I Quit Google AdSense

Too many hoops to jump through for £7 ($8.91)

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

Over on my personal blog, Dora Reads, I’ve been using Google AdSense for quite some time — at least two years, but honestly, I lose track.

It’s probably more like 5 or 6 years at this point. (I am nothing if not persistent.)

In that time, I earned about £7 ($8.91) — which I couldn’t get to, because the minimum payout threshold is £60.

So, now I’ve decided to quit AdSense.

What changed? Well, they wanted ID verification — and, not only do I have some security and privacy issues with giving Google a shiny picture of my ID, but also it turned out at some point my account had been wrongly classified.

Which meant that they also wanted documentation for the incorporation of a company that doesn’t exist beyond my status as a sole trader (which is how I’m classified for UK tax, on account of it just being me on my self-employed lonesome.)

So I figured — that’s fine, I’ll just change the account classification from ‘Organization’ to ‘Individual.’ Easy, right?

…Right?

…Right?!