Operating name vs corporation name vs seller name

Question

mrdarcy OP

Created Nov ’16

Replies 3

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I want to enroll in the developer program and need help getting these details right.

I am both a single-person business and a corporation in Canada (I am the sole employee). My corporation name is ABC Inc but I have a more friendly name of XYZ which is legally registered as a business operating name for ABC Inc. I want my seller name to appear as XYZ, but I feel like ABC Inc should be used everywhere else because it is the more official and permanent name. How do I accomplish this?

I figured I should enroll as a company (not individual) and I understand I need to register for a DUNS number but I'm worried if I use ABC Inc that I'm going to be stuck with that as my seller name because it's not clear at this point if that can be tweaked later. Can anyone advise?

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Answer 1

mrdarcy OP

Nov ’16

Well, I can answer my own question now after talking with a dev support rep.

First of all, Apple makes it pretty clear than when enrolling as an individual there is no option to customize the seller name (it is your personal name), and when enrolling as a business you have to use the full legal name (no alternate operating name, even if it is registered).

Now, as a company, you have ONE AND ONLY ONE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE YOUR SELLER NAME as it appears on the app store listing. In itunes connect, when you create your *very first app record*, it will ask for the seller name. ONLY THEN can you enter something (anything, actually) other than your enrolled company name (ABC Inc), AND that new name will stay with you for all subsequent app records. If, in the future you want to change it again, the only option will be converting back to ABC Inc.

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Answer 2

NotMyName OP

Nov ’16

One thing to keep in mind.

If you're a personal developer, the last time I had to set up an account anyway, there was the same opportunity to specify a custom name when setting up the App Store entry. As far as I know, anyone who took that opportunity subsequently had their custom name "corrected" to the Apple designated seller name.

I would expect that business developer accounts would be subject to the same "correction" policy as personal developer accounts. In other words, if the difference between your legal name and the name you enter is anything other than minor punctuation or formatting changes, expect to see it changed.

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Answer 3

KMT OP

Nov ’16

Good info, thanks for the followup.

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