So it turns out, it's actually very hard to do this ;) I'm launching a new site which relies on people's real names in the next week or so, so this is somethin

So it turns out, it's actually very hard to do this ;) I'm launching a new site which relies on people's real names in the next week or so, so this is something I've done a bit of research on. Here's the bad news- Credit Cards don't check people's names. Really! You can buy something and use the name "Elvis Presley" on an online store, and no one will ever know. I've talked to Authorize.net, PaySimple, PayPal- No one checks name. The banks don't support it. Here's the good news- There are companies who can do it for you- RSA, Verisign, Equafax, and a half dozen others can do a background check on people for you, and as part of that they can verify their name. Get ready to pay, though, and it's not cheap. Quotes range from $500-2000/month, plus $1-$5 per lookup. These engines are normally used by debt collectors to come after you, if you're behind on a payment. They'll also need to verify your Company Bank Account, founding Documents, and have a personal guarantee, since it's sensitive information. There are ways to do it without going through that, though- The easiest way is to send a letter to their house. If you send "Certified Mail, Restricted Delivery", then it has to be signed for, and it has to be signed for by the person in question. Not only does this make it difficult for them to fake it, if someone else signs it for them, it's a Federal Crime! You could send out letters with a one-time code on each of them, and then have people use that to Verify the registration. I'd love to talk more about your project, I may be able to help you out, since I just went through the work of building it, using the Credit Companies ;) Email me. cdavis@darkenedsky.com