Prohibited Merchant and Products List
• Merchants or owner(s)/principal(s) on MATCH
• Prohibited Card Brand merchant and merchant types (all)
• Prohibited Acquiring Bank or processor merchant and merchant types (all)
• Age verification services
• Airlines including Charter airlines
• Animal breeding
• Any merchant operating outside the United States
• Bidding fee auctions including penny auctions
• Brand or reputational damaging, potential or otherwise, activities or products including Bestiality, Child pornography, Escort services, Mail order brides, Occult materials, non-consensual mutilation of a person or body part
• Buyer clubs/Membership clubs
• Check cashing and Payment facilitating services
• Collection agencies
• Commodity trading or Security trading
• Computer modification chips
• Credit card protection or ID theft protection
• Credit counseling, Credit Repair, or Restoration services
• Crowd sourced fundraising for the purchase of stock or equity, a promise made to deliver a good or service in the future, or there is no consideration in return for the payment or donation
• Cruise lines
• Currency exchanges or dealers
• Cyberlocker merchants (also known as file-hosting services, cloud-based storage services and online file-storage), including
• Archival file storage (for remote access)
• File transfer (facilitation of transfer or storage of large files)
• File-sharing (distribution of files via download or “streaming”)
• Debt elimination, Debt reduction or Debt consulting services (where the offer is based on a concept of debt forgiveness); including Mortgages
• Digital wallets or Prepaid companies
• Discount coupon merchants or Online sites
• Discount medical or dental plans including discount insurance
• Distressed property sales and/or Marketing
• Drug paraphernalia
• E-cash
• E-cigarettes and “Vape” supplies and accessories (Internet / MOTO)
• Firearms including Ammunition or Weapons (Internet / MOTO)
• Gambling establishments and activities
• Gambling (Online) – including but not limited to:
• Lotteries
• Internet gaming
• Contests
• Fantasy sports
• Raffles
• Sweepstakes
• Offering of prizes as an inducement to purchase goods or services
• Golf Clubs/Accessories (online only)
• Goods or services that represent a violation of any law, statute or regulation, or any merchant engaged in any illegal activity
• HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc Decryption Devices
• High interest rate non-bank consumer lending including payday lending and title loans
• Illegal products and services
• Amyl Nitrite inhalants
• Any service providing peripheral support of illegal activities (i.e. drugs)
• Bath salts (containing mephedrone, methylone or MDPV)
• Bootleg Recordings
• Counterfeit, Imitation or Knock-off items
• Drugs and paraphernalia
• Drugs on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act
• Embargoed Goods, Prohibited Countries
• Psilocybin Mushrooms and Spices
• Psychoactive Herbal Products
• Sale of prescription drugs
• Stolen Property
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and/or other psychoactive products (e.g. K2, salvia divinorum, nitrite inhalers, bath salts, synthetic cannabis, kratom, herbal smoking blends & herbal incense) – Non-pharmaceutical synthetic drugs
• Substances made to closely resemble or look like illegal substances
• Substances marketed as producing effects similar to effects of illegal substances
• Unauthorized Copies
• In house financing (such as “buy here pay here”)
• Inbound Telemarketing with an Up-Sell
• Infomercial merchants
• Investment or “Get Rich Quick” merchants, Businesses, Programs or Opportunities (e.g. real estate investments with no money down, work from home, government grants, etc.)
