1.1        Restricted Merchant List

• All Restricted Card Brands Merchants and Merchant types
• Alcohol (internet/MOTO)
• Antique, Collectible, and Memorabilia Stores
• Antiques, No special Orders
• Auctions of any type (penny auctions are prohibited)
• Automated Referral Services
• Automobile Clubs
• Benefit Programs
• Books, Periodicals, and Newspapers (subscriptions)
• Bridal Accessories
• Cable and other pay TV programs
• Cablegrams and Telegrams
• Cameras and Photographic Supplies
• Carpet, Rugs, and Floor Coverings
• Charitable, Civic, Political, Religious, and other Organizations
• Coin Dealers, Stamp Dealers or those who sell precious metals and or precious stones
• Computer Maintenance/Repair Services
• Contractors, Decorating
• Contractors, General
• Contractors, Residential Building
• Contractors, Special Trade
• Contractors, Stonework and Masonry
• Correspondence Schools
• Dance Halls, Studios and Schools
• Detective Services
• Discount Medical or Dental plans including Discount Insurance
• Downloadable Software (not related to RapidCents’s core product) such as ringtones
• Educational Services not related to RapidCents’s core service
• Employment Agencies
• Equipment – Hospital, Medical, and Dental
• Financial Services such as Investment Consulting and Stock Broker
• Fireworks Stores
• Freight Forwarders
• Furniture – all types
• Gift Certificates
• Hair Restoration (non-medical)
• Health Insurance Providers
• Heating Equipment/Supplies
• Import/Export of any type
• Information Retrieval Services
• Insurance Sales/Underwriting/Premiums
• Internet Malls
• Jewelry repair stores
• Jewelry stores
• Long Distance and Teleservices
• Marketing Activities involving the use of affiliates/affiliate networks
• Marketplaces
• Merchants offering free gifts, incentives, or enticements
• Motion Picture and Video Tape Production/Distribution
• Motor Vehicle Supplies/Parts
• Petroleum and related products
• Postal Services
• Precious or semi-precious metal or stone sales
• Prepaid Legal Services
• Printing/Publishing Services
• Professional Services
• Protective Services
• Public Relations Services
• Real Estate Agents and Brokers
• Sanitation, Polishing and Specialty Cleaning Preparations
• Secretarial Schools
• Security Services
• Seminars, Educational
• Stereo Sales, Home and Auto
• Streaming and IPTV video services
• Telecommunication Equipment and Telephone Sales – beepers, pagers, paging equipment, cell phones
• Testing Labs
• Topless Bars/Clubs
• Trailer Rentals
• Used Car and Truck Dealers
• Vehicle Consulting – Rental or Leasing
• Video Rental Stores
• Water Purification Systems

1.2     Prohibited Merchant List

• Merchants or beneficial owner(s)/principal(s) on RapidCents Database
• Prohibited Card Brand merchant and merchant types (all)
• Prohibited By acquirer merchant and merchant types (all)
• Age verification services
• Airlines including Charter airlines
• Animal breeding
• Any merchant operating outside of Canada
• 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
• COVID-19 (Sale of any goods or services that purports to test, cure, treat, or prevent COVID-19)
• Credit card protection or ID theft protection
• Credit counseling, Credit Repair, or Restoration services
• 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 not approved by Acquirer
• Discount coupon merchants or Online sites
• Discount medical or dental plans including discount insurance
• Distressed property sales and/or Marketing
• Matériel de lutte contre la drogue
• E-cash
• E-cigarettes and “Vape” supplies and accessories
• Firearms including Ammunition or Weapons
• Gambling establishments and activities
• Gambling (Online) – including but not limited to:
• Contests
• Fantasy sports
• Internet gaming
• Lotteries
• Offering of prizes as an inducement to purchase goods or services
• Raffles
• Sweepstakes
• Custom Golf Clubs/Accessories (online only)
• Goods or services that represent a violation of any/all 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. Apetamin, 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
• Infomercial merchants
• In house financing (such as “buy here pay here”)
• 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
• Marijuana dispensaries and related products or services (medical or otherwise; excluding hemp)
• Marketing Activities involving “pay only for shipping” and/or “free trial” periods
• 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 not related to RapidCents’s core product
• 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
• Quasi-cash or Stored value
• Radical groups of ideology
• Real Estate Flipping
• 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)
• Religious associations
• 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)
• Sale of Mobile Minutes
• 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:
• Adult books/Video stores
• Audiotext
• Companion/Escort services, Dating services
• Images of non-consensual sexual behavior
• Modeling agencies
• Massage parlors
• Non-consensual sexual behavior
• Topless clubs/Bars
• Videotext
• Video to include Streaming and IPTV
• MCC’s 5967,7273 and 7841
• Sports forecasting/Odds making
• Staged digital wallets
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs
• 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 Upsell
• Telemarketing (outbound) and Telecom merchants including MCCs 4814, 4816, 5966
• Timeshare programs including resales and related marketing
• Tobacco sales including cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems) products such as e-cigarettes and “Vape” supplies and accessories (e.g. vape pens, cartridge refills, etc.) (Internet/MOTO)- Must use MCC 5993
• 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
• “Upsell” Merchants
• UseNet
• Warranty companies and Extended warranty companies