Carbon Ads / BuySellAds Fourth Review: Discovered We Were Coordinating With the Wrong Team 4 Minutes Before the Meeting

Previously, I wrote three consecutive articles about Carbon Ads / BuySellAds.

The first article documented the selection of an ad platform for a tech blog, as well as the application process for Wanwei Ads and Carbon Ads:

“Tech Blog Ad Platform Selection and Registration in Practice: Wanwei Ads + Carbon Ads Application Record and Next Steps” (Yongye)

The second article documented the complete process of receiving an email from the BuySellAds team, scheduling the first Zoom meeting, and the other party not showing up on the day of the meeting:

“Carbon Ads / BuySellAds Communication Process Review (Complete Record from Application to Meeting Anomaly)” (Yongye)

The third article recorded the process of the other party proactively suggesting a reschedule, followed by days of silence, and my final decision to lower the platform’s priority:

“Carbon Ads / BuySellAds Follow-up Review: From Reschedule to Silence, I Decided to Lower the Priority” (Yongye)

I originally thought this matter would probably end with “keep waiting.”

Unexpectedly, I later not only received a reply, but also a second Zoom meeting was scheduled.

Even more unexpectedly, just a few minutes before the second meeting officially started, the other party realized:

Lara and Kelly both belong to the ad sales team and are not responsible for Publisher onboarding.

In other words, from the initial Publisher application to the scheduling of two meetings, I might have been communicating with the wrong team the entire time.

This is truly a process error that I find somewhat incomprehensible.

1. After the Silence, BuySellAds Contacted Me Again

Early in the morning on July 17, I received a reply from Lara.

She first apologized for the delayed response, explaining that the team had been busy with ad campaign planning recently.

The email mentioned:

• Most of the display ad inventory for this quarter has already been sold;
• Many AI newsletter ad slots are already booked through mid-August;
• She was on vacation that week;
• She added Kelly from the team to the email, and Kelly would coordinate a new meeting time.

When I saw this email, my first reaction was:

This communication should still be related to my Publisher application.

After all, I initially submitted a Carbon Ads Publisher application, and previous emails had consistently discussed the website, traffic, and ad partnerships.

Therefore, when Lara added Kelly to the email and explicitly stated that Kelly would schedule the call, I naturally assumed:

They were resuming work on my Publisher application.

2. Kelly Quickly Scheduled the Second Zoom Meeting

After Kelly was added to the email, she quickly asked about my availability for the following week.

Considering the significant time difference between US Eastern Time and Beijing Time, I provided two options for 3:00 AM Beijing Time:

• 3:00 AM on July 21;
• 3:00 AM on July 22.

Kelly then sent a Google Calendar invitation, scheduling the meeting for:

3:00 AM – 3:30 AM Beijing Time on July 22

This corresponds to 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM US Eastern Time on July 21.

Because the meeting information was updated once later, I received a total of three related emails:

• A regular email stating that the invitation had been sent;
• An initial calendar invitation;
• An updated calendar invitation.

I opened the latest Updated invitation and clicked “Accept.”

From the calendar, meeting time, and Zoom link to the meeting password, everything appeared to be ready.

Since the other party had failed to join the first meeting, this time I specifically double-checked:

• Which Zoom link I should click;
• Whether the meeting required turning on the camera;
• Whether audio and video were working properly;
• What the differences were between the latest invitation and the old one;
• Whether the meeting time was correctly converted to Beijing Time.

From my perspective, this was already an officially confirmed second business meeting.

3. 19 Minutes Before the Meeting, Kelly Suddenly Asked About My True Purpose

At 2:41 AM Beijing Time, about 19 minutes before the meeting started, I received a confirmation email from Kelly.

She asked:

Did I want to join the Carbon Network to let others place ads on my website, or did I want to promote my own products through the Carbon Network?

These two directions are completely different:

• The former is a Publisher, meaning the website traffic owner;
• The latter is an Advertiser, meaning the ad buyer.

Upon seeing the email, I immediately replied, clearly stating:

I want to join the Carbon Network to let advertisers place ads on my website.

At the same time, I also clarified:

I was not looking to promote a specific product through the Carbon Network.

This was originally just a simple identity confirmation.

However, the reply I received next changed the nature of the entire situation.

4. 4 Minutes Before the Meeting, the Other Party Confirmed They Had Been Communicating with the Wrong Team

At 2:56 AM Beijing Time, about 4 minutes before the scheduled Zoom meeting was to start, Kelly replied again.

She stated:

Both she and Lara belong to the ad sales team, and therefore are not the right contacts to help websites integrate into the Publisher system.

She would then:

• Forward my contact information to the Publisher team;
• If the Publisher team felt my website was a good fit, they would contact me;
• Cancel the Zoom meeting originally scheduled for 3:00 AM.

This meant that the meeting, which had been prepared for days and scheduled for 3:00 AM Beijing Time, was canceled just a few minutes before it was set to begin.

The reason was not that my website failed the review, nor was it a scheduling conflict between both parties.

