Multiple LLC accounts - paid registered agent or myself?

bcarneal · #1 11-22-2015

My state requires out of state LLC's to register. My state charges the same organizing in-state as registering an out of state, $50 to start and $25 per year. No advantage to using an out of state LLC.

It requires all LLCs to have an in-state registered agent (can be the owner) name and address, viewable on their website. That address is not allowed to be a PO Box, or any type of mail forwarder.

The least expensive in-state registered agent I can find is $99/year. If I have them organize my LLC, it runs between $0-49 on top of the state fees, sometimes coming with "free" 6-12 months of them as a registered agent, and then the state never knows my name and address.

My goal is to build up to at least $1 million revenue (not profit) combined. I'd like these LLC's and their eBay/PayPal accounts to be as legitimate as they can be and never be banned. But, I'd like to diversify to reduce my risk.

I could organize through and use a registered agent. My name/address is not public. For 10 LLC's, it's $1,000 to register, and $1,000/year. (Granted, they probably have bulk discounts.)

Or, I could organize using myself as the registered agent. My name/address can be found when looking up the LLC name on my state website. The website won't do the reverse -- it cannot start with my name and show what LLC's I'm associated with. For 10 LLC's, it's $500 to register, and $250/year.

As much as I don't want to spend the extra money, I'm thinking it would be better to use a registered agent, so eBay/PayPal can't look up each LLC on the state website, and see the same person owns all of them at the same address (my home.) But, then, part of me thinks I'm overthinking this.

But, those (few) of you who run multiple LLC's, what are you doing? Is your name/address viewable for your LLC on your state's website? Does eBay/PayPal not act this smart, and is using a registered agent a waste of money? If you use a registered agent in bulk, what do you pay?

Oh, and do they catch on if a bunch of LLC's were created at nearly the same time?

And, for LLC/EIN accounts, if you're doing a bunch of active LLC's, are you using same DOB on all?

ppthump · #2 11-23-2015

- I highly doubt they will go to the trouble to look up your state's website to see if your registered agent address matches their ****-list of addresses. If nothing else, that would mean they could wipe out legions of legit companies if one person used an actual registered agent and got on the **** list.

- I understand the $1k/year is painful for you, but as a CA resident I have an $800/year fee PER llc even before registered agents, so I have no sympathy.

- I use registered agents because at $100/year its cheaper than most mailboxes, you arent supposed to use mailboxes anyway, and I dont want tidalwaves of spam mail (you WILL get it, those databases are searched and added to spam mail lists all the time, and it never gets taken off)

- As to the name on the LLC, there are some places in the paperwork where listing your name is optional, but not all. Some spots HAVE to list a responsible party by law. There are two ways around this. First, the expensive pain-in-the-ass way, is to form a trust (which is not named after you) and file an LLC in the name of that trust. Second, you have one LLC and daisy chain all the others onto it. You CAN list either a trust or an LLC instead of your name. I dont know that either is necessary, tbh, but the "LLC owns an LLC" route is no extra expense or difficulty.

GreenBean · #3 11-23-2015

How many stealth accounts are you running at this moment?

How long have they been in existence?

If less than 3 months, I would suggest waiting to ensure you have taught yourself as much as possible before making a quantum leap like this.

Exciting for the future, of course!

rsot · #4 11-23-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcarneal

Oh, and do they catch on if a bunch of LLC's were created at nearly the same time?

That would take investigation in all likelihood and if you are operating legitly, I doubt that it would get to that point

bcarneal · #5 11-23-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenBean

How many stealth accounts are you running at this moment?

How long have they been in existence?

If less than 3 months, I would suggest waiting to ensure you have taught yourself as much as possible before making a quantum leap like this.

Exciting for the future, of course!

0, about to change. Trying to learn as much as possible. FWIW, I have sold over $15m in electronics online.

Would love to spend some time talking 1-on-1 with someone doing this in high volume, with multiple LLCs under a holding company, that has receiving returns at an accessible address when customer chooses, without using ⊗⊗⊗⊗ driver's licenses.

ppthump · #6 11-24-2015

If the only tie between the LLC's is the creation date, zero percent chance. You have any idea how many LLC's are filed each day? There is no reason to suspect that they are tied together. Now, it could be a weighting factor possibly, so if the contact you list is the same for all of them, your ebay account was created on the same day, and the LLC was created on the same day.... who knows. I doubt, though, that ebay actually investigates that deep. Keep in mind, while the technology for all this exists, some companies like ebay are really ****ty and behind the times. They wont always be though. Every college in the nation now has a data science degree, and they are pushing them out as fast as they can.

CocoHead · #7 12-08-2015

If it is the same cost to form an LLC in-state than out-state, why don't you form an LLC in Nevada, they offer a great degree of anonymity there, and then register in your state as a foreign entity, about using a p.o box but instead of writing a p.o box, google the post office real street address and put suite #( Insert your P.O box Number here)if is legal to do that.