Payments and anonymity

[jakowidogo 0]

Hello,

 

Can someone please comment on the difference between using Avangate and PayPal as payment methods, in relation to privacy and anonymity?

 

Can someone also please comment on using one's own personal bank card versus using a separate card, in relation to the above question? What about using one's own personal email address versus using a separate email address?

 

Where do these things make a difference and where do they not?

 

I am interested in knowing the best way to maintain a reasonable level of privacy and anonymity without making subscriptions difficult and time consuming.

[rain2reign 7]

Whether it's Avengate, PayPal, the bank or a credit card provider... The company behind them will always have your billing information and purchase history. There is no way around that. It's more of an issue whom you trust more than the other. Personally i prefer either direct bank access, i live in the Netherlands so it's not always supported, or PayPal. Companies like Avengate act nothing more than as a 3rd party middle-man, so in essence you're sharing the already mentioned information with a extra company iin the process. If that makes a difference for you.

 

In regards to privacy and anonymity there is not much you can do except fill in as less information as is possible. Only agree to what you want, not what you 'might' get and don't fully trust anyone with your information. That being said the party that gets paid, i.e. Airvpn, so you can use their vpn services can or might retain some information for refund purposes. There is always a tiny little trail somewhere, you need to find YOUR balance and not someone else his vision of a good balance.

 

I personally use my direct bank access wherever i can, since they already know my information and billing history anyhow (credit cards are not that common in my country) and i use PayPal if i don't have that option. This is a decent balance as to what works for me as i know what information is already being retained by my bank to begin with. I do know people whom open a separate bank account  for vpn and webshop purposes, it gives them comfort to know that if something goes wrong it can only be on that specific account, but the downside is that you might need to manage your finances better.

 

I always have used separate emails, 1 for personal documentations and such(think of bank affairs or VPN purchases as example) and one for the rest (gaming and etc..). It's a choice i made so i had the more important emails centralized and the rest i could not really care that much.

 

TL;DR

Find your balance as to what works for you and not someone else.

 

Optionally you can also pay with one of the bitcoin options as well. An comment from the staff on a similar topic.

[tamikyle 4]

There's always bitcoin, which will give you at least a bit more anonymity than a PayPal account with your name on it.

[wintersnow 5]

Avengate wants more info than paypal: they want a copy of your driver's license and recent credit card statement.  It's really unusual for a third-party processor to ask a customer for a driver's license to validate a purchase.  Paypal doesn't even ask for this when you open an account.  And card processors can check a database to see credit history.  Copies of statements are typically requested when fraud is suspected.  Does AirVPN suspect all of its customers who pay by credit card of fraud? 

[serenacat 83]

An extra complication purchasing from Europe is the VAT/GST imposition and collection. It seems sellers/processors have to determine the national location of buyers, including whether validly outside the EU. This also probably means national tax authorities can harvest data about purchases by their citizens/livestock and do whatever they do with it.

Here in Australia, a 10pct VAT must be paid on all purchases of "goods" from 1 July 2017, it used to be >$1000 but local retailers have lobbied/complained/donated/...

Quickly googling and looking at Tax Office info:

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/New-legislation/In-detail/Indirect-taxes/GST/GST-on-low-value-imported-goods/

it is unclear how this will be collected from smaller sellers rather than eBay/Amazon/Google Play Store/...

and where is the boundary of goods vs services for "subscriptions" such as AirVPN/New York Times (no paper!)/.../???

Presumably, some of this has to be handled by Avangate/PayPal/Mastercard on behalf of business like AirVPN, or the UK company that sold me a nice phone cover for 10 euros.

So bitcoin seems simpler in some respects, as well as less data all over the planet. But then technically/legally are you a "tax avoider" to your keepers ?