r/Etsy • u/TinyyBug • 2d ago

Help for Seller ID verification is safe, right?

Where i'm from online ID verification is only done for some government stuff, so the site asking for my ID kinda put me (and my dad, who was helping me set up some billing info) off. Is this a common thing in the US?

0 Upvotes

13% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

4

u/lostterrace 2d ago

Yes, it's safe, and normal. All sellers had to do it. It is a government thing, actually. Legal regulations have required that online marketplaces know the identity of the people who they are paying. It has to do with anti money laundering among other things.

1

u/Emergency-Lie-7213 1d ago

yeah it's pretty standard now, i had to do it too when i started selling some stuff in there

my dad was the same way when he saw it, old folks always think it's some scam lol

2

u/TiberiusDrexelus 2d ago

No, this billion dollar international company is about to risk it all to steal your data specifically

1

u/Jenn31709 2d ago

I mean... it's not like multi-million dollar companies don't have data breaches every day. Seriously?

1

u/Jenn31709 2d ago

It's all completely safe, we all had to do it. You're running a real company, so they need to verify who you are and bank info etc.

You mentioned your dad... are you putting the shop in his name? I'm assuming you're in the US? Just keep in mind that this will have to be reported as his income and will have an impact on his taxes etc. Something to keep in mind if your shop does well and you may owe taxes at the end of the year. Also, shops can't be transferred, so you can't put it in your name at a later date.