Pros and cons of teens using Paypal?

[athena1277]

Ds14 is into Minecraft and coding his own mods and things for the game.  He wants to be able to make and sell his creations and take commissions for work.  I always get nervous about teens interacting with strangers online, but a few months ago I gave him permission to start doing this for free to get positive rankings.  Now he really wants to get PayPal so he can start getting paid for this.  Dh and I don’t have PayPal, so I don’t know a lot about it.  Can a 14yo have their own account or would dh or I have make an account and give him access?  Is a business account necessary or is a regular account ok if he’s selling something and not making a lot?  What other things do I need to consider about this? What rules would you suggest if we decide to do this? If it matters, ds has his own checking account (dh monitors it, it’s a child/student account under dh’s account).  

[KSera]

I don’t see any issue with this. I would have him set up a new email address that he uses only for this purpose and that is attached to his PayPal account. I don’t know what the age rules are, so you would have to follow those. If it were me, I would keep everything on the up and up as far as receiving payments as business transactions, not as friend to friend, and reporting his taxable earnings at the end of the year if they surpassed the limit (which might not be likely).  PayPal isn’t like Venmo as far as being a social thing, so it wouldn’t concern me any more than someone paying my kid by check. 

[BusyMom5]

He will probably need to have it linked to a real checking account- they are getting very picky about accepting money online.   My DD recently set up VenMo and had to use her banking account to verify her identity.

[Storygirl]

I don't use PayPal, but DH does use it to pay our son's guitar teacher. The teacher recently asked us to switch to a different payment method, because PayPal was hitting him with extra fees for using it for a business.

So, I don't know, but be sure to look into that.

[klmama]

I believe Venmo has business fees, too.

[Carrie12345]

I’ve never had any real issues with PayPal. What I have had issues with is age requirements at various banks for kids to have accounts. Some have been 14 for a joint account, some 16, and one let dd have a solo account at 15 or 16 (I can’t remember precisely.)

Paypal says you must be 18, but a joint account WILL have an adult on it. I wouldn’t attempt to get an underage account through even if just for the hassle if it gets flagged.

[Kuovonne]

PayPal requires that users be at least 18. For my daughter that meant that PayPal was a no-go until after she turned 18, even though she had her own checking account. 

[skimomma]

2 hours ago, Kuovonne said:

PayPal requires that users be at least 18. For my daughter that meant that PayPal was a no-go until after she turned 18, even though she had her own checking account. 

Huh.  Dd had a PayPal account before she was 18.  The only issue she ran into is that PayPal would not transfer money to her bank account until she turned 18.  I have no idea why.  She had to have them mail a check, which was a huge pain.  Maybe the rules have changed over time.  She just turned 18 a few months ago but got her PayPal account when she was 16.

[Kuovonne]

Maybe the rules have changed since I last looked. Currently, this is the webpage that says that users have to be 18 years old, at least for most people in the USA (where my family is).

[catz]

I mean if you were comfortable with what he is doing, I would just go down to the bank and set up the most basic account in both your names to link it and help him set it up as "your" account if they require over 18.   I've been using a business account for years, I haven't had any issues with it.  It is nice just being able to transfer right to the account and the business account does need to be connected.