Getting paid for backlinks - “cash” or reported?

I have a few businesses and have mostly purchased backlinks for sites I want to rank. But now I have people who want to buy links from me. I would like to know the typical protocol for this. Is it usual for everything to be tax reported, where they collect my business name and tax info? Or is it more common to do something that’s not reported, like a PayPal friends and family payment?

I have somebody who wants to buy a link and they want all my info. I don’t mind that if we will be doing business together regularly, but it seems like a lot of trouble and divulging of private information on my end to sell a $60 backlink. They are not an agency so I don’t expect repeated business from them.

Is this normal? Or do most backlink buyers work on a cash basis?

HeleneOnWheels said:

I have somebody who wants to buy a link and they want all my info

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show them the middle finger and move on! As your site grows bigger and becomes more popular you will have more and better opportunities for partnerships. Nowadays, everyone and their grandma wants to know what you're eating and the colour of your underwear, and it's just not right. People are getting into cryptocurrencies for a reason (to get away from the control of governments, banks and corporations) and that random, meaningless someone wants to know your personal info? Who is he? The government? The FBI? No, he's just a random someone who wants a backlink.

Thanks -- I turned him down. I told him it was not worth the hassle.

From a B2B point of view, they need all your personal info for the records. It's a common procedure, and they pretty much don't care if the infos you provide is even real or not. What matters, in the end, is your Paypal account.

So next time you are dealing with another business, keep this in mind, it's just for books keeping and nobody cares if you give fake data.

Yeah, I used to assume that until a company I signed up with as an affiliate decided to ask for tax info for a 1099 months later. I thought it was a cash deal since they didn't ask up front and had been paying my personal account for months. Obviously I'd rather avoid taxes, but I'm not going to give the US government fake info. And I don't know what if anything this person's government (Malaysia, I think) might send to the US either.

HeleneOnWheels said:

And I don't know what if anything this person's government (Malaysia, I think) might send to the US either

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you are too afraid of governments. And governments are mafia indeed, but they have bigger problems to deal with than site owners. Just don't give any info away, the governments will never contact you asking for backlinks or other silly favors like this. They have enough power to get backlinks from the top ranked websites for free if they wanted, they're not gonna pay you $60 for a link and still ask for your data. They know all about you anyway

As your site grows bigger, more high-ticket buyers will approach you
Some even prefer crypto. That's a huge plus.