Prohibited Goods and Services
Prohibited Products List
The following types of products are prohibited by the Card Brands and/or our banks/processing partners:
- Adult and Prohibited Content:
- Any adult entertainment or content that is sexual in nature, dating or escort services, matchmaking or mail-order spouse, content that is sexual in nature, content that promotes political, religious or social campaigning or extremism, the occult/supernatural, or content that promotes violence, hate, harassment, or abuse
- Alcohol, Tobacco or Marijuana Products
- The sale of alcohol or tobacco products or other smoking products (including e-cigarettes/smokeless cigarettes), herbal smoking blends and herbal incense, marijuana, marijuana products, marijuana services, and marijuana related businesses or drug paraphernalia of any kind
- Animals
- The sale of animals and wildlife, veterinary practices, or any animal product classified as endangered or protected
- Auction Sites
- Auction houses and penny auctions
- Automobile Sales, Rental or Importers
- Car and truck rental, sales or import
- Brand Damaging
- Products and/or services that, in their sole business judgment, Digital River determines could be damaging to Digital River’s brand.
- Chargebacks (excessive)
- Merchants in any Card Brand excessive chargeback or fraud program or merchants with chargeback or fraud rates over 1%
- Chain Letters
- Chain Letters
- Counterfeit, Copyright/Trademark Infringement
- Unauthorized distribution of licensed merchandise; copyright/trademark infringement; Replicas/counterfeit goods-designer name products; Fake references and other services that foster deception (e.g. fake IDs and government documentation)
- Data Sharing Services
- Cyberlockers (data/video file storage, transfer, or sharing service with remote access or playback capability)
- Debt Collection
- Debt repayment and collection agencies; Fines or penalty collections of any kind;
- Collection agencies or firms involved in recovering/collecting past due receivables; Debt/interest consolidation or 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); Credit counseling / repair / protection or identity theft services; debt elimination/ reduction services
- Debt repayment and collection agencies; Fines or penalty collections of any kind;
- Donations/Charities
- Donations or charities (without evidence of 501(c)(3) or equivalent status)
- Dual-Use Technology or “Unfinished Goods”
- “Dual-use” refers to technology that can be used for both peaceful and military aims. Examples are microprocessor chips, night vision, thermal imaging, and other technologies.
- Any item that may have civilian/military dual use.
- Financial Related Services
- Payment Facilitator / Third Party Processors / Aggregators / Payment Service companies (e.g. bill pay services, peer to peer payments, digital wallets, commissary accounts) ; Virtual currency (that can be monetized, resold, converted, traded into physical/digital goods & services outside the virtual world); Cash gifting; Payday loans, title loans, and unsecured loan/lines originating from non-FDIC insured banks; Commodity/Security trading (i.e. selling gold, silver, bonds, etc.); Credit/debt reduction/consulting services; FOREX trading software or service that guarantee a profit
- Fortune Tellers
- Services associated with pseudoscience (e.g. clairvoyance, horoscopes)
- Gambling
- Legal gambling or Game of Skill where participants receive cash or cash equivalents or prizes with/of material value: including but not limited to: Casinos, poker, bingo, slot machines, betting, lotteries, racing, fantasy sports
- Government
- Governmental services, such as embassies or consulates
- Hazardous Materials
- Hazardous materials (B2B), including but not limited to:- Hydrofluoric acid- Products containing cyanide- Prohibited ozone-depleting substances (ODS)
– Nitric acid
– Peptides, research chemicals
– Bacteria cultures or other products containing E-coli or Escherichia coli
- Hazardous materials (B2B), including but not limited to:- Hydrofluoric acid- Products containing cyanide- Prohibited ozone-depleting substances (ODS)
- Identity Theft Services
- Credit counseling / repair / protection or identity theft services
- Illegal
- Any illegal product or service
- Investment Programs/Seminars
- Investment programs/ business opportunities/seminars; Business investment opportunities operating as ‘get rich quick schemes’
- Financial Related Services
- E-wallet or e-money that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical and digital goods and services or otherwise exit the virtual world
- Financial service or money service business, including but not limited to:
- traveler checks
- money orders
- Foreign Exchange
- check cashing
- virtual currencies
- cash advances by non-financial institutions
- Provider or seller prepaid access/stored value
