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Updates to US verification requirements

support.stripe.com

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Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#11

Post by codetrotter »

Communitivity wrote: post #4

Many people at RenFaires and music festivals use Stripe. This is going to wipe them out as customers. Also fully remote businesses. It's clear to me Stripe wants brick and mortar businesses, or online businesses that have an office. Which I find sad, because they're abandoning a bunch of customers depending on them. Though it is an opportunity for some startup to cater to those customers.

A physical biz address does not mean you have to have an office.

I’ve been using my home address as the business address of my company ever since I first created it, and before that I did the same for my sole proprietorship.

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#12

Post by radlad »

Communitivity wrote: post #4

Many people at RenFaires and music festivals use Stripe. This is going to wipe them out as customers. Also fully remote businesses. It's clear to me Stripe wants brick and mortar businesses, or online businesses that have an office. Which I find sad, because they're abandoning a bunch of customers depending on them. Though it is an opportunity for some startup to cater to those customers.

> Many people at RenFaires and music festivals use Stripe.

Are you thinking of Square, perhaps?

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#13

Post by Shank »

cj wrote: post #5
JoshuaRowe wrote: post #2

They don't even really specify this in their link in the email sent, but I am getting this error when going to my dashboard now: Invalid address. Your business address must be a valid physical address from which you conduct business and cannot be a private mailbox. Please correct the following... So now, I have to find a new business address (either rent a place, or do a virtual office), which isn't as simple as just…

This is the message I see in my account: > Invalid address. Your business address must be a valid physical address from which you conduct business and cannot be a P.O. Box. This address is not shared publicly and can be your personal address. You may use a P.O. Box as your customer support address. So in other words, a personal home address should work. Although its odd your error message is seemingly saying a person…

> Although its odd your error message is seemingly saying a personal address doesn't work, unless "private mailbox" means a privately rented commercial box, like UPS.

Yeah, services like Earth Class Mail specifically hand out addresses that say "PMB XXXXXXXX" where PMB is "Private Mail Box".

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#16

Post by patmorgan23 »

Communitivity wrote: post #4

Many people at RenFaires and music festivals use Stripe. This is going to wipe them out as customers. Also fully remote businesses. It's clear to me Stripe wants brick and mortar businesses, or online businesses that have an office. Which I find sad, because they're abandoning a bunch of customers depending on them. Though it is an opportunity for some startup to cater to those customers.

No lol. They just need to provide a physical address, this is a pretty normal requirement when conducting business, even in today's online world.

Those fully remote businesses still have to have a registered agent where they can receive physical mail or be served legal documents. They can just use that address with stripe.

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#17

Post by anticorporate »

I understand there are some larger compliance-related issues that need to be solved and that this seems like it's an unintended consequence of the regulatory requirements put in place to solve this.

But there are huge consequences for small business owners in requiring a physical address. I don't need or want anyone to ever physically appear at an address I provide, because providing _any_ address for my business is a fiction. My business is where ever I am. To date, I've paid for a registered agent service in my state so I can use their address. It costs me several hundred dollars a year for the "convenience" of not listing my home address in public records, which again, would also not be accurate because my business does not exist in my home. Same with a nonprofit I'm involved with - the nonprofit exists on Zoom and in temporary space we rent for meetings and events, and we receive mail to a PO Box.

There are also further downstream implications to this kind of problem. Suddenly if my business exists at my home address, my city wants a local business license and zoning compliance permit, so they can inspect the non-existent physical location and be sure the zero traffic it is generating isn't causing a burden on my neighbors.

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#18

Post by graypegg »

codetrotter wrote: post #11
Communitivity wrote: post #4

Many people at RenFaires and music festivals use Stripe. This is going to wipe them out as customers. Also fully remote businesses. It's clear to me Stripe wants brick and mortar businesses, or online businesses that have an office. Which I find sad, because they're abandoning a bunch of customers depending on them. Though it is an opportunity for some startup to cater to those customers.

A physical biz address does not mean you have to have an office. I’ve been using my home address as the business address of my company ever since I first created it, and before that I did the same for my sole proprietorship.

I imagine their point is deciding whose home address is used among many people working on a music festival, is tough. If that person leaves/is disgruntled, it’s still THEIR name and address on the account, where as most business mail boxes can be shared.

Not sure of the legal implications of that, I’m just reading their comment how I think they meant it to be read.

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#19

Post by louzell »

What does this mean for their partners like Stable? The only reason I used Stable was because it was part of the onboarding flow for Stripe Atlas. Is that considered a physical biz address?

FWIW my biz address doesn't have PO box in the address. It is re-used though (which I know because when I tried to register a DUNS number with Apple the first problem I ran into was another business was already registered at the same address)

Re: Updates to US verification requirements

#20

Post by drpossum »

graypegg wrote: post #18
codetrotter wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A physical biz address does not mean you have to have an office. I’ve been using my home address as the business address of my company ever since I first created it, and before that I did the same for my sole proprietorship.

I imagine their point is deciding whose home address is used among many people working on a music festival, is tough. If that person leaves/is disgruntled, it’s still THEIR name and address on the account, where as most business mail boxes can be shared. Not sure of the legal implications of that, I’m just reading their comment how I think they meant it to be read.

If you read Stripe's notice, they need the address for sole proprieters and single member LLCs. It's not controversial nor difficult to identify who that should be.
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