The real reason was:

The other party did not confirm that I was a Publisher rather than an Advertiser until right before the meeting started.

I subsequently replied to express my understanding and confirmed that since this was a Publisher application, the Zoom meeting scheduled for that day could be canceled.

Kelly’s final reply stated that the meeting had been canceled, and she apologized again:

Sorry this has happened to you twice now.

She also mentioned that she had already sent my information to the relevant team.

5. Why I Consider This a Rather Basic Process Error

It is completely understandable that different teams exist within an ad platform.

BuySellAds might simultaneously have:

• Advertiser Sales;
• Publisher Partnerships;
• Campaign Management;
• Account Management;
• Newsletter Sponsorship;
• Carbon Ads Network Operations.

It is also perfectly normal for different teams to handle different business areas.

What I truly find incomprehensible is:

The starting point of this collaboration was clearly the Publisher application I submitted.

My application’s purpose was clear from the very beginning:

• I have a tech blog;
• I want to join Carbon Ads;
• I want to display ads on my website;
• I am not an advertiser buying ads;
• I also do not have a product that needs to be promoted through the Carbon Network.

In subsequent emails, I also explicitly used the phrase:

BuySellAds publisher opportunities

I had also inquired about:

• Publisher requirements;
• Traffic criteria;
• Revenue model.

These are all very typical Publisher-side questions.

Even if the initial application was mistakenly assigned to the ad sales team, theoretically, someone should have rechecked the basic information after the first meeting anomaly and before rescheduling the second meeting.

But the actual situation was:

The first meeting had already been scheduled once;

The other party did not show up;

They later proposed a reschedule;

I sent a follow-up email;

Lara then added Kelly to the email;

Kelly coordinated the time again;

A calendar invitation was created;

Zoom meeting information was generated;

And I accepted the meeting invitation.

It was not until 19 minutes before the second meeting started that they asked for the first time:

Are you a Publisher or an Advertiser?

From a process perspective, this is not a complex qualification review issue.

It is simply the most basic Lead Classification, which is the identification of the customer type.

And yet, this most basic question was only confirmed after two meetings had been scheduled.

6. Looking Back at Previous Emails, Many Things Suddenly Make Sense

After confirming that we had been communicating with the wrong team, I reviewed the previous emails.

Some things that felt slightly odd at the time now seem reasonable.

For example, when scheduling the first meeting, the questions they wanted me to prepare included:

• What are your main campaign goals?
• Where have you found success in the past?
• Who is your ideal audience?

At the time, I thought this might be Carbon Ads’ business evaluation framework for Publishers.

But looking at it now, these questions seem more like standard questions an ad sales team uses to understand advertisers:

• What are your campaign goals?
• Which channels have you found success with in the past?
• Who is your ideal ad audience?

These clearly lean more toward Advertisers rather than Publishers.

Similarly, when Lara later explained the delayed response, she mentioned:

• Campaign planning;
• Display inventory sold out;
• AI newsletters sold through mid-August.

These statements also clearly carry the working perspective of an ad sales team.

Previously, I had been interpreting this content from a Publisher’s perspective, so I wondered:

Does their ad inventory being sold out mean they need to add more website resources?

But looking at it now, this email was primarily explaining why she, as an ad salesperson, was very busy, and not necessarily indicating whether the Publisher team needed to add new websites.

In other words, from the very beginning of the communication, both parties might have been operating in two different business contexts:

• I thought the other party was evaluating my website;
• The other party might have thought I wanted to buy ads.

This also explains why the entire communication process had always seemed somewhat disjointed.

7. I Don’t Want to Put All the Blame on Individuals

Objectively speaking, Kelly handled the situation quite promptly after discovering the problem.

She did several things right:

• Proactively confirmed my collaboration direction before the meeting;
• Immediately explained the situation upon discovering the team mismatch;
• Canceled the Zoom meeting that no longer needed to take place;
• Forwarded my information to the Publisher team;
• Apologized for the recurring issues happening twice in a row.

Although Lara was slow to reply later on, she did re-establish contact and arranged for Kelly to follow up.

Therefore, this article is not meant to point fingers at any specific staff member.

What I care more about is the platform’s internal process:

Why did a clear Publisher application repeatedly end up with the Advertising Sales team?

Why was the most basic identity confirmation still not completed even after two meetings had been scheduled?

Why did they only realize that the contact and business direction did not match just a few minutes before the second meeting started?

It is understandable for an individual to make a judgment error once.

However, if an error can span multiple stages—application, email, calendar invitation, meeting scheduling, and secondary follow-up—it shows that the problem is not just someone overlooking a single sentence, but rather a gap in the internal lead assignment and qualification confirmation process.

8. For Individual Webmasters, the Cost of a Late-Night Meeting Is More Than Just 30 Minutes

From the perspective of the platform’s staff, this was just a canceled 30-minute meeting.

But for an individual webmaster in a time zone with a 12-hour difference, the cost involves more than just the meeting itself.

