....but I bet it is quite common. After all, it is the blog owner themselves getting you to do this job, right? Anyone can hire you to do something and not pay. There are advertising companies out there that do this type of thing. I would think they are a bit more trustworthy.

That's lucky that no money was involved and it was essentially just a minor hassle to deal with. I'm sure a lot of people try to take advantage of other's good nature in situations like this but you just have to be careful -- especially being careful before any money actually changes accounts in this sort of situation.

I got got the same way! Put the link in the signature and promoted this guy for almost a month! He never paid up. I wish I still had his contact info so I could warn everyone.

The thing that you should do is register on www.projecthoneypot.org and report his email address. Be sure how quickly he is going to find himself on the blocked list of email addresses. Consequences are numerous :) I'm not saying revenge is the best way, but it's time to learn those people some lesson!