Shareasale wants a W-9 from me for the first payment. I know, millions of people provide W-9's a year. Am I paranoid or should I feel a little weary giving out my SSN? I just don't like giving it out...CC's have built in protections. To replace an SSN and deal with all possible identity theft is by no means easy.
It is normal, I understand what your saying though about giving out your ssn. Sites need it on their end for reporting to the government on where the money is going so someone will be paying taxes. Without the record of where money is going it is money that is dissappearing tax free and the govt doesn't like that to much.
I too don't like to give out my ssn. And, if I can, I avoid giving it when I first sign up with an affiliate network. I want to see if I make any money first. If not, why give out my ssn? That said, if it looks like I'm getting close to cashout or receiving payment, then, yes, I'll update my profile and add in my ssn. Either that or don't get paid