I’ve been a small Adsense publisher for about a year, with three sites and revenues hovering around $150 per month for the past eight-or-so months. On TWO of these eight months, I thought my earnings were going to (barely) pass the $200-per-month payout level, but my earnings seemed to get “stuck†at (literally) $199. July 2008 saw a moderate bump in traffic on one of my sites, and Adsense revenues surpassed the $200 level by about the 15th or 20th of the month. August traffic receded abit (to pre-July levels), but Adsense revenues continued to grow (about $400 for the month). … Which leads me to wonder whether Adsense has “sticky†payout thresholds. Specifically, if a publisher’s clicks/impressions would lead to a calculated payout that marginally exceeds $200 (say $200.38), I’m wondering if Google might instead hold the payment at $199, by transferring some of the clicks/impressions to the subsequent month. Not sure what purpose this would serve (perhaps different payout levels trigger different staff requirements with respect to auditing click activity, etc). However, since I’ve now seen two months at the $199 level, I thought I would throw my theory out there… Another curiosity (again, probably meaningless) is that the color of my standard delivery paper check changed last month (for July activity when my earnings surpassed $200). Specifically, I had been receiving Green checks up until that point, but then received Red ones thereafter thereafter.
I don't get checks, I have direct deposit, so can't speak about the color. But I think the $199 level being sticky is a coincidence. Different staff requirements and what not seem reasonable, but not for $200. My guess has been that $10,000/mo would generate a manual review. Your account is reviewed at the first payment, and many people get banned at that time. They try to cut out the riff raff at the beginning. $100 $200 $500 $1000....none of these are going to get any attention from "staff". It's all automatic, and computers don't recognize any significance when you pass $200. They would never transfer clicks/impressions to subsequent months. Although if your account was under review and payment was being withheld.
Thanks d_vsuresh and Ghengis for your thoughts on this -- The "sticky payout theory" crossed my mind only because these $199 payouts occurred twice. However, unless others detected a similar pattern, I think that my observation likely reflected a mere coincidence...