Can I run a drop shipping store under my parents' name as a minor?

[skylersss]

Hello Shopify, 

I am a under 18 year old getting into drop shipping. I plan to create a store under my parents name, as well as any accounts that require you to be over 18. My parents will be acting as my nominee for this. I will take care and operate as a sole proprietor under taxes, etc. I have been hearing about how Shopify, at a certain point asks for legal documents. I plan to get these as I start my store, but they will be under my name. Will this pose an issue, as the store is under my parents name?

Thank you!

(Please don’t suggest I do everything under my parents, it isn’t an option for outside reasons)

[Trevor]

Hi, @skylersss. 

Great question! As you're not 18, the "Account Owner" would need to be one of your parents. You can be listed as a staff member so you can continue getting support from Shopify should you have any questions. That said, if you intend to use Shopify Payments, then the account would need to go under your parents' name. You'll likely start off as a sole proprietorship, which means one of your parents would need to provide their SSN/SIN in order to set up Shopify Payments. 

If you use Shopify Payments, and should our Payments team and Banking Partners need to verify the business further, whoever took responsibility for the Shopify Payments account would need to supply the requested documents. Typically our teams would require utility bills, government-issued ID, and any further supporting documents to verify the business (shipping invoices, etc). While the utility bills/ID would need to be under the name of the account owner, the other documents may allow the use of the business name. 

Whether documents are requested from you will depend on if you use Shopify Payments, and if the account is flagged for review. We can not forecast if the account will come up for review, and would need to wait for the account to be set up, and the system processes its initial review to determine if further information will be required. In the end, whether you use Shopify Payments or another payment provider, you will likely need your parents to act as the point of contact for the account until you come of age. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

[skylersss]

Hi Peter!

Thanks so much for the response, it cleared things up for me a bit.

A question I have, however, is if I do not use Shopify Payments, and use something like Stripe, will my account ever come under review?

Thanks,

Skyler

[Trevor]

@skylersss 

If Shopify Payments is available for your region, then you would not be able to use Stripe. That said, I can't speak for other payment providers and what they may require in order to verify your business. It would be best to reach out to potential payment providers to discuss that further. You can view a full list of payment providers by selecting your country here. 

Keep in mind that if you do not use Shopify Payments, then transaction fees will apply per order. Transaction fees would be on top of what you pay your payment provider and can range between 0.5% - 2% depending on the plan you choose.