giving out personal info/protecting my identity

This topic has 13 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 16 years, 3 months ago by DartPlayer.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

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October 2, 2008 at 12:11 am #23424

Maddy
Member

Hey, brand new to selling so I have LOTS to learn. 🙂 Please be gentle.

I’m looking into signing up with AlertPay as it seems to be the preferred choice for sellers, but the sign-up process is a little daunting. They’re asking for a lot of information that I’m a little uncomfortable just giving out.

I don’t have a P.O. box yet, so I don’t have an address I feel totally comfortable giving out. I’m also not comfortable giving out a phone number, which AlertPay seems to insist upon. I’ve even gone so far as to start signing up for a skype phone number to use, but it seems silly to pay so much for something I may not even ever use.

Can anyone let me know what information they do and don’t put out there?

Do you register with your real info on AlertPay, and is it then kept hidden at your request? or is it free for the world to see?

Also, has anyone ever had a problem with their private info leaking through someone like AlertPay?

Thanks bunches,
Maddy

October 2, 2008 at 12:52 am #23426

anni
Member

Giving out personal phone numbers or your address is dangerous. I’m not so familiar with alertpay so I can’t say anythig about their privacy policies. However, the easiest way to protect your sensitive information is to never give it out.

If you want to accept payments for your items I would suggest amazon gift-certificates and online gift-cards. These items only need your email address to be sent to you and you can shop online.

October 2, 2008 at 1:32 am #23428

Anna
Member

Maddy can you explain something?

Why do you have a Stars and Stripes on your profile when your url is a co.uk?

Are you American or British?

Stating what you are correctly helps us give you the right information. For example if you’re British you won’t want a PO Box anyway because they will give out your home address if asked.

October 2, 2008 at 1:39 am #23430

Maddy
Member

Sorry for the confusion! I’m american. When I signed up for a domain I learned that .co.uk domains don’t require your address to be publicly available, also you don’t have to be in the UK to register for one.

October 2, 2008 at 1:46 am #23431

Anna
Member

Maddy wrote:

Sorry for the confusion! I’m american. When I signed up for a domain I learned that .co.uk domains don’t require your address to be publicly available, also you don’t have to be in the UK to register for one.

Oh. I never knew that!

You will have to make that clear to your buyers because it will cause them confusion too. Anything which doesn’t ‘fit right’ looks straight away like a fake site.

October 2, 2008 at 1:48 am #23432

Maddy
Member

Anna wrote:

Oh. I never knew that!

You will have to make that clear to your buyers because it will cause them confusion too. Anything which doesn’t ‘fit right’ looks straight away like a fake site.

thanks for the advice! i’m feeling a little out of my depth trying to figure some of this stuff out.

October 2, 2008 at 2:41 am #23434

anni
Member

Feeling overwhelmed is natural. Just take it one step at a time and remember you can ask us if you have any questions.

😉

~Annilyn~

October 2, 2008 at 4:42 am #23438

Maddy
Member

Thanks Annilyn! I’m trying to remain clam. 🙂

As to the gift card suggestion… I’ve seen that around and my only real problem with it is that I’d really rather it be in actual money I can access.

I’ve seen people who have buyers send personal checks or money orders, but… that seems like it must be a big inconvenience to buyers. I don’t know, I’m figuring it out.

October 2, 2008 at 8:10 am #23444

DartPlayer
Member

I’m a skeptic too as I had my account hacked into using pay pal so I’m not really comfortable using pay sites anymore. I respect privacy but if there are alternative payment methods I go for those first. B) 🙂 😉 :woohoo: 😆

October 2, 2008 at 8:14 am #23445

DartPlayer
Member

I actually prefer money orders and you can use a nick name to keep your privacy

October 2, 2008 at 6:41 pm #23450

Sasha
Member

If you receive payments by gift card, you can always sell them on ebay for actual money… they go for pretty close to the dollar amount. And AlertPay is not kind with the fees they charge anyway, so it comes out pretty even. Maybe kind of a hassle, but it works in a pinch 🙂

I would not recommend accepting personal checks, though…

October 3, 2008 at 12:19 am #23455

Ponygirl
Member

I used to sell my amazon gift certificates on Ebay, you have to be careful though. If you use any type of payment processor like Paypal, the bidder can win, pay, spend the certificate and then file a chargeback, so you lose your money and the certificate too. This has happened to me a couple of times and I didn’t manage to get my money back (thanks a lot Paypal 😡 ). Ebay now state that you have to offer Paypal as a payment option when selling any item, so you are really open to fraud like this, as Paypal doesn’t offer seller protection for electronic gift certificates. It’s all a bit of a hassle really. 🙁

October 3, 2008 at 12:50 am #23457

Sasha
Member

That’s a good point… I didn’t know they MADE you accept paypal now.

October 7, 2008 at 10:02 am #23522

DartPlayer
Member

Ponygirl wrote:

I used to sell my amazon gift certificates on Ebay, you have to be careful though. If you use any type of payment processor like Paypal, the bidder can win, pay, spend the certificate and then file a chargeback, so you lose your money and the certificate too. This has happened to me a couple of times and I didn’t manage to get my money back (thanks a lot Paypal 😡 ). Ebay now state that you have to offer Paypal as a payment option when selling any item, so you are really open to fraud like this, as Paypal doesn’t offer seller protection for electronic gift certificates. It’s all a bit of a hassle really. 🙁

Apparently they don’t protect the buyer either, My card was compromised and I had to cancel that card and wait to get a new one. All for a hard to find movie
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