I have 2 PayPal accounts for this purpose (with different email addresses).

The first account is tied to my real email address, and has my real name, phone and home address associated with it. This account is also connected to my bank account and credit cards.

For riskier transactions where I don't need physical delivery (or will accept delivery to my local post-office in cases where I don't trust the seller with my personal details) I use my secondary account, which has a secondary email address of mine, and a fake name and with a fake address, it is not connected to any external accounts.

To send or receive money "anonymously" I first send money from my real account to my fake account (inter-account transfers are free with PayPal), and then send the money to the seller from the fake account.

This is in violation of PayPal's terms of service, but I've been using this system for the past 5+ years without any issues.

Answer from Dai on Stack Exchange
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PayPal
paypal.com › ca › digital-wallet › send-receive-money › send-money
Send Money Online | PayPal CA
Plus, eligible transactions are covered by PayPal Purchase Protection.2 · Enter their name, PayPal username, email, or mobile number. Enter the amount of money you want to send and choose a currency.
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Does PayPal allow you to send money to yourself?
If you have not done so, Read our FAQ! which answers most questions. Please note that with the current CoVid-19 crisis that support is very limited at PayPal. No one here can fix that or offer solutions. The most common answer is to telephone PayPal support. However at this time such a call may be frutile, though you can keep trying. Try contacting PayPal support using social media such as Facebook or Twitter as this works more often than telephoning. I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
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April 24, 2022
How do I send money to someone’s PayPal without an account
Abbreviations used in r/PayPal : NAD - Not as described. SNAD - Significantly not as described. INR - Item Not Received. UAT - Unauthorized transaction. OP - Original poster of the message. F&F - Friends and Family (no protection at all.) G&S - Goods and/or Services (has seller/buyer protection.) Posts about PayPal's policies will be removed. No more complaining about PayPal policy and their taking funds from your account for violations of rules. If you don't like the rules don't use PayPal. If you don't want to lose money, don't leave funds in your PayPal account. Simple as that. But these posts are often political or misleading. So no more posts on this subject! Thank you for submitting to r/PayPal , please make sure you have read the FAQ . If your account was created when you were younger than 18, then that is covered in the FAQ! Try contacting PayPal support using social media such as Facebook or Twitter as this works more often than telephoning. I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
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May 27, 2025
Paypal guest account checkout
Abbreviations used in r/PayPal : NAD - Not as described. SNAD - Significantly not as described. INR - Item Not Received. UAT - Unauthorized transaction. OP - Original poster of the message. F&F - Friends and Family (no protection at all.) G&S - Goods and/or Services (has seller/buyer protection.) Posts about PayPal's policies will be removed. No more complaining about PayPal policy and their taking funds from your account for violations of rules. If you don't like the rules don't use PayPal. If you don't want to lose money, don't leave funds in your PayPal account. Simple as that. But these posts are often political or misleading. So no more posts on this subject! Thank you for submitting to r/PayPal , please make sure you have read the FAQ . If your account was created when you were younger than 18, then that is covered in the FAQ! Try contacting PayPal support using social media such as Facebook or Twitter as this works more often than telephoning. I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
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May 30, 2023
Sending money without revealing full name
Abbreviations used in r/PayPal : NAD - Not as described. SNAD - Significantly not as described. INR - Item Not Received. UAT - Unauthorized transaction. OP - Original poster of the message. F&F - Friends and Family (no protection at all.) G&S - Goods and/or Services (has seller/buyer protection.) Posts about PayPal's policies will be removed. No more complaining about PayPal policy and their taking funds from your account for violations of rules. If you don't like the rules don't use PayPal. If you don't want to lose money, don't leave funds in your PayPal account. Simple as that. But these posts are often political or misleading. So no more posts on this subject! Thank you for submitting to r/PayPal , please make sure you have read the FAQ . If your account was created when you were younger than 18, then that is covered in the FAQ! Try contacting PayPal support using social media such as Facebook or Twitter as this works more often than telephoning. I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
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December 7, 2023
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r/paypal on Reddit: Does PayPal allow you to send money to yourself?
April 24, 2022 -

I was gifted some prepaid debit cards. I want to transfer the funds to my bank (via PayPal) but for some reason the prepaid cards don't allow you to simply top up accounts (I've tried PayPal and Revolut).

If I were to request money (friends and family) to an email address that doesn't have PayPal and use the prepaid card as the payment source (without creating a PayPal account), would it be within the rules?

The details on my PayPal (sending the request) and the card details for the payment would match.

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