Prohibited Businesses in United Kindom – SHOPLINE Help Center

Some types of businesses and services are not eligible to use SHOPLINE Payments. To determine your eligibility, please review the list of prohibited business types for United Kingdom.

Prohibited for all transaction types

Products/services in any way that breaches or is intended to breach any applicable local, national or international laws, regulations or policies or causes SHOPLINE to breach any applicable laws, regulations or policies
Products/services in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect
Products/services for the purpose of harming or attempting to harm others, including minors (as such term is defined by the local legislation) in any way
Products/services for anything that is abusive or incites hate, violence or seductive, or does not comply with our content standards
Products/services in connection with any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional materials or any other form of spam
Products/services in connection with harmful programs like viruses or spywares or similar computer codes designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer softwares or hardwares
Products/services in any way that would evade any applicable taxes, levies or duties illegally or facilitate any form of tax evasion
Products/services in a manner that is likely to result in complaints, disputes, reversals, chargebacks or other liability (directly or indirectly) to SHOPLINE, other customers of SHOPLINE, third parties or yourself; or
Products/services for an unapproved purpose (that is, if you are approved to use our services for certain business purposes, then you must not use our services for personal purposes or any other unapproved business purposes)
Adult entertainment and related services, including pornography, escort services, prostitution services and/or any form of advertising of or for sexual services
Gambling services where it is illegal or offering gambling services without the required permits or licenses
Counterfeit or unauthorized goods, or products or services that infringe upon intellectual property or the proprietary rights of third parties
Arms and weapons manufacturing, sales and supplies
The offering of regulated financial services (directly or indirectly) without a valid license and/or registration
The sale and/or distribution of any products or services without the requisite permit or license in their place of operation (governmental or otherwise)
The sale and/or distribution of any products or services which promote or encourage discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age
Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme/Multi-level marketing/Telemarketing
The trade of restricted and/or endangered animal species and products derived from them
The sale, distribution and/or trade of archaeological and cultural relics
The sale of access to cyberlockers or remote digital file-sharing services
Any transactions made for no genuine commercial purpose, such as the pooling of funds between multiple parties or the cashing out of credit or stored value cards
Any other businesses or transactions outside of our risk appetite based on our internal policies, our banking partners’ policies or the policies of participants in our payment network
Individuals, entities, countries/regions or any other form of “persons” who are subject to international sanctions
Bearer shares or entities having bearer share company in their ownership chain
Banks that do not have a physical presence in any country (that is “shell banks”)
Other categories outside of our risk appetite in accordance with our internal policies, our banking partners’ policies or the policies of participants in our payment network

Restricted businesses (License required or is subject to local acquirer/payment channel requirements)

Financial services, including but not limited to:
- Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public, including crowdfunding
- Lending
- Buy now pay later services
- Financial leasing
- Money or value transfer services
- Money and currency changing
- Issuing and managing means of payment (e.g. credit and debit cards, cheques, traveler's checks, money orders and bankers' drafts, electronic money)
- Financial guarantees and commitments
- Carrying out a business that provides trading services in:
  - Money market instruments (checks, bills, certificates of deposit, derivatives etc.)
  - Foreign exchange
  - Exchange, interest rate and index instruments
  - Transferable securities
  - Commodity futures trading
  - Cryptocurrencies, crypto-assets, virtual currencies, virtual assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs)
  - Stablecoins and tokenized “real world assets” including commodities, real estate, currencies and financial instruments
Participation in securities issuance and the provision of financial services related to such issues
Individual and/or collective portfolio management
Safekeeping and administration of cash or liquid securities on behalf of other persons. Otherwise investing, administering or managing funds or money on behalf of any other persons. Underwriting and placement of life insurance and other investment related insurance
Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (“DNFBPs”) and companies collecting or handling funds on behalf of third parties, including and not limited to:
- Casinos, lotteries, online gambling or any action which involves a stake of an asset with a view to winning a prize/reward, and any tool which is intended or marketed to be used in the calculation or assessment of the prospect of placing successful bets or gambles
- Real estates agents
- Dealers in luxury goods or high value items, for example, precious metals and stones dealers; sale of loose precious metals, jewels, and stones such as gold, titanium, platinum, diamonds, etc.
- Lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals and accountants
- Trust and company service providers
- Other entities which conduct payouts or collecting funds on behalf of any other person or entity other than yourself (except for your affiliated entities)
Charities (including unregistered charities), non-government organizations, or not-for-profit organizations
Other activities including:
- Matchmaking or dating services
- Live streaming platforms and chatting services
- Marketplaces
- Facilitation, sale or distribution of chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals (including but not limited to prescription medication, sexual enhancement drugs and weight loss products)
- Oil and gas companies, as well as related activities
- Bidding fee auctions
- Political organizations
- Religious organizations
- Surveillance equipment, for example, spy cameras
- Alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarette products
- Marijuana, CBD Oil, and drug-related paraphernalia
- Importing or exporting of any ‘dual use goods’ as defined by any country that has jurisdiction over any SHOPLINE entities’ relevant export control classification lists
- Regulated medical devices and services, including fetal gender diagnosis
- Travel-Related Arrangement Services
Other high risk activities in accordance with our internal policies, our banking partners’ policies or the policies of participants in our payment network