Why does PayPal insist on showing everyone my real name?

[OneAlbatross]

I'm usually pretty careful about my internet safety and it concerns me when complete strangers who buy commissions from me on the internet then know my FULL NAME. I take occasional commissions from social media and don't want strangers knowing all the context of my social media accounts AND my full name. It makes me feel unsafe and flies in the face of basic internet safety.

I really wish I could go by a nickname or social media handle/"artist" name. PayPal already knows my real legal name for billing and security purposes. All I want is for strangers to see a pseudo name or nickname. And I don't want to spend $30 a month to get a business account just to be able to use a different name.

[sharpiemarker]

@OneAlbatross 

Yes, they show your full name. You’re doing financial transactions online so both parties gotta know basic and reasonable amount of info to conduct transactions.

That said, it doesn’t cost you $30 a month for a PayPal business account unless you use advanced checkout integration beyond standard PayPal Checkout. You can open a business account as “individual” as your business type, as opposed to a registered company (partnership, inc, corp, llc), then use a “handle” as your business name. If a person really want to know, they can still find out if they know how to look for info whatever how that might be. Just be sure to go through all your account settings before you start doing business on the account.

[OneAlbatross]

Thanks for pointing the fee thing out! I might go start a business account now. Though I still don't see why a stranger 'has to know my name' for an online transaction when everything is being handled and resolved by PayPal. I'm really not sure what a stranger having my real name does for them 😕 Similarly, why is it no longer necessary information when I'm a "business"? And just because someone could figure out your identity and personal info if they were really determined doesn't mean you should give up and make it easy lol