Questions about age limits for young internet marketers

Master Spilchen, the stage is yours......

Personally If I had kids and they displayed the urge to develop a business at 5 I'd help them. If I was struggling at the time I'd probably syphon a bit off too. Kidding..., well, maybe.

If you partner up with someone, you can be even 14. There was a 16 year old kid, who created iPhone app. and made really good money.

Create a company plain and simple. Your teenager is now a CEO! YAY!

I'll admit to where I started,
Which was probably breaking
a few sites Terms Of Service,
by joining. However, I can tell
you that Today, I follow all the rules
and I can do it at 16.

Let me explain:

You mention that PayPal has a 18
Year old limit. That fact is correct
when it comes to "Personal" and
"Premier" accounts. However, if you
register a business account with 0 upgrades,
there is merely a checkbox that says an 18 year
old has authorized this.

For the rest of the boxes, I fill them with
my incorporated company name {this costs
about $200 to do in Canada}. For the
directors, I can put my parents or me, I just
need them as over 18ers, to authorize the
creation of the account.

In that case, everything becomes legal, I'm
not doing business under the name of a minor,
I'm doing it under the name of 7689306
CANADA INC. Which makes everything legal,
If you do a search for that company name
since I know one of you will, I am listed as the
director.

So. That's basically the legalities to that.

My suggestion to young marketers.

>> Get your parents to authorize PayPal etc,
I used to use my Dad's paypal account, heck
people didn't really care. They didn't want me
to feel the paypal hit, so they would say "oh
it's cool to see that you use your dads, instead
of breaking the rules" etc.
>> Consult your attorney before you do any
new projects that could end up in legal issues.
My parents have received law suit threats in the
past, and have had to contact there lawyer
>> IF EVER presented with a contract, to do any
type of work, have your parents sign below you,
AND have them show the contract to an attorney.

Legal Notice: I am clearly not a lawyer, all advice
I give is based on experience, You should contact
your legal attorney before beginning any type
of online enterprise.

Now, people, please stop PMing me about the law,
I hate legalities, and I have a whole stack of tax
paper work to fill out to. I now have a thread to link
all those people who e-mail me who want to start businesses
at 15 to

Caleb

I started around sixteen as well. Used my dad's accounts for PayPal and eBay and never had a problem - until I started making enough money that he started charging me rent (this was when I turned 18 though). Can't believe I'm up near 21 now - how time flies.

I believe I had PayPal before I was 18 (if I remember correctly) - I had a bank account and debit card at the age of 15, so it was easy enough to sign on to PayPal. Maybe it has gotten more secure since, but there is always a way around it.

If you are under 18 you need parents to sign off on your account as you can not sign a contract until you are 18. Minors could team up with older marketers and use their payment details which is something that international marketers who are not supported by PayPal end up doing. This is hardly a workaround though and not very common.

If you are seeing a ton of underage IMers they are probably either using their parents' accounts or opened an account under their own name which required a sign-off from a parent.

My son started out online when he was 14 - we made it part of his schooling seeing as his school had complained that he was "being too much of an entrepreneur" in the playground lol and I started homeschooling him. I used to co-sign anything that needed a legal signature for him because I do think if a kid shows aptitude for doing anything towards making money instead of spending it, then yes I am there to help him. He isn't online anymore but he is two years into a four years apprenticeship as a builder and he is not 18 until after Xmas...and yes I used to charge him board once he had stopped schooling and started earning - we did that with all our kids, lol.

I don't comment on Carol because I personally
I have discussed all the allegations with her
and I am still wondering about her legitimacy,
but she did sound "kiddy" on the chat when
I talked to her. However, for those wondering
if I'm "fake" and I know it's not directed at me
you are welcome to show up at my live conferences,
friday night chat, live marketing chat, and you'll
see that I come on camera

Caleb

For PayPal, I forgot how I did it but I have a Premier account now with debit card linked. I faked my age, I guess. :p

As for being young, there are more than 101 reasons why it bears a lot of disadvantages. For one, like Dan Brock says, you need to have parents crazy enough to put their name on the line for you. But hey, that isn't being crazy, IMO. Its called being clever and trusting the kid.

@Caleb, I admire you for your works and especially for the fact that you've even incorporated. I might consider that one day. But doesn't incorporating mean more expenses? Like you said, $200 for incorporation in your country ($75 in mine I think) and you still have to file for taxes. Not to mention PayPal transaction fees. Or am I wrong to say that? Any advantages you get when incorporated?

I think the age around 15 to 16 is already suitable fro this type of marketing venture. this will help them to be more responsible in handling money than usual. And they can make it possible with some guide from their parents or helping them set up their own accounts.

PayPal etc. are pretty serious about cyber crime these days. I wouldn't count on falsification of information there.

I think most of the kids who are starting to work on the internet are supported by their parents.

Good thing to do too!

Well,

I don't see how your PayPal transaction fees would
go up. I already pay enough in transaction fees every
month, and have always, and will always have a business
account for PayPal...

And yes, I does mean more paperwork, but it also can
provide some security for your business.

Caleb

Way to go! Teens making a fortune online is really inspiring for oldsters like me (uh-well Im not really that old) but seeing the young ones succeed make sense for me. I wouldn't mind helping my young facebook friends to make money once I got my own trick.


Andrea

I started at 16 too. I created a PayPal account but after I got $2500+ out I finally sent ID copies and they disabled my account 'till I turned 18.
I opened an account on my father's name and I used it in that time. I firstly worked on rentacoder.com (now vworker.com) and they wanted to close my account too when I was 17. With the help of a previous client, they sent me some papers that my parents signed and I was able to continue. In fourteen days I'll be 20, Kevin you're right, time flies so fast.

Very inspirational thread. I wish we had internet in my ton where i GREW Up.