networks, so a visitor on a VPN may not be able to download at all. Nothing about this is retroactive: a refused request never becomes a haul.
Priced by the downloader's country
Each credited haul is priced from the rate card in force at the moment it is asked for, at the downloader's country and never at yours. That amount is written once and a later change to the card does not reach back. This is why two publishers with identical haul counts can hold very different balances.
Why a haul did not pay
These are the exact phrases your reports screen prints beside an unpaid haul.
- You downloaded your own file
- You were signed in from this address. Test links from a different network, or simply accept that your own checks will not earn.
- This visitor was already counted in the last 24 hours
- Someone already earned a credit from this visitor inside the 24-hour window. The download still happened and still counts as a haul.
- More than 4 devices were credited behind this address
- More than 4 devices asked to be credited behind one address in the window. Shared connections hit this honestly; so does one machine changing its user agent.
- The visitor stopped before 90% of the file
- The transfer stopped short of 90%. If they resume on the same link the bytes add up and it can still pay.
- Earnings were paused when this download landed
- Pricing was paused across the site when this landed. The event is recorded in full either way, so nothing is lost from the trail.
Counting decisions are not disputable, but they are never hidden: every event carries its reason, and the reasons are listed on your reports screen.