To attend this meeting, I needed to:

• Block out time at 3:00 AM Beijing Time;
• Check the meeting date and time zone;
• Confirm whether the invitation had been accepted;
• Determine which Zoom link to use;
• Check the microphone, speakers, and camera;
• Prepare for potential questions regarding website traffic and ad partnerships;
• Continuously check emails in the early hours of the morning.

Ultimately, the meeting was canceled a few minutes before it was set to begin.

Of course, this did not cause any direct financial loss.

But it consumed time, attention, and a normal sleep schedule.

For an individual blog operator, these are very real costs.

If a cross-time-zone meeting ends up only serving to confirm “are you a Publisher or an Advertiser,” then this confirmation should obviously have been done before creating the calendar invitation, rather than being left until right before the meeting starts.

9. My Latest Assessment of Carbon Ads / BuySellAds

In the third article, I had already decided to adjust Carbon Ads / BuySellAds from a “near-term priority” to a “long-term observation channel.”

Following this incident, I will not raise its priority again.

The current approach is simple:

• No longer proactively pushing for updates;
• No longer proactively scheduling late-night meetings;
• Waiting to see if the actual Publisher team reaches out;
• If they feel the website is a good fit, I will continue to learn more;
• If there is no further reply, then I will leave it at that.

I still will not completely write off the Carbon Ads ad network based on this experience alone.

Carbon Ads’ ad formats, tech audience targeting, and brand tone might still be suitable for some developer websites.

However, whether an ad platform is worth partnering with should not be based solely on:

• Whether the brand is well-known;
• Whether the ad CPM might be higher than AdSense;
• Whether the ad formats on the website are clean;
• Whether it serves a developer audience.

It should also depend on:

• Whether the Publisher application process is clear;
• Whether the internal team can correctly assign leads;
• Whether communication efficiency is stable;
• Whether they respect both parties’ time;
• Whether they can truly resolve issues after an anomaly occurs, rather than repeatedly experiencing similar problems.

10. A Few Reminders This Experience Gave Me

1. Before overseas business meetings, first confirm which team the other party belongs to

In similar situations going forward, I will directly ask before confirming a meeting:

Are you on the publisher partnerships team?

Meaning:

Are you on the team responsible for Publisher partnerships?

Although under normal circumstances this should be confirmed internally by the platform, asking in advance can indeed save a significant amount of time and cost.

2. State your identity at the very beginning of the first email

When applying for ad platforms in the future, you can state directly at the beginning of the email:

I’m applying as a publisher and would like to display ads on my website.

Do not just write “hope to learn about partnership opportunities,” to avoid being misidentified as an advertiser.

3. Receiving a meeting invitation does not mean the application has entered the correct process

I used to think:

The other party’s willingness to schedule a Zoom meeting meant the website application had at least entered the preliminary evaluation stage.

But this experience shows that a meeting invitation itself does not prove:

• That the other party has reviewed the website;
• That the other party knows my application type;
• That the other party belongs to the correct team;
• That the website has entered the Publisher review process.

It might only mean that a staff member received a lead and created a meeting.

4. Cross-time-zone meetings require stricter control over preparation costs

A misunderstanding during normal working hours wastes at most a few dozen minutes.

A misunderstanding at 3:00 AM can disrupt an entire night’s sleep.

In the future, if the other party requests a meeting in an obviously unfriendly time zone, I will first confirm via email:

• The purpose of the meeting;
• The team the other party belongs to;
• The issues to be discussed;
• Whether they have already reviewed my website;
• Whether this call is indeed related to Publisher onboarding.

11. After This Fourth Review, This Matter Can Come to a Close Again

Looking back at the entire Carbon Ads / BuySellAds application process, the timeline has become very clear.

Initially, I submitted a Publisher application.

Subsequently, the ad sales team contacted me.

The first Zoom meeting failed to happen due to a calendar issue on their end.

They proactively suggested a reschedule, but subsequently went silent for a while.

A few days later, I sent a follow-up email.

Lara replied again and had Kelly schedule a second meeting.

I accepted the meeting invitation for 3:00 AM Beijing Time.

Right before the meeting started, Kelly finally confirmed that I was a Publisher, not an Advertiser.

Ultimately, the other party realized the team mismatch, canceled the meeting, and forwarded my information to the Publisher team.

This is no longer just an isolated meeting anomaly.

It reflects a more fundamental issue:

A Publisher application lead was mistakenly routed to the ad sales team within the platform, and was only corrected after two meetings had been scheduled.

For me, this fourth article can serve as the final record for the current stage.

If the actual Publisher team contacts me later, I will re-evaluate based on the access requirements, ad models, and actual revenue they provide.

If there is no follow-up, there is no need to continue investing time.

The commercialization of an independent blog should not depend on a single platform anyway.

Carbon Ads can continue to be observed.

But the blog’s own content, traffic, English site, technical services, and long-term commercial value still need to be continuously developed.

Whether the platform replies is not entirely up to me.

But continuing to improve the blog remains in my own hands.

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