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Question about business names

by Barbara Eyre
3 replies
I wonder if you know the answer to this.

I'm looking to open a merchant account but do not know what business name to put down.

I want to use the merchant account for everything I do online.

Company A = my online store
Company B = future hosting/website design company
Barbara Eyre = for any individual affiliate program revenue

Can I just create one company name, for example BAE Enterprises, and it cover all my micro companies?

How do I go about registering these names - do I register them individually or is there a special registration where I list them under the main company? (fyi, company A is already registered)

I just want my merchant account to be able to be used under any circumstances I sell/receive payment online. I would also need to adjust my Premier Business account at PayPal to reflect this also, I would imagine.

Thanks for any advice and suggestions you can provide.
#business #names #question
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Generally speaking, you can have a single entity with many subsidiaries or divisions as offshoots. The parent entity can hold the merchant account and front for any or all of the legitimate divisions.

    With that said, I wouldn't tell the merchant account folks about that up front. Better you get your account approved and then offer to accept credit cards through your branch enterprises.

    I had a merchant account for 12 years and used it for many enterprises. There was a monthly fee and the percentage charged per transaction was also high. When I got it years back there were few alternatives. Now there are many. So my question to you would be, why do you even need a merchant account if you're already set up with PayPal?

    I understand that you're restricted in some ways with PayPal as to what you can offer, but unless you're selling adult stuff, I've found PayPal to be pretty reasonable. I use my PayPal account for just about everything I do. The name on the account doesn't always relate to the particular product or service the customer is buying.

    But I make sure that I let them know that the name they see on the invoice is the parent company and that their purchase is related to one of my subsidiaries. I haven't had any problems at all. Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    I posted about a similar product awhile back. I still haven't registered an LLC. My problem is just trying to be too broad. I would like to do IM stuff, web design ,graphic design , and also run a local photography business. I didn't want to have to register separate names.

    I haven't even gotten to the merchant account issues! so i'll be watching this thread.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dean Martin
      Originally Posted by linm View Post

      I posted about a similar product awhile back. I still haven't registered an LLC. My problem is just trying to be too broad. I would like to do IM stuff, web design ,graphic design , and also run a local photography business. I didn't want to have to register separate names.
      That's a log of diversity I do much the same but keep my IM stuff completely separate - most 'traditional' clients don't understand it I don't want the worlds to cross. I use multiple paypal accounts for the IM stuff and a merchant account for the more traditional enterprises.
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