Questions about payment processor and privacy and company formation
 

Hello, I've seen posts from various payment processing companies here, and they're usually asking if you're based in the US. Are they mainly looking at if you have an LLC in the US, or a bank account in the US? I live in an EU country, and I have an EU passport if it matters.

How do you keep the business as private as possible? I'm planning to form the company in New Mexico as non-resident since they don't have a public UBO, but is there anything else I can do?

If I can't find a processor in the US, will it be easier to find one in the EU with a US LLC?

To have a US LLC is important for my credibility since 90 percent of my customers live there. In case someone is asking why I'm insisting to have my company there.

bump
 

bump. Please, any help?

help?
 

Are there no one here that knows anything? I've been looking around forever for help, asked every possible place online. Please, are there no one with any input regarding this?

We are based in the EU and setup our merchant account with https://www.emerchantpay.com/ around 15 years ago

I just checked and they have offices in the USA and Mexico https://www.emerchantpay.com/about-us/

Hope that helps

I would suggest calling Netbilling.com they can help you and answer your questions

My company will be in the US though. 75 percent of my customers are in the US, but I live in the EU. I have heard that US processors ask for either a SSN or ITIN at the bare minimum, and also that they ask for proof of US residency.

I've also heard that EU processors usually have requirement of 40-50% EU traffic and the rest international.


I'll give them a call and hopefully they can answer my questions.

Thank you both for the help.

Still no veterans who can answer my question regarding privacy? Doesn't anyone care about public UBOs and privacy? Especially when you work in this industry.

Emerchantpay should still be able to help as they have offices all over the world (including US and Mexico). And they can setup a merchant account for you so you get way better rates than 3rd party billers (eg 5%-6% as opposed to 15%-17% for most 3rd party billers)

Like any processor they will still have to do due dilligence on you so you'll be required to submit passport, utility bills etc.

Not heard of the 40%-50% EU traffic thing. Nobody has ever asked us where our traffic comes from. So long as you've got the turnover and your chargebacks are under 2%, they dont care

Whenever you go through the setup process with a new processor, you will have to submit legal paperwork of your companies and who is the beneficiary. Usually papers that also need to be notarized. You can try to hide behind offshore companies with hired directors etc but it takes a huge effort if you want to completely hide but still withdraw your money.

What exactly is the difference between third party billers and merchant accounts? If they only take 5-6 percent why are even companies like CCbill and verotel around?

Someone told me this on another forum "never going to be accepted because of cross boarder regulations by the card association" It was in regards to why I can't find an EU processor as an US LLC. Is this true?

You're misunderstanding me. I'm not trying to hide from governments or processors. I don't want private individuals to be able to google the company and then my name pops up.
I'm kind of surprised since I thought more people would pay attention to this when working in this industry.

Well, google adjusted their algorithm so now such info does not pop anymore, they had to do due GDPR law. So now only way to someone find your name is to use official goverment company registrars.

But this is not a payment issue, it's a question where you register your company and how much privacy they grant you.

Payment processors will want a company on the website where users can ask for refunds

Whether you can google the beneficiaries of this company is different from country to country.

If someone wants to find out, then they'll find out. Official government registrars don't cost that much. In Sweden you pay like 10 bucks to get access to the criminal record of someone.
I'll sleep better at night knowing that won't be a possibility.

"Payment processors will want a company on the website where users can ask for refunds"

That's fair and not a problem for me.

Sadly, the entire EU has the same regulations regarding this. I've heard you can get around this in Cyprus ... for now, but that's beyond my budget.