How to pay an anonymous person?

ilovechocandcheese

Hi there
Help would be much appreciated on this question!

I've recently started making bows on headbands as a small personal project.
I'd like to sell my creations - how can I create an account, e.g. bank account or PayPal account where people can pay me without revealing my identity?
Or is there a way I can set up accounts using a business name, e.g. Bows4Girls and therefore not use my real name?
If I did this, would I need a business account in a bank?

Hope my question has come across okay.
In summary I would like people to be able to pay without my name coming up in the transfer.

Thank you for replies!

HHarry

If you're going to do it properly, then you can't be anonymous.

If you sell as a sole trader you have to put your name on paperwork

https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

And if you register as a limited company, then anyone can look you up at Companies House.

Why are you so keen to remain unknown?

QQuaver

Ebay or Amazon?

robatwork

Putting aside the legalities of acting as a business on a personal account..... do you realise that if you tell people to make payments to
Name: Bows Forgirls
Sort: 12-34-56
A/C: 98765432
then it will get to you as the Name isn't actually used in Faster Payments.

soolin

Also be aware that if making anything that might be used by a child you would need to pay extra attention to the legal bits about things being tested to be shown as safe and secure.

jonesMUFCforever

Who are you trying to hide this from?

Flobberchops

Rather harsh feedback so far!

It's not difficult to imagine some legitimate reasons OP would rather stay anonymous. Firstly to give an impression of professionalism, so customers feel they're dealing with a company rather than an individual. And secondly, in a world where somebody can type your name into Facebook and be viewing pictures of your kids within a matter of seconds, it's not so hard to suppose some would prefer to keep their commercial and personal identities separate. I'm sure OP has no intention of defrauding her customers, but customers *do* occasionally get nasty.

As for how to do this - PayPal unfortunately requires your identity to be revealed, so that's PayPal and Ebay out of the equation. You could ask customers to pay you by direct bank transfer, for which they'd only require your sort code and account number, and wouldn't be able to discover your personal details from this (well, at least not without assistance from your bank, which would be a breach of data protection). However a direct transfer would afford your customers no buyer protection so they may decline to use this method, and as mentioned if your bank cotton on to the fact you're using the account for business purposes they may be unhappy. Likewise, a cheque has to be made out in your personal name, unless you have a valid "trading as" name set up with the bank, which again would require you to have a business account.

I'm not familiar with how Amazon and Etsy do things, perhaps look into those?

Owain_Moneysaver

I think product labelling regulations also require a manufacturer or importer's details to be on the product or its label.

so customers feel they're dealing with a company rather than an individual.

Almost certainly a breach of various Companies Acts and consumer protection legislation.

jonesMUFCforever

Flobberchops wrote: »

Rather harsh feedback so far!

It's not difficult to imagine some legitimate reasons OP would rather stay anonymous. Firstly to give an impression of professionalism, so customers feel they're dealing with a company rather than an individual. And secondly, in a world where somebody can type your name into Facebook and be viewing pictures of your kids within a matter of seconds, it's not so hard to suppose some would prefer to keep their commercial and personal identities separate. I'm sure OP has no intention of defrauding her customers, but customers *do* occasionally get nasty.

As for how to do this - PayPal unfortunately requires your identity to be revealed, so that's PayPal and Ebay out of the equation. You could ask customers to pay you by direct bank transfer, for which they'd only require your sort code and account number, and wouldn't be able to discover your personal details from this (well, at least not without assistance from your bank, which would be a breach of data protection). However a direct transfer would afford your customers no buyer protection so they may decline to use this method, and as mentioned if your bank cotton on to the fact you're using the account for business purposes they may be unhappy. Likewise, a cheque has to be made out in your personal name, unless you have a valid "trading as" name set up with the bank, which again would require you to have a business account.

I'm not familiar with how Amazon and Etsy do things, perhaps look into those?

I was thinking more along the line of working on the side whilst on benefits.

Wheres_My_Cashback

EarthBoy

Flobberchops wrote: »

It's not difficult to imagine some legitimate reasons OP would rather stay anonymous. Firstly to give an impression of professionalism, so customers feel they're dealing with a company rather than an individual.

To give an "impression" of professionalism, rather than simply acting professionally, is to give a false impression and to allow your customers to think they're dealing with a company, not an individual, is to mislead them. I wouldn't want to do business with someone who sets out to deceive me.