The following types of products are prohibited by the Card Brands and/or our banks/processing partners (black list):
Military/weapons:
Any military items or defense articles regulated by International Traffic in Arm Regulations (ITAR) 22CFR121.1 The United States Munitions List. (US Sales only, excluding guns, ammunition, or gun parts)
Firearms, ammunition, and gun parts (Internet/MOTO)
Brand damaging/adult
Adult content/entertainment
Child pornography/bestiality
Website contains violent, sexual, hacking, cracking, intolerant, or otherwise offensive
material regarding race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age
Mail order spouse, international matchmaking
The occult
Auction sites (e.g., eBay) [bidding fee auctions, i.e. Penny Auctions]
Buyer clubs/Membership clubs
Lending/Money Related:
Cash gifting (“cash gifting clubs” is a pyramid scheme/scam.)
Credit counseling/repair/protection or identity theft services; debt elimination/ reduction services
Collection Agencies (loan payments cannot be transacted on Visa card; card payments cannot be accepted for dishonored checks or for debt deemed uncollectible by another)
Digital wallet or prepaid card.
Money Services Businesses (prepaid exceeding $2,000 on any day, money transmitters, wire transfer, quasi-cash, cash advances, currency exchange or dealer)
FOREX trading software or service that guarantee a profit
Virtual Currency (that can be monetized, resold, converted, traded into physical/digital goods & services outside virtual world)
Travel/Leisure:
Cruise lines/ Airlines including Charter Airlines
Vacation Clubs, Packages or Timeshares Resellers
Chain letters
Distressed property Sales and/or marketing; Real Estate Flipping
Donations or charities (without evidence of 501(c)(3) or equivalent status)
Extended warranty companies (warranty must be sold in connection with item)
Gambling sites or services that support gambling activities; Sports advice/forecasting; odds making
Get rich quick schemes (e.g. real estate investment with no money down; work from home)
Government grants
Online/cyber prohibited:
File sharing services/cyberlockers
Decryption/descrambler products including mod chips
Data pass (upselling/cross-selling and sharing cardholder data with third parties)
IT Services help desks
Webhosting companies
Illegal products/services including products/services supporting illegal activity
Products/services that promote hate, violence, harassment or abuse
Payment Facilitator/Third Party Processors/Aggregators/Payment Service companies) (e.g. bill pay
services, peer to peer payments, digital wallets, commissary accounts)
Sub-Merchants or Principals on MATCH
Sale of Mobile Minutes; prepaid phone cards, prepaid phone services
Cellphone jammers
Medical/Pseudo medical/drug related:
Online Pharmacies
Dietary supplements that are not DSHEA, FDA, DEA compliant or pseudo pharmaceuticals (e.g., anti-aging pills, sexual stimulants, weight loss, diet, etc.)
Marijuana dispensaries and related products or services
Prescription drugs or other controlled substances
Illicit Drugs or drug paraphernalia; substances designed to mimic illegal drugs
Tobacco products or other smoking products (including e-cigarettes/smokeless cigarettes); Herbal smoking blends and incense
Discount Medical, Dental, Insurance
Unauthorized use cases:
Unauthorized distribution of licensed merchandise; copyright/trademark infringement
Replicas/counterfeit goods-designer name products
Technical support services for products where certification is missing (e.g. unauthorized
Microsoft support service)
Sale of social media activity; Social media “click farms” (the sale of clicks/likes on social media sites)
Essay mills/paper mills
Fake references and other services that foster deception (e.g. fake IDs and government documentation)
Sub-Merchants that have ransom-like or extortion like basis for business model (e.g. mugshot removal)
Sales practices related:
Any product, service or activity that is deceptive, unfair, predatory or prohibited by one or more Card Brands (i.e. hidden disclosures; bogus claims & endorsements, refund/cancellation avoidance
Marketing involving “pay only for shipping’ and/or free trials
Lifetime subscriptions
Negative renewal option following a free or low-cost purchase (including pay for shipping only offers) where any of the following apply:
The T&C do not contain clear disclosure to billing practices
Contain cancellation obstacles
Do not provide reminders prior to billing
Pre-checked opt-in boxes
Sub-Merchants operating as a front for other businesses
Marketing schemes:
Direct Marketing and Infomercial (continuity/subscription, travel)
Discount Coupon or Online Sites
Matrix, Single Level, Multi-Level, MLMs, Pyramid scheme, Snow ball (Germany) or “get rich quick” products
Direct marketing Inbound/ All Outbound telemarketers
Rebate based businesses
“Upsell” Sub-Merchants
“How to” books/publications, e-books for any industry on unqualified list
Gray List
The following products require Deal Desk approval and may have limited processing (gray list):
Age Restricted Products or Services (including Alcoholic beverages) (Vantiv preapproval)
Bail Bonds Services or Bankruptcy lawyers (Vantiv preapproval)
Career Placement or advice (Vantiv preapproval)
Dating Services (Vantiv preapproval)
Delayed Delivery Merchants (Vantiv preapproval)
Online Personal Computer Tech Support (Vantiv preapproval)
Psychic services (Vantiv preapproval)
Supplements; Vitamin shops (review to ensure not nutraceutical)
Shipping or Forwarding Brokers (Vantiv preapproval)
Travel Agencies or Tour operators (Vantiv preapproval)
Crowd sourced fundraising (Vantiv preapproval)
Merchants in any Card Brand excessive chargeback or fraud program or merchants with
chargeback rates exceeding 1% (on FD prohibited list, must go through other processors)
Sales practices related:
Subscriptions with aggressive business model and/or deceptive marketing practices e.g. initial billing of $20 with a subsequent billing of $70
Negative response marketing techniques by any type of Sub-Merchant (i.e. purchaser is automatically charged if they don’t return the merchandise at the end of a free trial period)
Military/weapons:
Any item that may have civilian/military dual use
Foreign Embassy, Foreign Consulate, or other Foreign Government – (need to board as if in that country. i.e. Irish Embassy in US, the Embassy is considered on “Irish soil”)
Professional services (including, but not limited to: Advertising, consulting, dating, domain registration, educational, financial, legal, medical, lending, collections, tech support, travel, real estate. NOTE: software-as-a-service IS permitted)
Fulfillment centers (signing up a Fulfillment center as a merchant is on FD prohibited list, ensure correct relationship)
Live animals
Unauthorized use cases:
Illegal Software (need review to determine if product illegal) i.e.: Warez, DRM removal tools (region-free products and convertors that remove DRM), YouTube and other video stream downloaders, mass-emailing/spamming products, spyware
Video games with an ESRB rating of “AO” or unrated, or games prohibited for sale in specific locales
Publishing, newspapers – (Compliance to ensure not publishing “how to” for anything prohibited)
Health, Wellness and Fitness – (Compliance to ensure not nutraceutical)
Medical Devices – (Compliance to ensure sales practices-a lot of fraud- and not drug paraphernalia)