Fictitious Name for a Sole Proprietorship Online Business

[PHash]

Where I'm from: Riverside County, California


Basically I have a program that "hooks" into a video game, and allows you to cheat/hack the video game. It's completely legit in that sense, there are many companies offering similar products but mine is better in a lot of ways (but at the same time for a smaller market, if this makes any sense).

I want to charge $5/mo for the use of this. I have a number of ways to ensure this licensing.

The thing is I don't want to flop down $400 on an LLC. when things might not work out. This ain't exactly a get rich quick scheme, just a little added income each month.

Money would be handled through paypal. I'd have no control over credit card info or any of that. There will also be someone else on the quote-unquote "payroll" getting 50% of the gross...

Can I operate this sole proprietorship with a fictitious name? I'd rather not attach my real name to the product. I'm not sure how it works on the net.

Any other advice?

[KeyWestDan]

Legally speaking, the fictitious name must be registered with the Secretary of State. No idea of costs in CA but here in Florida it is $70 and good for five years. Of course, when you register your dba/fictitious name, anybody can look it up and learn your real name, etc.

Here in FL failure to register a dba is a criminal offense. I suggest you check CA law. I bet it is the same. Most business law and other things are all based on model statutes which are accepted by all states with only minor variations.

How are you going to have a PayPal account under a fictitious name and keep your real name out of it. You have to have a business bank account to validate the name, at minimum.

Also, your proposed business violates PayPal policy and once they figure out what you are doing, they will seize all the money in your PayPal account and close it down. You will never get a paypal account using the same registration name or bank account, phone number, etc.

Once you market your program and the game companies in question find out, they will block it one way or another. Then you will have lots of pissed off customers complaining to PayPal (regardless of how fast you work around them and issue a new version if you can). There goes your account for certain. In addition, once you start marketing it, lots of people will be pissed off about the cheating and will complain about PayPal policy violations. Kiss your account bye bye.

PayPal actively searches for accounts that violates its policy. I accidentially uploaded an old page (when PayPal liked adult money) to an adult site with some PayPal links (the code was so old they didn't even work and it was in a private directory) and within a few days PayPal discovered it and closed the PayPal account which had been open and legit for 10 years. As I have multiple corporations; I have multiple bank accounts and PayPal accounts so it was not a total disaster. My point is, if you think you are going to get over on PayPal, forget about it.

[Mr. Knowitall]

The thing is I don't want to flop down $400 on an LLC. when things might not work out.

Why would it cost anything close to $400 to set up a LLC or S Corporation? You can get the forms for free and, whatever the people who want to charge $400 tell you, they aren't that hard to figure out.

Money would be handled through paypal. I'd have no control over credit card info or any of that. There will also be someone else on the quote-unquote "payroll" getting 50% of the gross...

You should, of course, have a contract with your partner.

Can I operate this sole proprietorship with a fictitious name? I'd rather not attach my real name to the product.

If you register a d/b/a as a sole proprietor, your name will be right there on the application - a public record.

If your goal is either to hide from angry customers or, even moreso, to hide from angry game companies, your scheme will fail.

[lexidox]

Why would it cost anything close to $400 to set up a LLC or S Corporation? You can get the forms for free and, whatever the people who want to charge $400 tell you, they aren't that hard to figure out.

I believe he's referring to $400 as the minimum state franchise tax for maintaining a LLC in CA, not preparation of forms. However, the minimum state franchise tax is $800 for a LLC.