Keeping Your Personal Information Separate From Your Ebay Home Business

Many stay at home mothers who run their own eBay business from home may feel uncomfortable using their personal details with their selling account. Since eBay requires that you offer a legitimate address, telephone number, and bank account, it can be a little hard to stay anonymous to your buyers. That means that anyone who makes a purchase from you will have access to your first and last name, your home address, and your telephone number and e-mail address. There are steps you can take to protect this information from being made public to your buyers, however, without breaking eBay's rules.

For starters, you will have to offer a real address that you can be contacted at, both for eBay purposes, and so packages can be returned to you by your buyers. Instead of using your home address, though, you can utilize a post office box for this purpose. P.O. boxes are managed by your local post office, and small P.O. boxes are extremely affordable for a monthly fee. Using a post office box will allow you to provide a legitimate mailing address for your eBay home business, while keeping your personal information private.

Instead of using your real name, opt to use a business name instead. When you sign up for a seller's account, eBay will ask you for a business name, if you have one. This doesn't have to be a registered business name; anything you want to call your business will work for this situation. When you print postage from PayPal, receive payments, or contact your buyers, they will see your business name in place of where your full name would normally show up. This way, your name stays private from buyers.

Registering a new e-mail address specifically for using on eBay and PayPal is usually a good idea, whether or not you want to keep your e-mail address private. With a separate e-mail address, it can be much easier to manage your eBay sales and customer questions, and your PayPal payments. If you are concerned with concealing your full name, when you sign up for a new e-mail address, use your business name in place of your first and last name. This will also keep buyers from being able to find out more information about you online using your regular e-mail address.

A telephone number is something you need to have for both your customers and for eBay, but you don't need to use your home phone number. You can take on an additional phone line for your home for a small monthly fee, or use a free online service to sign up for a phone number that masks your home phone number. Skype is also a phone service that is completely online, and can be used with just a computer and a headset.

If you worry about buyers having your personal information, using these methods can help keep your sensitive information safe. While most sellers rarely have a problem with buyers discovering their personal information, it never hurts to be safe. And when you choose to use these methods, your business may actually seem more official and professional, which can help your sales, as well.