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I am considering producing a small-circulation print-only magazine that will be distributed on a "Free, but send me a donation through Paypal if you wish" basis. The only way to make a payment will be to send it to me through Paypal using my email address.

If I do this, is there a way to ensure that Paypal does not reveal my street address to donors? If so, what is that way? (Note: I think the US English for what in British English is called "street address" is "mailing address".)

I say "donors" because the payments will be voluntary. I am not running a charity. If the sum of the payments is greater than my costs then I will have made a profit on which I will pay tax.

I am guessing the answer is yes, because otherwise all a bad person such as a stalker would have to do to find somebody's street address would be to send a very small amount of money to them through Paypal, using their email address, and if a Paypal account exists with that email address then click to say they are sending the money to "Family or friends", and a few seconds later they would receive an email from Paypal giving them the person's street address.

Mary Donald
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    Use a PO box or a mail service (some pack-and-ship places offer a street address with a PO box type set up). What country is this in? – Ron Beyer Feb 27 '21 at 01:24
  • "Use a PO box" is technically a solution, but I meant how can I avoid providing any physical address. I'm in England, but if somebody gets a copy of the zine anywhere and they can donate through Paypal they will be welcome. – Mary Donald Feb 27 '21 at 01:48
  • Aren't required to provide something like an imprint with a valid address anyway? – glglgl Feb 27 '21 at 09:43
  • @glglgl - I think it's an urban legend that if you print a text then you have to put your address on it before you hand it to someone. Possibly I'm wrong, but there's no advice of that kind in say the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. – Mary Donald Feb 27 '21 at 12:55
  • @MaryDonald No, but if you call it a "magazine", I think it qualifies for what e. g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressum writes under the UK description. (If my assumption of UK doesn't apply, please correct me.) – glglgl Feb 27 '21 at 19:14
  • @glglgl - Interesting. Many thanks. I stand corrected. Maybe I will have to call the item an "agreement" or "message" rather than a "magazine" :-) I wonder when the last time was that somebody was prosecuted for omitting a printer's imprint or for distributing material that didn't have one. I may ask that question on the Law SE. – Mary Donald Feb 27 '21 at 21:38
  • I wonder whether the printer's "address", though, could be their email address. I will ask that on the Law SE now. – Mary Donald Feb 28 '21 at 02:33

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