Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#1

Post by robertocr » Mon, May 07, 2012, 8:40 AM UTC

In case you run an internet business where you receive payments but want to remain anonymous (therefore your personal Paypal account won't be adequate), what method/services do you use?

(ie: you sell items you'd rather not to be linked to you in any way. ie2: it's a grey area business, such as porn sites).

Please explain your use case (whether you do B2C and/or B2B). Any advice is welcome... Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#2

Post by robertocr » Mon, May 07, 2012, 9:37 AM UTC

Just to be clear: I'm not talking about ads-based revenue, where the user has (supposedly) no means to track you down. I'm talking about money from subscription / purchases.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#3

Post by jstanley » Mon, May 07, 2012, 9:45 AM UTC

Why do you want to remain anonymous?

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#4

Post by voxx » Mon, May 07, 2012, 9:52 AM UTC

throwaway paypal accounts linked to disposable greendot cards.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#5

Post by ephan172 » Mon, May 07, 2012, 9:54 AM UTC

Is it anonymity from just the customer? or is it total blackout? Have researched this and found out that unless maybe you use another third party to receive the money then forward to you,Its almost impossible nowadays to hide from everyone,someone somewhere just has to have your details.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#6

Post by yitchelle » Mon, May 07, 2012, 11:30 AM UTC

1) they get brown paper bag, filled it with money, and put in the garbage bin on the street corner.

2) you pick it up later in the day.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#7

Post by robertocr » Mon, May 07, 2012, 3:31 PM UTC

ephan172 wrote: post #5

Is it anonymity from just the customer? or is it total blackout? Have researched this and found out that unless maybe you use another third party to receive the money then forward to you,Its almost impossible nowadays to hide from everyone,someone somewhere just has to have your details.

ephan172, it's anonymity from publicly accessible means. (total blackout would consider making illegal/fake accounts, which is not the case here). I can secure my whois data, but can I secure my payment account? I have two use examples: ie: you sell items you'd rather not to be linked to you in any way (the same way people want discrete packaging when buying certain personal items) ie2: it's a grey area business, such as porn sites (can you completely hide your personal identity when receiving online payments?)

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#8

Post by robertocr » Mon, May 07, 2012, 3:34 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #3

Why do you want to remain anonymous?

jstanley to not have my personal life linked with a specific site. Think of good programmers behind a big porn site choosing to keep their privacy. Except this site will sell stuff (services, not really products) to the end user (B2C). How to remain anonymous and still be legal?

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#9

Post by PonyGumbo » Mon, May 07, 2012, 4:55 PM UTC

robertocr wrote: post #7

ephan172 wrote: post #5

Is it anonymity from just the customer? or is it total blackout? Have researched this and found out that unless maybe you use another third party to receive the money then forward to you,Its almost impossible nowadays to hide from everyone,someone somewhere just has to have your details.

ephan172, it's anonymity from publicly accessible means. (total blackout would consider making illegal/fake accounts, which is not the case here). I can secure my whois data, but can I secure my payment account? I have two use examples: ie: you sell items you'd rather not to be linked to you in any way (the same way people want discrete packaging when buying certain personal items) ie2: it's a grey area business, suc…

My customers see the name of my company on their credit card statements, not my name. Use a mail forwarding service or virtual office if you need to add a further layer of abstraction.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prefer to anonymously receive money?

#10

Post by runjake » Mon, May 07, 2012, 5:58 PM UTC

Set up another email address, bank account, and pay account (Paypal/Stripe/etc).

Other than that, your options are BitCoin. Secure your wallet on a Truecrypt volume and convert funds frequently.

There's a wealth of info and money exchanges linked off of the Hidden Wiki on Tor. Check out Onion Browser in the App Store, if you have an iOS device, for a quick look.

Look, in the days if the War On Libert^WTerror, no legitimate corporation that wants to operate within a western country is able to offer anything remotely anonymous.