Pseudonyms and Tip Jars?

[LoganStennis]

I'm new to the field, and trying to establish my "professional" presence. I'm also pretty committed to my anonymity. I've been having a real rough time finding a service that will let me run a tip jar without exposing my government name to my donors.

• Patreon will anonymize me, but doesn't accept non-recurring donations.
• PayPal insists on my government name, and even when I set up "business" account, a test donation showed it still plastered my government name on the transaction as the "representative" of the business
• Ko-Fi via PayPal is out for the same reason, as it's a direct pass-through.
• I'm waiting for Stripe to do its due diligence on me so I can see of Ko-Fi via Stripe is any better.
• I could throw up a dummy product on Itch*** and let folks tip that way? It seems like they anonymize the storefront?

Am I missing any? Have I missed a strategy with one of the above? Do you have any recommendations?

 

[dirk2024]

I haven't tried it, but there is "buy me a coffee".

Perhaps there's an answer for you there?

 

[LoganStennis]

I haven't tried it, but there is "buy me a coffee".

Perhaps there's an answer for you there?

I'll add it to the list to check out!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I haven't tried it, but there is "buy me a coffee".

Perhaps there's an answer for you there?

Buy Me A Coffee has restrictions that will get any donations to prohibited content returned to the person donating.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'm new to the field, and trying to establish my "professional" presence. I'm also pretty committed to my anonymity. I've been having a real rough time finding a service that will let me run a tip jar without exposing my government name to my donors.

• Patreon will anonymize me, but doesn't accept non-recurring donations.
• PayPal insists on my government name, and even when I set up "business" account, a test donation showed it still plastered my government name on the transaction as the "representative" of the business
• Ko-Fi via PayPal is out for the same reason, as it's a direct pass-through.
• I'm waiting for Stripe to do its due diligence on me so I can see of Ko-Fi via Stripe is any better.
• I could throw up a dummy product on Itch*** and let folks tip that way? It seems like they anonymize the storefront?

Am I missing any? Have I missed a strategy with one of the above? Do you have any recommendations?

This is the major issue with trying to monetize adult content. The government wants to know who to tax so transaction processors require personal information. Even if you can get paid anonymously, will your customers be able to purchase anonymously? Unlikely.

The closest you would likely be able to get to true anonymity on both sides is to set up your own website under a corporate identity (LoganStennis Publishing, etc) and then use cryptocurrency for transactions.

You'd better be churning out a lot of marketable content to make something like that viable.

 

[LoganStennis]

This is the major issue with trying to monetize adult content. The government wants to know who to tax so transaction processors require personal information. Even if you can get paid anonymously, will your customers be able to purchase anonymously? Unlikely.

The closest you would likely be able to get to true anonymity on both sides is to set up your own website under a corporate identity (LoganStennis Publishing, etc) and then use cryptocurrency for transactions.

You'd better be churning out a lot of marketable content to make something like that viable.

Yeah, I get the government needing to tax me, and that's fine. It's more that I wish there was an honest broker who would hold my government contact info but not hand it out to everyone who sends me five bucks one time.

Keeping clear of content guidelines is a thing, too, for sure. I figure a fully voluntary tip jar should be fine most places if I don't offer anything in exchange.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I figure a fully voluntary tip jar should be fine most places if I don't offer anything in exchange.

Buy Me A Coffee and similar sites insist on knowing what the tips are for. I had accumulated almost $50 in tips when I first signed up with them, just to have them pull it all back when they discovered that the tips were generated from links from my profile on Literotica. Even if the story that someone was tipping me on contained no sexual scenes, they prohibited the funds.

It would be great if "Being a nice guy" was an acceptable reason for them, but unfortunately...

 

[MillieDynamite]

Any pay service you use will require your banking information and a way to report the I-9 and W-9 to our Great Uncle Sam. Whether or not they share that information with customers is the question. I don't think PP does, but maybe they do. Since most of my clients pay me through a ghostwriting service, they don't see that information. The ones that employee me directly certainly have to use my real name for the NDA and payments.

 

[Reliant8432]

Subscribestar does allow one time donations/pledges, as well as recurring payments.

 

[LoganStennis]

@MillieDynamite, I did a few trial runs through PayPal, donating to myself from different other accounts, and even when I built a business account it put my government name all over everything. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

@Reliant8432, good to know! I had originally dismissed them as a Patreon clone, but I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks!

 

[Reliant8432]

@MillieDynamite, I did a few trial runs through PayPal, donating to myself from different other accounts, and even when I built a business account it put my government name all over everything. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

@Reliant8432, good to know! I had originally dismissed them as a Patreon clone, but I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks!

It's mostly a patreon clone, and they have an annoying $150 minimum withdrawal limit that may make it unfeasible for your use case. I keep mine up as an alternative for people who don't like Patreon, and it's definitely frustrating to not be able to withdraw for months on end, as most of my support comes from Patreon and book sales, rather than Subscribestar.

 

[MillieDynamite]

On my ghostwriting accounts, I use my real name. Amazon (and I suppose other publication sites) allow as many pen names as you want. As long as they have your banking and tax information. Find a publisher if you want to remain total invisible to your readers. Or setup accounts at Amazon and other sites as a writer who sales to the masses rather than one that asks others to support their endevours direct. Should you make over $600 a year (I think that's correct), you must report it. Should you want this to be more than a pair of shoes or boots every now and again, you'll need to make enough that you have to report the income. PayPal, Stripe, and other payment sites do report to the feds if income exceeds certain thresholds. There ain't no tax-free lunches!

@MillieDynamite, I did a few trial runs through PayPal, donating to myself from different other accounts, and even when I built a business account it put my government name all over everything. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined.

@Reliant8432, good to know! I had originally dismissed them as a Patreon clone, but I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks!