Hey all. Some of this is going to be new information and others will be me repeating. But wanted to share just to make sure everything is known. Future things are changes you may be seeing in a matter of days or weeks, while others are months down the road.
Recent changes and issues
Payout Issue: July (for June)
Some users have experienced an issue where their browser showed an amount owed to them but a different amount arrived. For example, their phone might have said they had 13 BAT coming and their computer said 10 BAT was coming. But they only received 13 BAT. According to Brave, there was an issue with NTP ads which reflected a different amount. At this time it’s believed that the amount paid out is correct and the amount displayed for users was incorrect. (I don’t know full details)
This is only seeming to affect a small number of users but it is being looked into regardless. As usual, if you have any issues with your pay you should create a Rewards Support Ticket at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431.
Antifraud system (flagged accounts):
As part of Brave’s changes to improve on Rewards, reduce fraud & abuse, and adapting to changing government regulations, Brave has modified their antifraud system to better detect unusual behavior. They are also becoming much more strict than they had before.
While adapting this stronger antifraud system, we saw an increase in flagged accounts for the last month or so. Essentially they had not perfectly tailored the settings yet. Support has been investigating tickets for anyone who has had issues and been reinstating any accounts which might have been inadvertently caught up in it.
That said, as they keep tweaking things, we should be seeing fewer “wrongly” flagged accounts. Yet at the same time, as accuracy improves, also expect to see more posts/topics of people whose accounts will not be reinstated.
Flagged Accounts Still See Rewards Ads:
In the past, one of the ways to know you were flagged was because you would stop seeing Rewards ads. This was changed in recent months. The biggest way to know if you’ve been flagged is that you won’t receive any further payouts. I do believe (but haven’t confirmed) that your estimated earnings will stop increasing.
You can always turn off Rewards in order to stop seeing Rewards ads notifications. Also keep in mind that NTP ads that appear on your New Tab Page are a different setting. So even if you turn off Rewards, you’ll still see ads there unless you turn off the toggle under your Dashboard Customize option, then turn off Sponsored Images.
Support Tickets:
I know there are a number of people who waited or are currently waiting for responses to support tickets for weeks, with some waiting even more than a month. Typically Support is able to get to tickets within 3-5 business days, so this delay has been pretty significant. They are still behind a bit but are close to getting caught up.
If you still are waiting for a response, I suggest you be a bit more patient. I know it’s frustrating but guarantee they are sincerely putting in the time and effort for each ticket to make sure to do right by everyone. I’m anticipating everyone with an existing ticket should have a reply by the end of the month. Then hopefully from there they’ll be back on track.
Upcoming changes:
Timeline for these vary. But most everything below should arrive within the year, hopefully. Some are in Beta and will arrive in the next update. I won’t necessarily differentiate but it’s a good FYI of what’s coming.
Estimated Earnings:
These will be showing payment ranges instead of one simple estimated payout. This is being done to help reduce confusion and is a reminder that it’s just an estimated amount, not a guaranteed earnings. While it’s usually pretty accurate, it can fluctuate based on campaigns and what the system is able to completely process before payouts. The design differences are below:
-
Current Estimated Earnings:
-
Upcoming Estimated Earnings format (Currently in Nightly and I think Beta)
Payout Notifications:
Instead of the existing format which shows Your payout of ## BAT will arrive or Congrats! Your payment has arrived! It is being changed to show three phases. This is changing because many people were seeing the generic notice and thought it actually should have arrived, even though it was still processing.
-
Phase 1: Will let you know payouts will begin processing
-
Phase 2: Will advise that payouts have begun processing
-
Phase 3: Will advise that payouts have completed (and also provide a link to Support to seek help if payments are missing).
New Custodial Partner for India:
They still are not far enough to tell us who the partner will be, but it was announced and supposedly guaranteed. When asked for a timeline, they said definitely should be in place by October.
That said, do keep in mind that Brave is notorious for failing to meet expected timelines. As much as I want to share this and have us think of good news, I want to make sure I stress to all of you to be prepared for the worst. The good side of things though is that they said they are making sure to delay the sunsetting of vBAT until it happens. So anyone with BAT in their browser shouldn’t be worried about losing it.
This new partner will start off for India only but then may expand to include other countries. No timeline for when those other countries might be added to it or which they are, but just is the goal.
Interface between Rewards and Wallet (Phase 1)
No, this doesn’t mean you get paid to Wallet. They had been talking about moving the Rewards panel into Wallet, but that has changed for now. What this is referencing is that you’ll have something within Wallet so you’re also able to see your Rewards balance. This is kind of another phase in a direction they are looking to go, which might also help with things like Pay With BAT in the future. It also may exist for peer to peer (p2p) tipping, which they are still working on.
Manage Brave Ads:
We have had various control over ads for a while, but things have been scattered. Such as how NTP ads are listed as Sponsored Images under our Dashboard customization. They are working on getting all these settings and more together under brave://rewards so we can have an easier time of fine-tuning everything.
I’ll stop here
I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the main things off the top of my head for the moment.
