Tidapay - Prohibited and Restricted Businesses
Last updated: March 27, 2024 (view archived versions)
Prohibited Businesses
You must not use Tidapay’s services for the following activities.
Illegal products and services
- Illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs, and equipment designed for making or using drugs
- Fake references or ID-providing services
- Telecommunications manipulation equipment including jamming devices
- Any business or organization that a. engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property, or b. engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence toward any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic
- Any other products or services that are in violation of law in the jurisdictions where your business is located or targeted to
Products and services that infringe intellectual property rights
- Sales or distribution of music, movies, software, or any other licensed materials without appropriate authorization
- Counterfeit goods; illegally imported or exported products
- Unauthorized sale of brand name or designer products or services
- Any other products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, proprietary or privacy rights of any third party
Products and services that are unfair, predatory, or deceptive
- Pyramid schemes
- ‘Get rich quick’ schemes including: investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards to mislead consumers; schemes that claim to offer high rewards for very little effort or up front work; sites that promise fast and easy money; businesses that make outrageous claims, use deceptive testimonials, use high-pressure upselling, and/or use fake testimonials; (with or without a written contract) offering unrealistic incentives/rewards as an inducement to purchase products or services but do not respond to any queries after the purchase
- No value added services including sale or resale of a service without added benefit to the buyer and resale of government offerings without authorization or added value
- Sales of online traffic or engagement
- Negative response marketing and telemarketing
- Predatory mortgage consulting, lending, credit repair and counseling services
- Predatory investment opportunities with no or low money down
- Remote technical support; mugshot publication or pay-to-remove sites; essay mills; chain letters; door-to-door sales
- Any other businesses that Tidapay considers unfair, deceptive, or predatory towards consumers
Adult content and services
- Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery and other media) depicting nudity or explicit sexual acts
- Adult services including prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, sexual massages, and adult live chat features
- Adult video stores
- Gentleman's clubs, topless bars, and strip clubs
- Online dating services
Certain legal services
- Law firms collecting funds for purposes other than legal service fee payment
- Bankruptcy attorneys
- Bail bonds
Firearms, explosives and dangerous materials
- Guns, gunpowders, ammunitions, weapons, fireworks and other explosives
- Peptides, research chemicals, and other toxic, flammable and radioactive materials
Gambling
- Games of chance including gambling, internet gambling, sweepstakes and contests, fantasy sports leagues with a monetary or material prize
- Games of skill including video game and mobile game tournaments/competitions, card games, board games with a monetary or material prize
- To process payments for an entry/player fee that promises the entrant/player to win a prize in money or money's worth, or to payout winnings of such games
- Sports forecasting or odds making with a monetary or material prize
- Lotteries
- Bidding fee auctions
Marijuana
- Cannabis products
- Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses
Misuse of Tidapay products
- Use of Tidapay products with false, manipulated, inaccurate, or misleading information regarding your identity, business entity, the nature of business, and any other information requested by Tidapay (you must inform us immediately of any changes to your personal and business information)
- Use of Tidapay products to facilitate transactions on behalf of another undisclosed merchant or for products/services that were not disclosed in the merchant's Tidapay account application
- Use of Tidapay principally as a virtual terminal (e.g., submitting card transactions by manually inputting card information)
- Processing where there is no bona fide good or service sold, or donation accepted; card testing
- Evasion of card network chargeback monitoring programs
- Cross-border acquiring where the business address of the merchant is outside of the jurisdiction of the acquiring Tidapay entity unless permitted under the card network rules
- Sharing cardholder information with another merchant for payment cross-sell products or services
- Use of Tidapay intellectual property without prior written consent from Tidapay; use of the Tidapay name or logo including use of Tidapay trade or service marks inconsistent with the Tidapay Marks Usage Agreement, or in a manner that otherwise harms Tidapay or the Tidapay brand; any action that implies an untrue endorsement by or affiliation with Tidapay
The types of businesses listed are representative but not exhaustive.
Additional Jurisdiction-Specific Prohibitions
Hong Kong | Marketing lead generation services Unregistered charities |
India | Alcohol Charities Dating and matchmaking services Lobby groups, political organizations Mining and oil drilling Religious organizations Sex toys Soliciting donations or fund contributions |
Japan | Animals C2C services outside of Tidapay Connect Donations to individuals Fundraising for or financing businesses that are listed as prohibited/restricted above Health instruments Industrial waste disposal and garbage disposal devices; water purifiers International marriage brokerage businesses |
Malaysia | Sex toys |
Mexico | Adoption agencies Credit card and identity theft protection services Cross-border currency exchange services Debt collection agencies Direct marketing- travel Electronic cigarettes for card-not-present transactions Ephedrine Game console modification devices HCG weight loss Investment services Penny auctions Pharmaceuticals wholesale for card-not-present transactions Search engine optimization Telemedicine Tobacco for card-not-present transactions |
Singapore | Marketing lead generation services Sale of ads for any products or services deemed illegal in Singapore; sales of products that facilitate payments to any of these products or services Sex toys |
Thailand | Psychic services and fortune tellers Unregistered charities Vehicle sales Vitamins Historical artifacts Dating services Surrogacy services Online alcohol sales Timeshares Private investigators, protection services and detective agencies Soliciting donations or fund contributions |
United Arab Emirates | Historical artifacts, ivory products, prison-made products Sex toys |
United States | Extended warranties and subscriptions over one year Sex toys Unregistered charities |
Restricted Businesses
You must not use Tidapay’s services for the following activities, unless you have received our prior written approval. Restricted Business categories may be imposed through card network rules, requirements of financial partners, or due to compliance and legal obligations. If your business falls into one of the restricted categories, please contact us. We are here to help!
