Why do I need an office address as a virtual assistant?
We had a few people recently asking why they need their full mailing address as part of the SVA Approved process… There’s quite a few legal obligations which mean you MUST have a contact mailing address on your website:
Why virtual assistants NEED a proper mailing address
- https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses – so if you are selling products/services from your website (even if it’s just an Amazon affiliate link rather than blocks of hours being bought) you need to display a full address
- GDPR requires a contact address for Privacy Policy unsubscribes etc.
- PECR also requires a contact address on any email marketing you do https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1551/direct-marketing-checklist.pdf
Office address alternatives
So yup – you need an address which you can use – and yeah, putting your home address all over your website probably isn’t smart (I don’t have mine on there!!). But there are a few ways you can get round this:
- Use an alternative mailing address – mbe.co.uk, your acountant, local co-working space, a client’s offices etc. (NB: If you are a limited co, you should already have a registered office which displays your company name externally too which you can use)
- Disguise your address – Flat 2, 123 Star St becomes Suite 2, The Rock Building, 123 Star St… Admittedly with Google Streetview, this isn’t ideal, but it’ll put off the passively curious.
- Only put the address on your privacy policy (main contact pages have just phone/email) – you will still have to include full address on your mailings and the privacy policy but people looking generally won’t find it.
Can I use a PO Box address
Yes, as long as the mail gets to you!
When you say you need to have your full postal address on mailings is that postal mailings or does this alao apply to email mailings? Sorry if that’s a daft question!
Post and email (not a daft question at all, as lots of people don’t comply with this!)