Obtain A UPS Mailbox!

Amino Lair

Amino Lair

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Alright, today I came across a post where somebody had their global entry pass revoked because customs intercepted a package. Even though recommending this does nothing for my own business, I'd still like folks to think about setting up a UPS mailbox so your name isn't tied straight to overseas shipments that carry a strong likelihood of being seized.

Does this approach guarantee anything? No, definitely not. That said, for the agencies to figure out who is behind that UPS mailbox, they'd need to get a subpoena with a judge's signature and then present that paperwork to UPS. And even if they do have some way around it to track you down, it becomes one more extremely irritating hurdle standing in their path.

If you want to put up any kind of extra obstacle for them when it comes to identifying you, give this a shot. Should I be mistaken about this, please reply with your own experience of having a separate mailbox like this and then losing your global entry, or a solid story about someone you're close to who has.

Bottom line, add a layer of difficulty, keep your name off of the sale to receiver shipment.
 
I checked into this, though the cost felt a little high when the only thing I'd use it for is peps. Were there other reasons I needed it, I'd think about it.
 
Well, I use a personal mailbox rather than USPS since USPS is expensive... it's a 3rd party mailing company that takes in every package for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you're guaranteed someone will receive your packages, and they're sitting there waiting for you to grab them anytime. On top of that, I don't need to be home or worry about theft.

I haven't gone fully gray yet because of crypto - I'm still figuring it out, but someday, I'll take the plunge.
 
HRH_IceQueen said:

Well, I use a personal mailbox rather than USPS since USPS is expensive... it's a 3rd party mailing company that takes in every package for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you're guaranteed someone will receive your packages, and they're sitting there waiting for you to grab them anytime. On top of that, I don't need to be home or worry about theft.

I haven't gone fully gray yet because of crypto - I'm still figuring it out, but someday, I'll take the plunge.
Click to expand...
Getting into crypto was really straightforward for me. Someone suggested exodus, but since that app routes purchases through moonpay, I gave up on it. My money got stuck in moonpay, and moving it to exodus would have cost a transfer fee, so I ditched exodus altogether.

Here's what I did instead: through Moon Pay, using PayPal, I bought $20 of eth (roughly .01eth). After that, I picked up some USDC in whatever quantity I wanted (the USDC ratio is close to $1:1). Each transfer runs about .001 eth.

From there, you grab the vendor's wallet address, send the USDC over, and take a screenshot of the confirmation page. Keep an eye on it, since the amounts look alike. I messed up and sent 100 USDC rather than 100$, which came out to about $103. No biggie.
 
BigJDog said:

HRH_IceQueen said:

Well, I use a personal mailbox rather than USPS since USPS is expensive... it's a 3rd party mailing company that takes in every package for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you're guaranteed someone will receive your packages, and they're sitting there waiting for you to grab them anytime. On top of that, I don't need to be home or worry about theft.

I haven't gone fully gray yet because of crypto - I'm still figuring it out, but someday, I'll take the plunge.
Click to expand...
Getting into crypto was really straightforward for me. Someone suggested exodus, but since that app routes purchases through moonpay, I gave up on it. My money got stuck in moonpay, and moving it to exodus would have cost a transfer fee, so I ditched exodus altogether.

Here's what I did instead: through Moon Pay, using PayPal, I bought $20 of eth (roughly .01eth). After that, I picked up some USDC in whatever quantity I wanted (the USDC ratio is close to $1:1). Each transfer runs about .001 eth.

From there, you grab the vendor's wallet address, send the USDC over, and take a screenshot of the confirmation page. Keep an eye on it, since the amounts look alike. I messed up and sent 100 USDC rather than 100$, which came out to about $103. No biggie.
Click to expand...
Yikes! That's a quick route to getting your PayPal shut down! You're correct that MoonPay charges a lot, but the smarter approach is to purchase crypto however you prefer (PayPal, Robinhood, Venmo, CashApp, Coinbase), send it to Exodus (or another self-custody wallet), and only then forward it to the vendor.

Never send payment to vendors directly from a linked wallet or service that you rely on. Plenty of folks get their PayPal and Coinbase accounts closed for doing exactly that, and getting the funds back afterward is an PITA. Even if it hasn't occurred yet, chances are it will down the road. Sure, the extra transfer costs a bit more, but it's worth it! (I'd be pretty upset if my PayPal acct got nuked).

One more thing: NY and WA residents might need to take an additional step depending on which currency you're able to buy, so the path could look like Coinbase exchange>Coinbase Wallet to swap coins>Exodus>Vendor
 
HouseCat said:

BigJDog said:

HRH_IceQueen said:

Well, I use a personal mailbox rather than USPS since USPS is expensive... it's a 3rd party mailing company that takes in every package for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you're guaranteed someone will receive your packages, and they're sitting there waiting for you to grab them anytime. On top of that, I don't need to be home or worry about theft.