Regulated industries such as:
Financial products and services
- Investment and brokerage services
- Lending services
- Buy Now Pay Later services
- Crowdfunding
- Debt collection agencies
- Insurance services including medical benefit packages
- Money transmitters, currency exchange services and other money services businesses
- Neobanks / challenger banks
- Other financial institutions
Government services
- Government grants
- Embassy, foreign consulate, or other foreign governments
Cannabidiol (CBD)
- CBD products containing negligible amounts of THC
Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and telemedicine
- Online pharmacies
- Prescription-only products including card-not-present pharmaceuticals
- Prescription-only and regulated medical devices
- Telemedicine and telehealth services
Tobacco
- Tobacco products including e-cigarettes and e-liquid
Others
- Credit card and identity theft protection services
- Other age restricted goods or services
Businesses that may pose elevated financial risk such as:
Travel
- Travel reservation services and clubs
- Airlines and cruises
- Timeshare services
Non-fiat currency and stored value
- Virtual and cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and mining services (for crypto and NFT supportability and availability by region, please see this support doc)
- Prepaid phone cards, sim cards, and phone services
- Sale of stored value or credits maintained, accepted and issued by anyone other than the seller
- Sale of in-game currency or game items, unless the merchant is the operator of the virtual world
Business models that may be particularly prone to abuse by ‘bad actors’ such as:
Multi-level marketing
- Businesses where sellers get their revenue both from selling items and from signing up new sellers
- Network marketing and referral marketing programs
- Shipping and forwarding brokers
Shipping
- Shipping brokers
- Forwarding brokers
- Drop shipping
Others
- Charity sweepstakes and raffles for the explicit purpose of fundraising
The types of businesses listed are representative but not exhaustive.
Check out this blog to learn more about Tidapay's approach to prohibited businesses and why some businesses aren't allowed to use Tidapay's services.
Additional Product-Specific Prohibitions
Tidapay Issuing
You must not use Tidapay Issuing for the following activities.
Consumer use
Consumer use of Tidapay Issuing is when an Issuing card is created to fully or partially enable payments for personal, family or household use, including but not limited to:
- Providing a payment method loaded with/that accesses consumer funds
- Cards that disburse payroll or payouts
- Any other use that directly or indirectly enable payments using the consumer’s funds
International use
When you sign up for Tidapay Issuing, you share with Tidapay the location of your business, the physical address of your beneficial owners, and the jurisdiction in which your business is registered. Tidapay requires that the physical location of your business, its jurisdiction of registration, and the physical address of at least one of your beneficial owners all match. Furthermore, you must use Issuing cards primarily in the same jurisdiction
Lending use
You may not use Tidapay Issuing as a method to extend credit to your customers using your own funds, unless you have the appropriate licensing to do so and you have received express consent from Tidapay to use Issuing for that purpose.
Other abusive use
Any other abusive use of Tidapay Issuing, including but not limited to:
- Using Issuing cards to abuse free trial products at scale
- Using Issuing cards to buy in-demand items or services with the sole intent to sell them for profit. (e.g. retail scalping)
- Using Issuing cards for any other illegitimate purposes
Noncompliance:
As a user of Tidapay Issuing, you are required to comply with our compliance guidelines and may at times be asked by our compliance teams to update your marketing materials or aspects of your user experience. This helps us ensure you and Tidapay are continuing to comply with the Federal and State laws and regulations that govern the use of these financial products. Failure to comply within the requested timeframes may result in closure of your Tidapay account.
Inactivity:
If there is inactivity on all cards associated with an account for a period of 12 consecutive months, Tidapay will automatically close your Issuing account.
Integration Type:
If you plan to enable your customers to use Tidapay Issuing for purposes of creating cards for your customers’ employees or contractors, you must implement Tidapay Issuing on Connect. For example, if you are a platform that wants to enable your customers to create cards for their employees to use for business travel or marketing expenses, you must create a Connect Account for each of your customers. Please consult Tidapay if you have any questions regarding the correct integration type for your business.