Request from someone to buy links

should I bother?

[microcars]

I am starting to get more "requests" to buy links on the home page of one of my sites.
None of my other sites get these so I assume the home page of this site pops up as "useful" in terms of Page Rank.

They all seem automated and I don't care so much about that but the latest one is quite specific about how many links, what type they are and how much they are willing to pay and they don't care where on the home page they are as they are simply SEO.

The email was sent to the address associated with the WHOIS info for the site.

I have done paid links in the past for related content and it worked out fine. Is there anything to be wary of with this?
I have been reading about paid links for awhile and I can't seem to find any downside for me (I am not requesting reciprocal links).

What do I have to lose here?

[StoutFiles]

The links need to be on topic or else you'll both get hurt. If you have a site about cars but you're not linking to car-related topics, Google will assume something fishy is going on.

[wheel]

The links need to be on topic or else you'll both get hurt. If you have a site about cars but you're not linking to car-related topics, Google will assume something fishy is going on.

are you sure about that? I'm not saying you're not correct, but I'm sure this is a poorly defined area.

And there are absolutely seo firms with automated crawlers/criteria looking to buy links. I'm sure there's some pretty interesting variants on how useful and succesful these are.

Now, I wouldn't sell links from my main site (well, not unless I got some obscene amount of cash). But that being said, if you're going to sell links, I'd suggest being a bit smarter than just 'selling links'. I'd be doing something to integrate the link into the page so that a manual review doesn't trigger a smackdown.

As for what you have to lose, I'm told you risk things like penalties for your rankings (perhaps more so than the risk of a penalty for the people buying the link). What if google hits a hidden switch that says your site no longer passes any juice?

Do it, but be careful.

[JS_Harris]

Don't bother, not worth the money in the long run.

[CainIV]

Depends on what is being offered, and the risk versus that money.

[YouDontKnowMe]

If you're being offered BIG BUCKS that you wouldn't earn otherwise from that site, then yes why not go for it?

Like suppose you have a high PR site which normally earns you only $15 per month in sales or ad revenue. And you have no idea how to better monetize it. Then someone offers you to buy a link for $100 a month. Then you would be dumb not to take the offer.

However, if your site is already earning $250 a month from other sources (AdSense, product sales, affiliate earnings, etc), and he offers you $100 for a paid link which could hurt your site, then it's not worth it.

It's always situational. Think carefully about it.