I am a researcher at a US University with funding to conduct a survey in Russia and Ukraine. At the end of the survey, I want to gift respondents 40-50 USD as a token of appreciation for their time. Obviously some respondents will not have PayPal, but the population I'm drawing from is more likely to have PayPal than the general Russian population. I have three primary questions: Can I issue these as personal payments rather than from a business account? It's not really payment for a service, it is more a token of appreciation for respondents taking the time to answer my questions. I will be issuing 300-400 of these payments. Will making payments at that scale send up any red flags or cause issues? If I use a Business Account to make payments, do those who receive payments need to have a business account? How does that work? I have spent many hours wading through PayPal documentation and web content describing this process, but I want to be sure I will be able to pull this off before I accept the grant. Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated!
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