The following is taken directly from Stripe's Prohibited and Restricted Businesses page, which can be found here: https://stripe.com/en-ca/legal/restricted-businesses
💡 If your business falls under what Stripe considers a prohibited and/or restricted business, Oliver Pay may not be right for you. However, we do support many high-risk businesses with the help of other integrated payment plugins with Moneris (Canada), Fortis Pay (USA), and more.
Alternatively, non-integrated payment options for POS and Kiosk are available on our Basic Plan and above. For more information, check out Custom Payment Types.
Use of Stripe's services for any dealings, engagement, or sale of goods/services linked directly or indirectly with jurisdictions Stripe has deemed high risk, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk Regions, or persons Stripe has deemed high risk, such as those individuals or entities named to a restricted person or party list of the U.S., United Kingdom, European Union or United Nations, including the sanctions lists maintained by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control or the Denied Persons List or Entity List maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce, is prohibited. Additionally, it is prohibited to use Stripe's products and services to directly or indirectly export, reexport, sell, or supply accounting, trust and corporate formation, management consulting services, architecture services or engineering services to any person located in Russia. Further, it is prohibited to use Stripe’s products and services directly or indirectly related to any goods prohibited by law (e.g. luxury goods) from Russia.
Prohibited Businesses
You must not use Stripe’s services for the following activities.
Illegal products and services
Illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs, and equipment designed for making or using drugs
Fake references or ID-providing services
Telecommunications manipulation equipment including jamming devices
Any business or organization that a. engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property, or b. engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence toward any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic
Any other products or services that are in violation of law in the jurisdictions where your business is located or targeted to
Products and services that infringe intellectual property rights
Sales or distribution of music, movies, software, or any other licensed materials without appropriate authorization
Counterfeit goods; illegally imported or exported products
Unauthorized sale of brand name or designer products or services
Any other products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, proprietary or privacy rights of any third party
Products and services that are unfair, predatory, or deceptive
Pyramid schemes
‘Get rich quick’ schemes including: investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards to mislead consumers; schemes that claim to offer high rewards for very little effort or up front work; sites that promise fast and easy money; businesses that make outrageous claims, use deceptive testimonials, use high-pressure upselling, and/or use fake testimonials; (with or without a written contract) offering unrealistic incentives/rewards as an inducement to purchase products or services but do not respond to any queries after the purchase
No value added services including sale or resale of a service without added benefit to the buyer and resale of government offerings without authorization or added value
Sales of online traffic or engagement
Negative response marketing and telemarketing
Predatory mortgage consulting, lending, credit repair and counseling services
Predatory investment opportunities with no or low money down
Remote technical support; mugshot publication or pay-to-remove sites; essay mills; chain letters; door-to-door sales
Any other businesses that Stripe considers unfair, deceptive, or predatory towards consumers
Adult content and services
Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery and other media) depicting nudity or explicit sexual acts
Adult services including prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, sexual massages, and adult live chat features
Adult video stores
Gentleman's clubs, topless bars, and strip clubs
Online dating services
Certain legal services
Law firms collecting funds for purposes other than legal service fee payment
Bankruptcy attorneys
Bail bonds
Firearms, explosives and dangerous materials
Guns, gunpowders, ammunitions, weapons, fireworks and other explosives
Peptides, research chemicals, and other toxic, flammable and radioactive materials
Gambling
Games of chance including gambling, internet gambling, sweepstakes and contests, fantasy sports leagues with for a monetary or material prize
Sports forecasting or odds making with a monetary or material prize
Lotteries
Bidding fee auctions
Marijuana
Cannabis products
Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses
Misuse of Stripe products
Use of Stripe products with false, manipulated, inaccurate, or misleading information regarding your identity, business entity, the nature of business, and any other information requested by Stripe (you must inform us immediately of any changes to your personal and business information)
Use of Stripe products to facilitate transactions on behalf of another undisclosed merchant or for products/services that were not disclosed in the merchant's Stripe account application
Use of Stripe principally as a virtual terminal (e.g., submitting card transactions by manually inputting card information)
Processing where there is no bona fide good or service sold, or donation accepted; card testing
Evasion of card network chargeback monitoring programs
Cross-border acquiring where the business address of the merchant is outside of the jurisdiction of the acquiring Stripe entity unless permitted under the card network rules
Sharing cardholder information with another merchant for payment cross-sell products or services
Use of Stripe intellectual property without prior written consent from Stripe; use of the Stripe name or logo including use of Stripe trade or service marks inconsistent with the Stripe Marks Usage Agreement, or in a manner that otherwise harms Stripe or the Stripe brand; any action that implies an untrue endorsement by or affiliation with Stripe
The types of businesses listed are representative but not exhaustive.
Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Prohibitions
Hong Kong | Marketing lead generation services Unregistered charities |
India | Alcohol Charities Dating and matchmaking services Lobby groups, political organizations Mining and oil drilling Religious organizations Sex toys Soliciting donations or fund contributions |
Japan | Animals C2C services outside of Stripe Connect Donations to individuals Fundraising for or financing businesses that are listed as prohibited/restricted above Health instruments Industrial waste disposal and garbage disposal devices; water purifiers International marriage brokerage businesses |
Malaysia | Sex toys |
Mexico | Adoption agencies Credit card and identity theft protection services Cross-border currency exchange services Debt collection agencies Direct marketing- travel Electronic cigarettes for card-not-present transactions Ephedrine Game console modification devices HCG weight loss Investment services Penny auctions Pharmaceuticals wholesale for card-not-present transactions Search engine optimization Telemedicine Tobacco for card-not-present transactions |
Singapore | Marketing lead generation services Sale of ads for any products or services deemed illegal in Singapore; sales of products that facilitate payments to any of these products or services Sex toys |
Thailand | Psychic services and fortune tellers Unregistered charities Vehicle sales Vitamins Historical artifacts Dating services Surrogacy services Online alcohol sales Timeshares Private investigators, protection services and detective agencies |
United Arab Emirates | Historical artifacts, ivory products, prison-made products Sex toys |
United States | Extended warranties and subscriptions over one year Sex toys Unregistered charities |
Restricted Businesses
You must not use Stripe’s services for the following activities, unless you have received our prior written approval. Restricted Business categories may be imposed through card network rules, requirements of financial partners, or due to compliance and legal obligations. If your business falls into one of the restricted categories, please contact us. We are here to help!
Regulated industries such as:
Financial products and services
Investment and brokerage services
Lending services
Buy Now Pay Later services
Crowdfunding
Debt collection agencies
Insurance services including medical benefit packages
Money transmitters, currency exchange services and other money services businesses
Neobanks / challenger banks
Other financial institutions
Government services
Government grants
Embassy, foreign consulate, or other foreign governments
Cannabidiol (CBD)
CBD products containing negligible amounts of THC
Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and telemedicine
Online pharmacies
Prescription-only products including card-not-present pharmaceuticals
Prescription-only and regulated medical devices
Telemedicine and telehealth services
Tobacco
Tobacco products including e-cigarettes and e-liquid
Others
Credit card and identity theft protection services
Other age restricted goods or services
Businesses that may pose elevated financial risk such as:
Travel
Travel reservation services and clubs
Airlines and cruises
Timeshare services
Non-fiat currency and stored value
Virtual and cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and mining services (for crypto and NFT supportability and availability by region, please see this support doc)
Prepaid phone cards, sim cards, and phone services
Sale of stored value or credits maintained, accepted and issued by anyone other than the seller
Sale of in-game currency or game items, unless the merchant is the operator of the virtual world
Business models that may be particularly prone to abuse by ‘bad actors’ such as:
Multi-level marketing
Businesses where sellers get their revenue both from selling items and from signing up new sellers
Network marketing and referral marketing programs
Shipping and forwarding brokers
Shipping
Shipping brokers
Forwarding brokers
Drop shipping
Others
Charity sweepstakes and raffles for the explicit purpose of fundraising
The types of businesses listed are representative but not exhaustive.
Check out this blog to learn more about Stripe's approach to prohibited businesses and why some businesses aren't allowed to use Stripe's services.
Additional Product-Specific Prohibitions
Stripe Issuing
You must not use Stripe Issuing for the following activities.
Consumer use
Consumer use of Stripe Issuing is when an Issuing card is created to fully or partially enable payments for personal, family or household use, including but not limited to:
Providing a payment method loaded with/that accesses consumer funds
Cards that disburse payroll or payouts
Any other use that directly or indirectly enable payments using the consumer’s funds
International use
When you sign up for Stripe Issuing, you share with Stripe the location of your business, the physical address of your beneficial owners, and the jurisdiction in which your business is registered. Stripe requires that the physical location of your business, its jurisdiction of registration, and the physical address of at least one of your beneficial owners all match. Furthermore, you must use Issuing cards primarily in the same jurisdiction
Lending use
You may not use Stripe Issuing as a method to extend credit to your customers using your own funds, unless you have the appropriate licensing to do so and you have received express consent from Stripe to use Issuing for that purpose.
Other abusive use
Any other abusive use of Stripe Issuing, including but not limited to:
Using Issuing cards to abuse free trial products at scale
Using Issuing cards to buy in-demand items or services with the sole intent to sell them for profit. (e.g. retail scalping)
Using Issuing cards for any other illegitimate purposes
Noncompliance:
As a user of Stripe Issuing, you are required to comply with our compliance guidelines and may at times be asked by our compliance teams to update your marketing materials or aspects of your user experience. This helps us ensure you and Stripe are continuing to comply with the Federal and State laws and regulations that govern the use of these financial products. Failure to comply within the requested timeframes may result in closure of your Stripe account.
Inactivity:
If there is inactivity on all cards associated with an account for a period of 12 consecutive months, Stripe will automatically close your Issuing account.
Integration Type:
If you plan to enable your customers to use Stripe Issuing for purposes of creating cards for your customers’ employees or contractors, you must implement Stripe Issuing on Connect. For example, if you are a platform that wants to enable your customers to create cards for their employees to use for business travel or marketing expenses, you must create a Connect Account for each of your customers. Please consult Stripe if you have any questions regarding the correct integration type for your business.