Changing your seller name on Apple’s App Store is not a straight-forward process. There are several caveats and ways to accomplish a name change. In the absence of any formal process, here are two methods for changing your seller name:

Seller Name Guidelines

First it is necessary to understand the guidelines for a seller name on the App Store. Your options for seller name depend on which kind of Apple developer account you initially setup. You can either create an account as an individual or a company/organization. As an individual the only option is your legal name. As a company or organization you are required to use your legal entity name. In order to register as a company/organization a D-U-N-S number is required which ensures your company or organization is legally registered.

If you wish to change your seller name, you must operate within those restrictions. Apple hasn’t always enforced these guidelines, but as the App Store has matured these policies have become required. Also, it doesn’t seem possible to convert an Apple developer account registered as an individual to an account registered as company/organization. If that is something you need, you should try App Transfer which is explained below.

Contact Apple

The easiest way to change your seller name is to contact Apple developer support. If there is a typo or inaccuracy in your seller name they should be willing to change it. Back before I released Card Share my individual account had a seller name for a fictitious entity that did not exist. Since it wasn’t my legal name, Apple support was willing to make the name change. I contacted support and within 24 hours my seller name was changed and updated in the App Store. The results from this method may vary, but I highly recommend direct communication with Apple as a first approach.

Here is the email to contact Apple about seller name changes and other iTunes related support:
[email protected]

New Account + App Transfer

Outside of contacting Apple, there is a more hands-on approach. Before WWDC in 2013, Apple announced the ability to transfer apps between developer accounts. By creating a new developer account with a new name and transferring your apps to that account, you can effectively change your seller name. There are a few restrictions on apps that can be transferred, for instance, you can’t transfer apps that use an iCloud or Passbook entitlement. If your app does qualify, the process is fairly easy and complete. All reviews, provisioning profiles, and App IDs will be transferred. After you initiate the process, the app will be frozen and should be completely transferred in about two days.

Here is a tutorial on App Transfer from Apple.

Unfortunately due to understandable restrictions, there is no definitive way to change your seller name. Either of the above options could work depending on your situation. Contacting Apple is always a great first step…just ask.