PayPal provides many different options for sending or receiving money.
Some options will show your email address and some will show your shipping address.
This article explains when and how your email and shipping address are shown when using PayPal.
Table of Contents
Quick Summary Of When Your Address Details Are Shown
This table is a summary of circumstances when your email or shopping address is shown.
The rest of the article has a detailed section for each type of transaction.
| Transaction | Shipping | |
| Buy a physical product | Yes | Yes |
| Buy a service | Yes | No |
| Send a gift or personal payment | Yes | No |
| Click on a PayPal.me link | No | No |
| Click on a PayPal donation button | Yes | No |
| Sell to a buyer | Yes | No |
| Setup PayPal.me | No | No (some limited details shown) |
We have a companion article that explains when PayPal shows your name.
Does PayPal Show My Address When I Buy A Physical Product?
PayPal shows both your email address and your shipping address to the seller when you send money to purchase a physical product.
The seller sees your details in their account activity. The seller also receives an email notification of your purchase that contains your email and shipping address.
This is probably what you expect. In the case of physical products, the seller must know where to send the product!
However, you may think that purchasing a service should be different. Read on to learn that at least one form of address is given to the seller.
Summary
- Email address: Yes
- Shipping address: Yes
Does PayPal Show My Address When I Buy A Service?
PayPal shows your email address to the seller when you send money to purchase a service or digital product.
PayPal users sometimes think that there’s a big difference in details shown to sellers if the purchase is a service. After all, the merchant doesn’t need to deliver something to your door.
However, the seller still needs to send you an invoice.
For this reason, they get to see your email address.
Summary
- Email address: Yes
- Shipping address: No
Does PayPal Show My Address When I Send A Gift Or Personal Payment?
PayPal offers a “Friends and Family” option that is intended for a close network of people who know and trust each other.
When you send money on the platform, you can choose the option of “sending to a friend” instead of “paying for an item or service.”
PayPal shows your email address to the recipient but not your shipping address.
The recipient sees your email address in their account activity. They also receive an email notification of this gift that shows your email address.
Summary
- Email address: Yes
- Shipping address: No
Is My Address Revealed When I Click On A PayPal.me Link?
PayPal does not show your email address or shipping address to the owner of the PayPal.me link when you click on it.
The link owner only sees your name. Your address details are withheld.
Summary
- Email address: No
- Shipping address: No
Is My Address Shown When I Click On A PayPal Donation Button?
PayPal shows your email address to the recipient of your donation when you make a payment through a PayPal donation button.
They see the email address on the donor receipt. However, they do not see your shipping address.
Summary
- Email address: Yes
- Shipping address: No
Does PayPal Show My Address When I Sell To A Buyer?
Your email address is shown to people who send you money via PayPal.
They see the email address in their account activity. The sender also receives an email notification with your email.
However, the shipping address is not shown.
Summary
- Email address: Yes
- Shipping address: No
Does PayPal Show My Address When I Set Up PayPal.me?
PayPal rolled out the PayPal.me feature in 2015 as a way to make it easier for users to receive money from their friends and contacts.
It’s important to understand that one of the features of PayPal.me is that people who send you money should be able to know that they are paying the correct person!
In other words, PayPal shows some identifying details when you have a PayPal.me page.
However, this does not include your email address or your full shipping address.
Your PayPal.me page shows your city (or region) and your country.
Summary
- Email address: No
- Shipping address: No (city and country are shown)
Why Does Paypal Insist On Showing Your Address To Other People?
Many people aren’t happy about how PayPal shows their email address or shipping address when they enter into financial transactions with other users.
However, there’s a good reason for the transparency.
If people are sending you money, they want to know that you are who they think you are. They also want some recourse if they don’t receive the goods or services that they paid for.
Similarly, people who receive money from your account usually need a way to verify where they are getting money from for legal or tax reasons.
More About PayPal And Your Privacy
This article focuses on your address but what about your name?
If you’re interested in what PayPal reveals about your identity, check out our separate article on when and how PayPal shows your name when you send or receive money.
If you’ve changed your mind about your bank details, check out our article on how to remove a bank account from PayPal.