Launched in 2010, Stripe is a Dublin-based fintech company that provides expense cards and financial management software solutions to businesses of all sizes. In addition to the main office in Dublin, the company also has a branch in San Francisco.
By subscribing to one of their monthly plans, you can manage your company’s incoming and outgoing money transfers and order expense debit cards for your staff members.
That said, Stripe is not available for businesses that they classify as high-risk. So, let’s see what businesses are not allowed to use Stripe and the reasons behind these restrictions.
Sections
Businesses That Are Prohibited and Restricted to Use Stripe
Stripe is available to international businesses in 46 countries. To use their services, manage your expenses, and receive or send money transfers worldwide, you’ll have to prove that your company is low-risk, i.e. does not operate or sell goods or services deemed unsuitable for subscription by Stripe’s policies and regulations.
The company classifies prohibited businesses into the following categories:
Unauthorised Businesses
Illegal or unauthorised companies that sell or produce illicit products or services are not allowed to use Stripe. These include drugs, equipment for drug production, or illegal substances similar to drugs, such as kava plants, marijuana and THC-induced products, and other heavy and recreational drugs.
Regulated and Heavily Supervised Businesses
Stripe does not allow some heavily supervised businesses to use their tools and features, even if they are legal in the country where the company is registered.
For example, you can’t use Stripe if your business sells alcohol or is an online marketplace or pharmacy.
Suspicious Businesses
Shady or suspicious businesses that offer some of the following services are banned from using Stripe:
- Businesses that offer monthly free trial subscriptions without disclosing all the necessary information about their pricing plans
- Companies that have suspicious or shady bank statements and financial records from the past
- Companies that have had periods of economic and monetary unreliability or have taken part in illegal bargains
- Multi-level PR and marketing agencies
- Businesses that take part in pyramid schemes
- Companies that re-produce eBooks about becoming rich instantly
- Businesses with bad customer reviews
- Gambling businesses, such as virtual casinos, sports gambling agencies, etc.
Stripe assesses all subscribers individually and monitors their marketing campaigns, products and services, customer reviews, ratings, disputes, etc. If they conclude that a specific business continuously gets bad reviews from former customers or offers suspicious goods or services, they will either suspend the account temporarily or decide to close it permanently.
Monetary Unsafe Businesses
Stripe doesn’t allow financially (monetary) unsafe businesses that might cause a financial burden to use any of their software management solutions or expense cards.
If your company provides any of the following goods and services, you can’t subscribe to Stripe:
- Airline reservations and tickets
- Concert tickets
- Online campaigns for ordering tickets and other goods and services in advance
The company assesses each subscriber to determine whether there is monetary risk and monitors their shipment carriers, products, and project development stages.
Stripe also considers new business types that might be financially unsafe, such as crowdfunding, but allows them to use its services. However, if a crowdfunding business is about to receive a high percentage of cash, it has to contact Stripe’s customer service beforehand to ensure it allows transactions.
Businesses Susceptible to Fraud and Money Laundering
Certain businesses are often more susceptible to fraud, third-party breaches, and even money laundering. International and domestic-based financial state institutions monitor these types of companies in case of unlawful activity.
Stripe might not allow you to use their tools and features in case your company sells any of the following goods or services that might attract fraudulent activities:
- Gift cards
- Value accumulation
- Smartphones and other smart devices
- Drop/third-party shipping
If you offer any of the services and items mentioned above, you should contact customer support to determine whether you’re eligible for a Stripe subscription.
Businesses That Risk Stripe’s Reputation
Some businesses can potentially damage Stripe’s reputation, such as:
- Companies that resell pornographic materials, adult video chats, cyberlocking, etc.
- Sex toy retailers
- Escort services
- Strip clubs
- Businesses that resell AI-generated pornographic content
- Online dating apps
Stripe can make an exception and allow businesses that offer one of the abovementioned services and items if there’s a high demand on the market.
Additional Prohibited Businesses
Stripe also prohibits the following businesses from using its services:
- Illegal services that promote violence and discrimination based on disability, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
- False (illegal) document distributors, i.e. businesses that illegaly print residence permits, driving licences, passports, IDs, etc.
- Companies that offer consolidation, settlement, and mediation services for debt-settlement
- Fraudulent selling or distributing of goods and services while using names of governmental institutions, such as embassies and consulates
- IP infringement, i.e. illicit redistribution of protected materials, such as arts, literature, video content, etc.
- Legal aid, credit loaners, cryptocurrency (staking and mining), coin offerings, non-fungible token sales, etc.
- Local and worldwide cruise travels
- Distribution of hazardous chemcial items (pepper sprays, pesticides, etc.), weapons (guns, swords, ammunition, machetes, etc.)
What to Do if Stripe Bans Your Business Account
In case Stripe finds your business inadequate to use their services, they will temporarily ban or permanently delete your account. To avoid getting banned, make sure not to use Stripe for any of the unauthorised and illicit activities included in this list.
If your account is only temporarily deactivated, contact Stripe to get more information.
If you can prove that your business is not involved in any illicit activities, they will restore access to your account after reviewing your request.
However, if that’s not the case and they decide to permanently close your account, you’ll have to make sure all of your customers are informed. The best way to protect your business and avoid losing many customers is to add an additional payment option.
In case your account is permanently banned but you have enough evidence to prove that you have never provided illicit services or sold prohibited goods, consult a legal representative for advice on what to do next.
How to Avoid Getting Banned from Stripe
Stripe offers the following advice to avoid subscribers getting their accounts or expense cards banned or prohibited:
Clear and concise descriptions: Write clear and concise descriptive texts about your products and services, and keep your descriptions updated.
Available data: Make sure all of your data is available for monitoring and assessment by Stripe. The company can request to analyse any of your data to determine if your business is safe to use their services.
Bank data updates: Always keep your bank data updated on your Stripe account.
Concise website data: Make sure all of the information on your official website is up to date and in line with Stripe’s policies and regulations. All of the guidelines, terms, and policies should be available and disclosed publicly on your website.
High-risk security: You can connect your Stripe account to tools like ChargebackStop and StripeRadar to secure your business account from fraud, breach, and unapproved payments and withdrawals. You can add optional push notifications on your phone so Stripe can send you an alert in case there’s an unusual money transaction.
Additional verification methods: In addition to using the tools for fraud and breach protection, you can add additional authentication methods, such as 3D secure, money transfer, spending limits, and customer verification.
Chargeback tracking: Keeping track of all your customers chargebacks can help you stay away from penalties and temporary account bans from Stripe. You can access chargeback requests from your Stripe account and review them to make sure they’re legitimate. In some cases, a customer can falsely claim they did not receive what they purchased or that the delivery service was inadequate. Make sure to contact Stripe if you suspect a customer did not send an authentic and true chargeback request.
Policy compliance: Your business must comply with Stripe’s policies and guidelines and the regional laws and regulations.
Expense monitoring: Your financial data can be monitored by Stripe or audited by an external auditing agency. The best way to make sure there are no irregularities is by keeping track of all your expenses.
For more information on how to protect your business from getting banned by Stripe, go through Stripe’s selected videos and articles on how to use their services and stay protected from third-party breaches and fraud.
Go to this publicly available link to contact customer support and ask questions regarding businesses that are not allowed to use Stripe, or to resolve an issue. You can also talk to a Stripe representative via phone or real-time chat and access this option by logging into your account.