I haven't gone fully gray yet because of crypto - I'm still figuring it out, but someday, I'll take the plunge.
Click to expand...
Getting into crypto was really straightforward for me. Someone suggested exodus, but since that app routes purchases through moonpay, I gave up on it. My money got stuck in moonpay, and moving it to exodus would have cost a transfer fee, so I ditched exodus altogether.

Here's what I did instead: through Moon Pay, using PayPal, I bought $20 of eth (roughly .01eth). After that, I picked up some USDC in whatever quantity I wanted (the USDC ratio is close to $1:1). Each transfer runs about .001 eth.

From there, you grab the vendor's wallet address, send the USDC over, and take a screenshot of the confirmation page. Keep an eye on it, since the amounts look alike. I messed up and sent 100 USDC rather than 100$, which came out to about $103. No biggie.
Click to expand...
Yikes! That's a quick route to getting your PayPal shut down! You're correct that MoonPay charges a lot, but the smarter approach is to purchase crypto however you prefer (PayPal, Robinhood, Venmo, CashApp, Coinbase), send it to Exodus (or another self-custody wallet), and only then forward it to the vendor.

Never send payment to vendors directly from a linked wallet or service that you rely on. Plenty of folks get their PayPal and Coinbase accounts closed for doing exactly that, and getting the funds back afterward is an PITA. Even if it hasn't occurred yet, chances are it will down the road. Sure, the extra transfer costs a bit more, but it's worth it! (I'd be pretty upset if my PayPal acct got nuked).

One more thing: NY and WA residents might need to take an additional step depending on which currency you're able to buy, so the path could look like Coinbase exchange>Coinbase Wallet to swap coins>Exodus>Vendor
Click to expand...
What's the reason PayPal would shut down my account just for transferring funds to moonpay? Is it because moonpay runs into issues due to its ties with grey vendors?
 
BigJDog said:

HouseCat said:

BigJDog said:

HRH_IceQueen said:

Well, I use a personal mailbox rather than USPS since USPS is expensive... it's a 3rd party mailing company that takes in every package for me: Amazon, peps, etc. At least you're guaranteed someone will receive your packages, and they're sitting there waiting for you to grab them anytime. On top of that, I don't need to be home or worry about theft.

I haven't gone fully gray yet because of crypto - I'm still figuring it out, but someday, I'll take the plunge.
Click to expand...
Getting into crypto was really straightforward for me. Someone suggested exodus, but since that app routes purchases through moonpay, I gave up on it. My money got stuck in moonpay, and moving it to exodus would have cost a transfer fee, so I ditched exodus altogether.

Here's what I did instead: through Moon Pay, using PayPal, I bought $20 of eth (roughly .01eth). After that, I picked up some USDC in whatever quantity I wanted (the USDC ratio is close to $1:1). Each transfer runs about .001 eth.

From there, you grab the vendor's wallet address, send the USDC over, and take a screenshot of the confirmation page. Keep an eye on it, since the amounts look alike. I messed up and sent 100 USDC rather than 100$, which came out to about $103. No biggie.
Click to expand...
Yikes! That's a quick route to getting your PayPal shut down! You're correct that MoonPay charges a lot, but the smarter approach is to purchase crypto however you prefer (PayPal, Robinhood, Venmo, CashApp, Coinbase), send it to Exodus (or another self-custody wallet), and only then forward it to the vendor.

Never send payment to vendors directly from a linked wallet or service that you rely on. Plenty of folks get their PayPal and Coinbase accounts closed for doing exactly that, and getting the funds back afterward is an PITA. Even if it hasn't occurred yet, chances are it will down the road. Sure, the extra transfer costs a bit more, but it's worth it! (I'd be pretty upset if my PayPal acct got nuked).

One more thing: NY and WA residents might need to take an additional step depending on which currency you're able to buy, so the path could look like Coinbase exchange>Coinbase Wallet to swap coins>Exodus>Vendor
Click to expand...
What's the reason PayPal would shut down my account just for transferring funds to moonpay? Is it because moonpay runs into issues due to its ties with grey vendors?
Click to expand...
If you want answers to these, the Crypto forum is the better place — plenty of folks there know far more about this than I do.

On its own, MoonPay has nothing to do with the gray market. As far as I understand it, MoonPay is a service for purchasing crypto, and the fees it charges are quite high. So say you use PayPal through MoonPay to buy crypto — I've never gone that route myself, since NY has extremely strict crypto regulations, so I might not have the terminology right — that ought to be okay. The main thing to remember: before you send anything to a vendor, move your money into a self custody wallet. Self-custody wallets offer far more anonymity, and you want something standing between the accounts or wallets tied to you (meaning ones linked to your bank, such as Coinbase, CashApp, or PayPal) and the vendor.
 
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