Developers and Paypal Privacy

[Lussuria]

Hello everyone I've been working on my first game for a couple months and am nearing a first release. Like most developers I would like to accept donations through Patreon, SubscribeStar, and Ko-fi. I have created a paypal business account since Ko-fi says "With a business account, you can choose your "business name" and email address which will be shown in transactions instead of any personal information. " which sounds great to me. However when I examine by business profile on Paypal, it seems like it shows a lot of private information (birth date, home address, my legal name) that I don't want revealed under any circumstances.

Does anyone have experience with using Paypal and the donation sites (patreon, subscribestar, ko-fi) and can confirm that the sensitive information isn't obtainable / shared in anyway? Like can people find my account on paypal and see that info? Will it show up on credit card statements or anything? I preferably don't want to create an LLC to conceal my name and address if I don't have to. I could lie about my name and address but don't want to run the risk of getting my account closed.

Paypal business account info page so you know what I'm referring to:


Thank you so much for any info and help.

 

[cold_arctus]

Totally normal due to tax laws and to prevent tax evasion. Clients/supporters won't see any of these information.

 

[Lussuria]

Totally normal due to tax laws and to prevent tax evasion. Clients/supporters won't see any of these information.

Awesome, I'm very glad to hear that, thank you! You're sure that the concealed info under "Business address" isn't discoverable or shared? As well as "Business contact name" which apparently has to be my legal name? Sorry if I'm just asking the same question again but I am (hopefully understandably) paranoid.

 

[Alcahest]

Awesome, I'm very glad to hear that, thank you! You're sure that the concealed info under "Business address" isn't discoverable or shared? As well as "Business contact name" which apparently has to be my legal name? Sorry if I'm just asking the same question again but I am (hopefully understandably) paranoid.

I don't have that much experience with Paypal so this is "as far as I know":
When sending simple payments back and forth in Paypal, no address is being displayed to sender or receiver, only your name (business name in your case) and email, so if that is all you are doing, you should be fine. However, if you are buying something from a seller (like art from an artist) by paying an invoice they send you, your address will be displayed because you need to select a shipping address, even for digital goods.

 

[Lussuria]

I don't have that much experience with Paypal so this is "as far as I know":
When sending simple payments back and forth in Paypal, no address is being displayed to sender or receiver, only your name (business name in your case) and email, so if that is all you are doing, you should be fine. However, if you are buying something from a seller (like art from an artist) by paying an invoice they send you, your address will be displayed because you need to select a shipping address, even for digital goods.

If this is correct that is great! I don't currently plan on paying for anything through this paypal account, only using it to receive funds from Patreon, Ko-fi, and Subscribestar. Thank you.

 

[Luderos]

If this is correct that is great! I don't currently plan on paying for anything through this paypal account, only using it to receive funds from Patreon, Ko-fi, and Subscribestar. Thank you.

If you want to doublecheck what's exposed, send yourself a payment from a different email account.

 

[rayminator]

if you still don't want your real address not to be shown then best thing to do is get a PO.BOX from you local post office

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

If you don't share your PayPal email address with your backers, they won't be able to see anything.

 

[Lussuria]

If you don't share your PayPal email address with your backers, they won't be able to see anything.

How would they see my info if they did have the email address associated with my business paypal account? Thanks.

if you still don't want your real address not to be shown then best thing to do is get a PO.BOX from you local post office

I'll consider that but would prefer not to have to do that. Thank you.

If you want to doublecheck what's exposed, send yourself a payment from a different email account.

Good idea, thanks!

 

[ElysiumDev]

People will be able to see your email address. So if your email address is something like Lussuria.UniqueSurname@email.com then it might be possible to find out who you are. Unless your name is John/Jane Doe.

 

[Lussuria]

People will be able to see your email address. So if your email address is something like Lussuria.UniqueSurname@email.com then it might be possible to find out who you are. Unless your name is John/Jane Doe.

Ah yeah, I am smart enough to have the email associated with everything not have any private information attached to it so I should be good on that front. Thanks!

 

[Lussuria]

Bumping this hoping a developer who has gone through this same process can respond. Thanks.

 

[Lussuria]

Bumping this hoping a developer who has gone through this same process can respond. Thanks. Hope it's okay to keep bumping.

 

[Crooked13th]

Hi! Do you have to pay something for this business account? And you can set another country different than yours?

Also, not directly to you but if you can help me, I'll be glad (and if anyone else can help me, I'll be glad too). Do you know how do I create a PayPal account outside my country? A VPN? Every time I load the PayPal site it lands on the national one version and with that account (which I already have one), I cannot add US$ money except with a prepaid card which has a limit of around $1000,00. I'd like to have a US$ account. If you can help me, I'll be glad. Thanks in advance!

I don't know all the details, but my current understanding with Paypal is that to start the account under a different country, you need to prove you live there, primarily through having a local bank account with a valid credit/debit card connected with PP.

I am not sure how you can do that if you don't have an American bank account, or if that's even possible.