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I recall at one time a relative and I were swapping money around with PayPal and I was startled to see the street address appear. But now I can’t recall the details and no longer have the account to try to look back.
So, what is passed on to the other party (either to buy or sell or just send dough)?
I guess a street address is needed to ship an item, but what if the item is going to a location other than my “confirmed” address? And what if I don’t want the other party to know where I live? Or my real name (e.g., I’m Bob Dole buying a competing Viagra-type drug.)
From PayPal’s Privacy page.
Disclosure to Other PayPal Customers
If you are a registered PayPal user, your name, e-mail address, date of sign-up, and whether you have verified control of a bank account are displayed to other PayPal customers whom you have paid or who are attempting to pay you through PayPal. If you are a Business account holder, we will also display to other PayPal customers the Web site address (URL) and customer service contact information that you provide us. However, your credit card number, bank account and other financial information will NEVER be revealed to anyone whom you have paid or who has paid you through PayPal, except if we are required to do so pursuant to a subpoena or other legal process.
If you are buying goods or services and paying through PayPal, the seller of the goods or services may request that you provide a mailing address that PayPal has confirmed as matching the billing address in the credit card system. You do not have to provide this information. If you do not provide the information, however, the seller may choose not to accept your PayPal payment and not to complete the transaction.
Beginning in spring 2001, PayPal will also disclose to other PayPal customers the number of payments you have received from Verified PayPal customers (as defined in the User Agreement on the www.paypal.com site), or other aggregate measures that provide an indication of your reputation with other PayPal customers.
When I get an email from someone who’s purchased something, I get their email address, user name, the transaction info (ebay item number or other description, amount of payment) and their shipping info. It also tells me whether the address is confirmed or not, as well as what chunk of change PayPal is taking from me for the pleasure of processing our transaction.
I buy more than I sell, but I had some sort of hassle with a seller earlier in the year. I wanted her to ship to a non-confirmed address, but PayPal advises against it, so she wouldn’t do it. Apparently PayPal won’t cover sellers for fraud or something like that if they use a non-confirmed address.
Don’t want it to go to your house? Rent a PO Box. Not sure about the name thing, but I suppose you could register yourself under a user name. PayPal would need your real name so that it matches the credit card or bank account the money’s coming from, though.
Also, untill recently, only addresses in the USA could be confirmed as it was the bank that verified it, and this arrangement was unavailable outside the US.
I see though that my address is now verified as the UK anks have underwritten this agreement.