Get A UPS Mailbox!

[Amino Lair]

Ok so I saw a post today that someone lost their global entry pass due to a shipment being seized by customs. While suggesting this doesn't help my business in any way, I do want people to consider getting a UPS mailbox to avoid having your name attached directly to shipments overseas that have a high chance of being seized.

Is this option failproof? No, absolutely not. But here is what the agencies have to do to find out who owns the UPS mailbox: they have to obtain a subpoena signed by a judge and bring that paperwork to UPS. And if they do have a workaround to locate you, it's an extra very annoying step in the way for them.

If you're going to want to add any layer of difficulty for them to identify you, just try this. If I'm wrong about this, please respond with your own experience having a separate mailbox like this and losing your global entry, or some good story about someone close to you who has.

Bottom line, add a layer of difficulty, keep your name off of the sale to receiver shipment.

 

[dogmom]

I looked into it but it was a bit expensive for just receiving peps. If I had other uses for it I would consider it.

 

[HRH_IceQueen]

Well, I do it thru a personal mailbox, not thru USPS bc they're costly... it's a 3rd party malling company that accepts all of my packages for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you know your packages will be received by someone and it's there for you to pick up whenever. Plus I don't have to be home or risk being stolen.
I haven't gone completely gray yet bc of crypto - still learning, but one day, I'll take the plunge.

 

[BigJDog]

Well, I do it thru a personal mailbox, not thru USPS bc they're costly... it's a 3rd party malling company that accepts all of my packages for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you know your packages will be received by someone and it's there for you to pick up whenever. Plus I don't have to be home or risk being stolen.
I haven't gone completely gray yet bc of crypto - still learning, but one day, I'll take the plunge.

Crypto was super easy. I was told to use exodus but that app uses moonpay to purchase the crypto. I ended up with money in moonpay and would have to pay transfer fee to my exodus so I just skipped the exodus part entirely.

Moon pay-use PayPal- buy $20 worth of eth (this is like .01eth) then buy whatever amount of USDC (almost $1:1 USDC ratio). It’s like .001 eth for each transfer.

Then you just get the vendors wallet address, send them the USDC, screenshot the confirmation page. Pay attention because the price is similar. I accidentally sent 100 USDC instead of 100$ so it was like $103. Not a big deal.

 

[HouseCat]

Crypto was super easy. I was told to use exodus but that app uses moonpay to purchase the crypto. I ended up with money in moonpay and would have to pay transfer fee to my exodus so I just skipped the exodus part entirely.

Moon pay-use PayPal- buy $20 worth of eth (this is like .01eth) then buy whatever amount of USDC (almost $1:1 USDC ratio). It’s like .001 eth for each transfer.

Then you just get the vendors wallet address, send them the USDC, screenshot the confirmation page. Pay attention because the price is similar. I accidentally sent 100 USDC instead of 100$ so it was like $103. Not a big deal.

Oh no! This is a good way to lose your PayPal account! You’re right that MoonPay is $$$, but best practice is to use whatever way you want to buy crypto (PayPal, Robinhood, Venmo, CashApp, Coinbase), transfer to Exodus (or other self custody wallet) and then to vendor.

Never pay vendors right from a linked wallet/service that you use and need. LOTS of people lose their PayPal and Coinbase accounts doing this, annd then recovering fund from there is an PITA. Even if it hasn’t happened yet, it likely will in the future. Yes, you’ll pay a little more for the extra transfer, but that’s worth it! (I would be very unhappy if my PayPal acct was nuked).

Side note: NY and WA residents may have to go through an extra step depending on the currency you’re able to buy, so it may look like Coinbase exchange>Coinbase Wallet to swap coins>Exodus>Vendor

 

[BigJDog]

Oh no! This is a good way to lose your PayPal account! You’re right that MoonPay is $$$, but best practice is to use whatever way you want to buy crypto (PayPal, Robinhood, Venmo, CashApp, Coinbase), transfer to Exodus (or other self custody wallet) and then to vendor.

Never pay vendors right from a linked wallet/service that you use and need. LOTS of people lose their PayPal and Coinbase accounts doing this, annd then recovering fund from there is an PITA. Even if it hasn’t happened yet, it likely will in the future. Yes, you’ll pay a little more for the extra transfer, but that’s worth it! (I would be very unhappy if my PayPal acct was nuked).

Side note: NY and WA residents may have to go through an extra step depending on the currency you’re able to buy, so it may look like Coinbase exchange>Coinbase Wallet to swap coins>Exodus>Vendor

Why would PayPal disable my account for sending money to moonpay? Because moonpay gets in trouble from being connected to grey vendor?

 

[HouseCat]

Why would PayPal disable my account for sending money to moonpay? Because moonpay gets in trouble from being connected to grey vendor?

I would ask these questions in the Crypto forum because there are people a LOT more knowledgeable than I am.

MoonPay in and of itself isn’t connected to the gray market. From what I know, MoonPay is a service that lets you buy crypto (at very high fees), so if you buy crypto with PayPal via MoonPay (I’ve never done that being in NY where crypto rules are crazy strict, so my terminology may be incorrect), that should be fine. The big takeaway is to always transfer your money into a self custody wallet before sending to a vendor. Self-custody wallets are much more anonymous, and you want a barrier between your linked accounts/wallet (I.e. linked to your bank account like Coinbase, CashApp, PayPal) and the vendor.