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How do you structure your PayPal accounts?

by cheeze69
4 replies
Hi all,

This is a question for all of you who are already successfully managing selling ebooks and other info products/etc. online using PayPal as one of your payment options:

I have been blueprinting my first products for the past few days, and because I'm a nerdy kind of guy, I've been thinking about other things like the backend and how to structure it. You see, I've written quite a bit of software for my day job, and that has given me the gift/curse of planning and trying to "get it right" from the start rather than having to tear things down later and rebuild. But anyway...

I've got Rapid Action Profits and have been looking at some other download/purchasing packages. All of them use PayPal, so my focus has been turned to how to structure the various payment accounts.

Of course, I have a personal PP account, which has my real personal e-mail, etc. on it. I've had it for years and use it when I buy stuff or sell on Ebay. I'd prefer not to utilize this account for business purposes.

At first I was intrigued by how PP lets you have multiple e-mails on one account, but when I found that payments can come IN via any of these addresses, but the outgoing communication is always via the "main" account, it became useless for me as I could not simply create orders@mybiz.com and have all communication through that.

So, I looked into setting up a second PP account, but they won't let me tie it to the same credit card I've got on the other account. Now, admittedly, I have not taken the time to do the LLC thing and separate my stuff (SHAME ON ME!), so someday when that happens, I'll conceivably have a CC and checking strictly for the biz, but for now, I can't easily create a second account. And even in that situation, I'm not sure if I want all of my products tied/trackable to the same PP address.

Thus, I'm here to see how you all handle your PayPal setups?

Do you use different addresses/accounts for different products, or do you have one biz account that does it all?

Any other suggestions on how to structure the backend/beancounting stuff to avoid having to rebuild later?

Thanks,
Mike
#accounts #paypal #structure
  • Profile picture of the author globalpro
    Hi Mike,

    I use one account for everything.

    If you are going to accept payments, then you will need at least a Premier account, or a Business one. I use a Premier. A personal account won't do it.

    If you decide to use RAP, then it will need your primary address to function properly. With RAP, you have the autoresponder feature to build a list of buyers, so your communication can be from whatever email address you choose.

    The email that comes from RAP for the download links is a 'noreply' at your domain and you can add a support desk/address to the system.

    Does that help?

    Thanks,

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author cheeze69
    Hi John,

    Thanks for the input. My main (personal) account is Business or Premiere - not sure, but it's upgraded since I was selling some big ticket items on Ebay and have been planning to sell more stuff.

    The no-reply e-mail from RAP is good, but it's the PayPal receipt that is mailed to the buyer that will have the "cheeze69@mail.com" instead of "orders@mybiz.com" and that's the confusion (and privacy) issue I'd like to avoid.

    I'm guessing that I should just bite the bullet, do the full LLC thing, with its own checking and credit card, and then create a PayPal business account to use that. I'm still not wild about having one central e-mail visible on the receipts across (what I hope to be) a large number of products, but I guess I'll have to live with it.

    Thanks again John,
    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
    Setup a separate PayPal Business account... get a business checking account!

    Honestly go down to your local bank and setup a business checking account. They usually don't require huge minimums and will keep your business and personal money separately (keeping your taxes and issues associated easier to manage).

    I did in-fact get a business checking and savings account (but had an S-Corp setup). However even though they ask for your EIN to setup the account they are willing to accept the owner's Social Security (as a sole-proprietorship) number as well. But on a side note. To protect yourself liability wise... do yourself a favor and setup a business anyway.

    It shouldn't be a question really. It's not expensive to do by any means. Nor is it really as complicated as people think. I've used TurboTax Business and QuickBooks to handle my own accounting for years (admittedly I have help from my wife).
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  • Profile picture of the author TrafficMystic
    i use a premier account for business stuff and have my personal account separate. I just find it easier for accounting to have both separate. The business account only seems to be of benefit if your pulling through several hundreds of thousands a year.
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