• Loan payments transacted on a Visa branded credit card
• Marketing Activities involving “pay only for shipping” and/or “free trial” periods
• Marijuana dispensaries and related products or services (medical or otherwise; excluding hemp)
• Merchants accepting a card as payment for a dishonored check or for an item deemed uncollectible by another merchant
• Money transfer businesses, Wire transfers, Money orders, Transmitters, and Check cashing including merchants required to be registered as Money Service Business
• Multi-level marketing businesses
• Negative option, renewal, or continuity subscription practices (any merchant)
• Pawn shops
• Payday Lenders
• Pharmacies (Internet/MOTO) – where fulfillment of medication is performed with an Internet or telephone consultation, absent a physical visit with a physician. Re-importation of pharmaceuticals from foreign countries
• Pharmacy Referral Sites (Internet/MOTO)
• Prepaid phone cards/phone services, and Cell phones
• Prize, Sweepstakes, Contests or Special incentives offered as an inducement to purchase a product and/or service (any merchant)
• Products, services or activities that are deceptive, unfair, predatory or prohibited by one or more Card Brands
• Products that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, including counterfeit goods or any product or service that infringes on the copyright, trademark or trade secrets of any third party (any merchant)
• Products or services with unreasonable claims or guarantees
• Programs on how to apply for low interest credit cards
• Pseudo-pharmaceuticals (nutraceuticals and supplements) – including but not limited to:
• anti-aging pills
• sex nutrients
• diet pills
• Psychic services - Astrology/Tarot cards/Fortune telling/Spells/Sorcery
• Psychoactive substances
• Radical groups of ideology
• Quasi-cash or Stored value
• Real Estate Flipping
• Religious associations
• Rebate-based Businesses or any merchant business model for products/services that are solely based on guaranteed “rebate”, “refund” or “prize” associated with the sale of those products/services (especially those where the rebate or refund equals or exceeds the product/service purchase price or value)
• Sale of Mobile Minutes
• Sales for payment that resulted from another commercial entity providing goods or services to the cardholder, including those businesses that may otherwise qualify themselves as a Payment Service or Payment Facilitator (any merchant)
• Scrip-dispensing terminals accepting credit cards (any merchant)
• Selling or sales of Social media activity
• Sexually Oriented or Pornographic Products and Services (all media types: internet, telephone, printed material, etc.) – including but not limited to:
• Audiotext
• Videotext
• Adult books/Video stores
• Images of non-consensual sexual behavior
• Modeling agencies
• Massage parlors
• Non-consensual sexual behavior
• Topless clubs/Bars
• Companion/Escort services, Dating services
• MCC’s 5967,7273 and 7841
• Sports forecasting/Odds making
• Staged digital wallets
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs
• Tobacco sales including e-cigarettes (Internet/MOTO)
• Teeth whitening (Internet/MOTO)
• Telemarketing (inbound):
• Continuity or subscription merchants including MCC 5968 & 5969
• Travel related arrangement services including MCC 5962
• Videotext services and MCC 5967
• With an Up-sell
• Telemarketing (outbound) and Telecom merchants including MCCs 4814, 4816, 5966
• Timeshare programs including resales and related marketing
• Transacting virtual currency/cryptocurrency or credits that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical or digital goods or services or otherwise exit the virtual world
• Travel agencies or tour operators servicing Sanctioned locations (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan Syria)
• Travel clubs
• Tribal entities
• Unlicensed replicas
• “Up-Sell” Merchants
• UseNet
• Warranty companies and Extended warranty companies
Prohibited Products
• CBD
• Drug paraphernalia
• E-cash
• E-cigarettes and “Vape” supplies and accessories (Internet / MOTO)
• Firearms including Ammunition or Weapons (Internet / MOTO)
• Golf Clubs/Accessories (online only)
• Goods or services that represent a violation of any law, statute or regulation, or any merchant engaged in any illegal activity
• Illegal products:
• Amyl Nitrite inhalants
• Any service providing peripheral support of illegal activities (i.e. drugs)
• Bath salts (containing mephedrone, methylone or MDPV)
• Bootleg Recordings
• Counterfeit, Imitation or Knock-off items
• Drugs and paraphernalia
• Drugs on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act
• Embargoed Goods, Prohibited Countries
• Psilocybin Mushrooms and Spices
• Psychoactive Herbal Products
• Sale of prescription drugs
• Stolen Property
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and/or other psychoactive products (e.g. K2, salvia divinorum, nitrite inhalers, bath salts, synthetic cannabis, kratom, herbal smoking blends & herbal incense) – Non-pharmaceutical synthetic drugs
• Substances made to closely resemble or look like illegal substances
• Substances marketed as producing effects similar to effects of illegal substances
• Unauthorized Copies
• Products that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, including counterfeit goods or any product or service that infringes on the copyright, trademark or trade secrets of any third party (any merchant)
• Products or services with unreasonable claims or guarantees
• Pseudo-pharmaceuticals (nutraceuticals and supplements) – including but not limited to:
• Anti-aging pills
• Sex nutrients
• Diet pills
• Psychic services - Astrology/Tarot cards/Fortune telling/Spells/Sorcery
• Psychoactive substances
• Quasi-cash or Stored value
• Staged digital wallets
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs
• Teeth whitening products (Internet/MOTO)
• Transacting virtual currency/cryptocurrency or credits that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical or digital goods or services or otherwise exit the virtual world
• Prepaid phone cards, and Cell phones
• Products that are deceptive, unfair, predatory or prohibited by one or more Card Brands
• Sexually Oriented or Pornographic Products (all media types: internet, telephone, printed material, etc.) – including but not limited to:
• Audiotext
• Videotext
• Adult books/Video stores
• Images of non-consensual sexual behavior