eBay/PayPal Stealth questions - VPS distance, PO Box, LLC, etc

[hollingash]

About to start Amazon to eBay drop shipping. Using an anonymous LLC, through registered agent, with owner's name not viewable by public.

For an address, my cheapest option seems to be to get a PO Box with "street addressing" which means this post office is set up to allow me to use "their address #<box number>", without actually saying "PO Box". A database of USPS locations, or someone with google maps can easily see it's a PO Box, but looking at it, you'd have no idea. (UPS/FedEx deliver to these, also.)

1 - Question about address you use, in relation to where it appears your IP is from. Has anyone used a 5 hour distance? My favorite VPS provider ($5/mo) has a bunch of locations, but the closest is 5 hours away, in a different state. Not sure if that's asking for trouble, or if you start slow, if it turns out to be a non-issue. I can spend more to get a VPN from my state, not sure if it's that necessary.

2 - Regarding a PO Box with "street addressing", has anyone used that for eBay/PayPal? Do they have those addresses in their database to throw up red flags? Are these as good as a virtual office/virtual address/mail forward/UPS Store box?

3 - If eBay or PayPal ask for document verification, and you have an LLC, do they just take the LLC docs? Or, do they ask for a personal ID? (I'm not using fake info/names or family/friend info.)

4 - If using an LLC with a person-name sounding business name, do you need to keep your name anonymous through public records? Does eBay/PayPal go to state websites and pull up free images of LLC's? Is there even a point to pay a registered agent to stay anonymous, when you may have to restart a new LLC at any point? (My state allows you to search a business name - they do not allow the reverse - you can't type in someone's name and see what businesses they're related to.)

5 - Anyone use LLC DBAs where public records could link them? Not sure if they look at these, but thinking that risk would be stupid... Really cheap though if it worked.

 

[PoisonAce]

I have had my po box on my eBay forever

 

[hollingash]

I have had my po box on my eBay forever

Quite a few stealth guides I've seen say to avoid using a PO Box, because they lower your internal trust rating. Maybe not true, or maybe not a huge issue if the account doesn't trigger other trust flags.

 

[toml3030]

1 - Question about address you use, in relation to where it appears your IP is from. Has anyone used a 5 hour distance? My favorite VPS provider ($5/mo) has a bunch of locations, but the closest is 5 hours away, in a different state. Not sure if that's asking for trouble, or if you start slow, if it turns out to be a non-issue. I can spend more to get a VPN from my state, not sure if it's that necessary.

as long as it's same country you should be okay

2 - Regarding a PO Box with "street addressing", has anyone used that for eBay/PayPal? Do they have those addresses in their database to throw up red flags? Are these as good as a virtual office/virtual address/mail forward/UPS Store box?

should not be a problem

3 - If eBay or PayPal ask for document verification, and you have an LLC, do they just take the LLC docs? Or, do they ask for a personal ID? (I'm not using fake info/names or family/friend info.)

what kind of documents? If they ask for documents for your product, LLC isn't going to save you. At some point risk assessment department might ask for owner's info, but not likely if your LLC is legit.

4 - If using an LLC with a person-name sounding business name, do you need to keep your name anonymous through public records? Does eBay/PayPal go to state websites and pull up free images of LLC's?

They can, but they don't unless you do something really shady and draw attention to yourself.

Is there even a point to pay a registered agent to stay anonymous, when you may have to restart a new LLC at any point? (My state allows you to search a business name - they do not allow the reverse - you can't type in someone's name and see what businesses they're related to.)

LLCs aren't gum wrappers. You must be careful when opening and closing LLCs and do them properly because eventually IRS is going to nose around. DO NOT mess with the IRS.

5 - Anyone use LLC DBAs where public records could link them? Not sure if they look at these, but thinking that risk would be stupid... Really cheap though if it worked.

if you do it right, they CAN'T link you through public records. It would be much easier to link you through finding out who is behind the bank account. Again, they don't go to this lengths unless you do shady stuff.

 

[toml3030]

Quite a few stealth guides I've seen say to avoid using a PO Box, because they lower your internal trust rating. Maybe not true, or maybe not a huge issue if the account doesn't trigger other trust flags.

ideally you would have a street address, but you can always start with a po box and attach to a street address you have access to when the account gets big