Information on Receiving small scale commissions

[MrDomino]

Hello.

I'm an artist/writer looking start taking commissions, but I've never done this before and I'm pretty nervous about it. Here are a few questions I have.

What do I provide in order to receive money, and how do I properly link to it so the commissioner can pay me?

Can I use Personal to receive commission payments? (I do not own a business or a website of any kind)

What information is shown to the customer? (Is my full name and home address shown, or is it strictly my email address)

Which email account do they see? I have two different email accounts linked to Paypal, which would they see, the primary or secondary?

[sharpiemarker]

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@MrDomino wrote:

Hello.

I'm an artist/writer looking start taking commissions, but I've never done this before and I'm pretty nervous about it. Here are a few questions I have.

What do I provide in order to receive money, and how do I properly link to it so the commissioner can pay me?

Can I use Personal to receive commission payments? (I do not own a business or a website of any kind)

What information is shown to the customer? (Is my full name and home address shown, or is it strictly my email address)

Which email account do they see? I have two different email accounts linked to Paypal, which would they see, the primary or secondary?

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1. What do I provide in order to receive money, and how do I properly link to it so the commissioner can pay me?

You can use PayPal Invoices. Click Manage Invoices on the Summary page under Seller Tools section. You have the ability to send an Estimate, a recently added feature and is handy. You can also accept deposits by checking the Allow partial payments checkbox.

Click Help on the Manage Invoice page to read all about how the invoices functions.  TIP: If someone paid a deposit and they cancel and accept that you don't give refunds on deposits an as invoice term/contract, you can put minus sign in front of an amount to cancel it out on the invoice. Or if they paid a retainer and you want to reflect on an invoice that they've already paid, use the minus sign on a line item. Anytime you want to reconcile a line item, use the minus sign in front of amounts. 

2. Can I use Personal to receive commission payments? (I do not own a business or a website of any kind)

Yes. Be sure to put your SSN and DOB (birthdate) in your account info settings. If you receive over 200 commercial transactions AND over $20K into your PayPal account (have to meet both thresholds), you'll receive a 1099K form to report your income. Except in VT and MA where it the dollar amount is $600. If you voluntary provide this info to PayPal, it's less problematic for you, trust me on this. They can easily verify the information with the national database or if they do need to see docs, just upload the information. PayPal has to comply with federal and consumer protection laws. Keep supplier receipts if any, keep good records of your commissions just in case. PayPal check out their customers from time to time and see what their business is.

3. What information is shown to the customer? (Is my full name and home address shown, or is it strictly my email address)

Your name and the email address you used to receive payment shows in the PayPal email confirmations and on the sender's PayPal account activity. We are allowed up to 8 email addresses so for example you gave out secondary email address or used secondary email address on the PayPal invoice to receive payment, the person will see the secondary email address. If you gave out your primary email address for payment or invoice or money request (informal invoice), they will see your primary email address and so on.

You have the option of not showing your physical address on the invoice. Click Edit next to My Business information on the invoice form and select that option.

4. Which email account do they see? I have two different email accounts linked to Paypal, which would they see, the primary or secondary?

See previous answer. Also read up on the seller protection program terms. Buyer protection terms based on client location also applies to your as a seller so look that up when you get a clientI also recommend reading the entire PayPal User agreement. I know its boring but man, there is tons of interesting things in there that are good to know so you can get the best performance out of your PayPal account. 

Best of luck on your endeavor!

[MrDomino]

"You can use PayPal Invoices. Click Manage Invoices on the Summary page under Seller Tools section. You have the ability to send an Estimate, a recently added feature and is handy. You can also accept deposits by checking the Allow partial payments checkbox.

Click Help on the Manage Invoice page to read all about how the invoices functions.  TIP: If someone paid a deposit and they cancel and accept that you don't give refunds on deposits an as invoice term/contract, you can put minus sign in front of an amount to cancel it out on the invoice. Or if they paid a retainer and you want to reflect on an invoice that they've already paid, use the minus sign on a line item. Anytime you want to reconcile a line item, use the minus sign in front of amounts. "

I see no option to access 'Seller Tools' or 'Manage Invoices' anywhere on the Summary page. 

[sharpiemarker]

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@MrDomino wrote:

"You can use PayPal Invoices. Click Manage Invoices on the Summary page under Seller Tools section. You have the ability to send an Estimate, a recently added feature and is handy. You can also accept deposits by checking the Allow partial payments checkbox.

Click Help on the Manage Invoice page to read all about how the invoices functions.  TIP: If someone paid a deposit and they cancel and accept that you don't give refunds on deposits an as invoice term/contract, you can put minus sign in front of an amount to cancel it out on the invoice. Or if they paid a retainer and you want to reflect on an invoice that they've already paid, use the minus sign on a line item. Anytime you want to reconcile a line item, use the minus sign in front of amounts. "

I see no option to access 'Seller Tools' or 'Manage Invoices' anywhere on the Summary page. 

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You account must be recently opened. Try:

Manage Invoices - PayPal

Here are some more helpful links:

Create PayPal Payment Buttons - PayPal

Ship Now - PayPal

Multi-Order Shipping - PayPal

I think when you start using these features, the section will appear.

TIP: You can also upgrade to a business account as an individual, put your SSN, DOB, Full Name and billing address that can be verifiable with documents such as Photo ID, bank account, credit card statement, etc. to access more selling features.

[MrDomino]

I'm still not clear on the information you've provided. I apologize, but I require more simplified instructions, preferably step by step. My account is six years old, and even after clicking the provided links I have no way of accessing those options in any of the account summary drop down menus.  I was hoping that this would be a fairly simple process, where I simply supply them with a link and they then deposit money into my account. I was not looking for this much data entry or this much technical requirement on my part.

1. I want to provide the customer with a simple link to pay me.

2. I have no idea what to do or how to fill out the invoice (especially since I do not have the commissioner's information yet).

3. I do not want them to see my personal name at all, in any shape or form. I do not even want to show my email account, if possible.

4. I want to use a personal account, not business.

How, in simple terms, do I go about doing this? Again, I'm sorry but I need a much more concise, step by step breakdown of this process as that is the only way I will be able to understand it.

[MrDomino]

Still looking for assistance in this matter.

1. How do I keep my personal information completely private and unviewable with a Personal account.

2. How do I automate this process as much as possible? I don't want to have to create an invoice for every commission, and was really looking for it to be a simple 'click and pay anonoymously' setup.