 Re: Paypal SS Verification
Yes, you can start selling BEFORE they will ask you for the SSN. But eventually, you will have to provide a tax id - which is EITHER an SSN or an EIN.
Since you CANNOT give them your SSN and it would be illegal to use someone else's identity, most people obtain an EIN and make their PayPal account a business account AFTER they ask for the tax id.
When you use an EIN, and they send the information to the IRS for verification, they will be verifying that your BUSINESS NAME matches the EIN. That gets you around the tax-id issue.
PayPal could STILL ask your for your SSN at any time if they want to verify your identity. But if you run your account correctly, keep under the radar and do not cause problems for eBay and PayPal, that is not likely to happen.
The longer you have been selling and the longer your POSITIVE sales history is, the better off you will be. If you start getting a lot of complaints, or suddenly have a huge spike in revenues, THAT is what usually triggers their interest in identity verification, as they try to minimize their risk. But if you steadily increase your sales, keep your customers happy and stay away from counterfeits and cheap low-quality items, you should be fine.
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