Upgrading from personal to a standard business account

[kaiserh]

Hello

I have a personal account since 2004 ,I mostly use it sell on ebay ,sales have gone up and I just do not want my full name in transaction details ,I have had people googling my name ,calling/texting my cell ,sending me letters asking to do business directly and bypass ebay.

I would like to upgrade to business account and have a business name but I actually do not have an official business yet,

Will it be possible to upgrade to a standard business account ? I am small business and trying to look professional on transactions and keep my full name out of the picture of buyers.

I do not accept credit cards ,only paypal for now.

Is there extra fees to have an business account ?

I have been searching information for a while now ,finding conflicting information .

Thank you

[PurpleIris]

I'm not sure what state you're in, but many make it rather easy to get a DBA (doing business as). Some states, like Kansas, don't even make you register it; you're just free to do business as whoever you want. When I first joined in 2000 as a business, my business wasn't even open, yet, but I did have a DBA.

They'll certainly require your SSN (or FEIN if you have employees) if they haven't asked for it on your personal account. They're required by law to report to the government who's generating taxable sales above whatever minimum the government currently has set.

Also, by accepting PayPal, you technically do accept credit cards. It's just that PayPal is processing them rather than some other company. I haven't noticed any additional fees. Back in the early days, merchants used to get a discount on fees if they sold above a certain point. They had a rate scale, but I haven't seen that in ages. It's just 2.9% plus $0.30 and they no longer refund any portion of the fee if you issue a customer a refund.