Policy surface · stripe.com/legal/restricted-businesses
Stripe's prohibited businesses, and who gets caught by mistake
Stripe's policy splits into two lists that behave completely differently. Restricted categories are supportable once you meet their conditions. Prohibited categories are not supportable at all. There is no configuration, documentation or account tier that changes the answer, and accounts matched to one are generally closed rather than reviewed.
The reason these pages exist is the false-positive rate. Screening matches on language, not on your catalogue, so a glassware brand, a licensed range, a tutoring service and an identity-verification vendor all get classified into categories they are not in. Each page below covers why the category is refused, and which lawful businesses read as though they belong to it.
Illegal drugs & paraphernalia
Can you sell kratom, psychedelics or smoking accessories on Stripe?
ProhibitedCounterfeit or stolen goods
Why did Stripe close my account for counterfeit or replica goods?
ProhibitedWeapons & explosives
Does Stripe allow firearms, ammunition or fireworks sales?
ProhibitedAdult content & services
Can you use Stripe for adult content or services?
ProhibitedGambling (unlicensed)
Does Stripe support gambling, casino or sports betting businesses?
ProhibitedDeceptive schemes
Why did Stripe flag my business as a pyramid scheme or get-rich-quick offer?
ProhibitedDocument falsification
Why did Stripe close my account over IDs, diplomas or academic services?
What a prohibited-category closure looks like
There is usually no warning stage. The first signal is checkout failing or an email
announcing the closure, and the account's requirements.disabled_reason
will typically read rejected.terms_of_service . Remaining funds are held 90–120 days against chargeback exposure and then paid out.
If the code on your account says something else, the cause is something else. Start from the code rather than from the assumption.
The screen reads more than your product pages
Everything publicly reachable is treated as your site: subdomains, staging environments that were never locked down, PDFs, blog archives, and the destinations of outbound affiliate links. Separately from the categories, Stripe's reviews also weigh the marketing language patterns that correlate with dispute volume: outcome guarantees, medical claims, pressure tactics and trial-to-subscription mechanics. Those rarely close an account on their own, but they weigh into every review that does happen.
See your site the way the screen sees it
Opsidion fetches the website on your Stripe business profile and screens it against every prohibited and restricted category, quoting each matched term in context so a false positive is obvious rather than mysterious, alongside your dispute rate, decline codes and verification state. $29, in about a minute.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a prohibited and a restricted business on Stripe?
A restricted category is supportable once specific conditions are met: CBD under the approved programme, supplements without disease claims, trials with the required disclosures. A prohibited category is not supportable at all: there is no configuration, documentation or account tier that makes it work, and accounts matched to one are usually closed without a review stage.
Can I appeal a prohibited-category closure?
Only where the match itself was wrong. If your business genuinely is in a prohibited category, an appeal has nothing to work with. Misclassification is common, because screening reads language rather than products, and there an appeal succeeds reasonably often, but only after the site has been corrected. Reviewers act on what they can see, not on what you undertake to change.
What happens to my balance when Stripe closes the account?
The remaining balance is normally held 90–120 days to cover chargeback exposure on charges already processed, then paid out to the bank account on file. Keep that account open and in the legal entity's name; a closed or mismatched bank account is the usual reason a payout fails at the end of the hold.
Why was my business flagged for a category I'm not in?
Stripe screens the website on your business profile for category vocabulary, and the match is made on language rather than on your actual catalogue. Anything publicly reachable counts: subdomains, unlocked staging environments, PDFs, blog archives and outbound affiliate links. A single legacy page can close an account that has traded cleanly for years.
Last reviewed