A website pays me based on the answers I give, and only pays me if the customer "accepts" my answer?

Question

The site says they are middlemen, and won't issue 1099s. I only get paid when somebody "accepts my answer." I get about 20% of my answers actually "accepted" thus get paid. This is typical of all people who work there. This amounts to less than min. wage. I feel there should be some sort of write-off for my answers not "accepted." The site says they keep customer deposits in their account "forever." Since most don't accept, I need to know what the site does with customer deposits. They are not saying, except that the money stays in the customer accounts. While they collect all the deposits, again, only 20% of that is paid to people like me. Surely, they cannot leave these deposits "prepaid assets" for longer than a year. They have to recognize unclaimed deposits at income at some point don't they?

If they do recognize income, can I then claim some sort of bad debt expense for "non accepts?" The site keeps the deposits, we only hope for an "accept." to get paid = < min wage

Yes, but supposedly the deposits are left in "customer accounts." The revenue the company makes is from their split of the price paid for the question, and again, only if accepted. They aren't reporting customer's deposits as income (and they add up), only their split of the Accepted question value.

They also claim exclusive use and rights to all my answers where they now charge others, again, to view the archives. We all know when an answer is accepted. There are no others who can answer a question without me and everybody knowing whether or not is was "accepted."

Answer 1

You pay taxes on what your are actually paid. You don't get a writeoff for the work you aren't paid for - there's nothing to write off. If you were paid for all answers, then charged back for answers not accepted, you could write off the chargeoffs but would claim the initial payments as income, so that would wash out and you'd come out total the same as you are now.

Minimum wage applies to employees, and you aren't an employee. you are an independent contractor. You are being paid for answers accepted, not for the amount of time that you put it.

You mention the customer "deposits" - have you thought that maybe somebody ELSE's answer WAS accepted by them, so the money was actually paid out, just not to you? And even if it wasn't, that's how the website makes THEIR money.