- Crowdfunding
- Insurance Products
- Insurance services requiring registration with supervisory authorities
- Marketing Products/Services
- Deceptive marketing tactics related to disclosure, false or inaccurate claims, before/after claims, endorsements, cancelation or refunds avoidance, prechecked opt-ins, poorly disclosed negative options, misappropriation of incentives, disproportionate rebates, sweepstakes; Business investment opportunities operating as ‘get rich quick schemes’; Direct Marketing and Infomercial (continuity/subscription, travel); Direct Marketing – Inbound teleservices, outbound telemarketing and travel-related arrangement services, Insurance services, catalog merchants, door-to-door sales; Discount Coupon or Online Sites; Matrix; Single Level, Multi-Level, MLMs
- Medical/Pseudo-Medical Products & Services
- Health practitioners, private medical practices, e-doctors, dental/medical services and facilities
- Medical, dental, ophthalmic and hospital equipment and supplies; Pharmaceuticals, prescription medicine and medical devices (including animal pharmaceuticals)
- Membership Clubs
- Discount buying clubs/home shopping clubs
- Nutraceuticals and Pseudo-Medical Products
- Dietary supplements that are not DSHEA, FDA, DEA compliant or pseudo pharmaceuticals (e.g., anti-aging pills, sexual stimulants, weight loss, diet, etc.); Nutraceuticals (products making health related claims such as herbal remedies or health drinks, etc.); Intravenous therapy (e.g. IV drip bar, vitamin infusions, hang over cures)
- Prepaid Phone Services
- Sale of Mobile Minutes; prepaid phone cards, prepaid phone services
- Prescription Drugs (including veterinary prescriptions)
- Prescription drugs or other controlled substances; Drugs, and tools specifically intended to produce drugs, paraphernalia, illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and / or other psychoactive products
- Pyramid Schemes or Multi-Level Marketing
- Business/investment opportunities operating as ‘get rich quick schemes’/Home Based Internet Businesses (e.g. real estate investment with no money down, work from home, home based internet business); Pyramid scheme, Snow ball (Germany) or ‘get rich quick’ products
- Real Estate/Timeshare/Mortgage
- Real estate flipping, foreclosure protection/guarantees, timeshare-related or timeshare resellers, mortgage/loan modification, Mortgage consulting services or credit/debt counseling
- Resellers
- Pawn shops or “Upsell” sub-merchants
- Sales Practices (unfair or deceptive)
- Deceptive marketing tactics related to disclosure, false or inaccurate claims, before/after claims, endorsements, cancellation or refunds avoidance, prechecked opt-ins, poorly disclosed negative options, misappropriation of incentives, disproportionate rebates, sweepstakes
- 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
- Certain social media businesses (e.g. click farms)
- The T&C do not contain clear disclosure to billing practices
- Contain cancellation obstacles or do not provide reminders prior to billing
- Pre-checked opt-in boxesNegative renewal option following a free or low-cost purchase (including pay for shipping only offers) where any of the following apply:
- Sub-Merchants operating as a front for other businesses
- Signal Blockers
- Decryption and descrambler products and services, devices designed to block, jam or interfere with cellular and personal communications; Jammers or devices that are designed to block, jam or interfere with cellular and personal communication devices/signals
- Ticket Brokers
- Theater/concerts, ticket agencies
- Travel
- Airlines or Cruise Lines; Limousines/taxi (multi or single vehicle); Travel agents/tour operators; Travel agents and tour operators
- Unauthorized Use
- Sale of copyrighted or trademarked material or products where the Brand is not the manufacturer, licensor, or authorized reseller
- Reselling a product that is not (or does not enhance) Brand’s primary product offering (e.g., reselling digital coins purchased on the open market is an unauthorized use, but a selling a 3rd party warranty to enhance a Brand’s primary product sold by Digital River is not an unauthorized use).
- Digital Rights Management (DRM) removal tools (region-free products and convertors that remove DRM)
- YouTube and other video streaming downloaders
- Mass-emailing/spamming products
- Spyware
- Video games with an ESRB rating of “AO” or unrated, or games prohibited for sale in specific locales
- Fake references and other services that foster deception (e.g. fake IDs and government documentation)
- Sale of social media activity
- Social media “click farms” (the sale of clicks/likes on social media sites)
- 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; Trade of weapons, ammunitions, military arms, explosive devices, and firearm parts