Prohibited Businesses List

Update: 2024-03-20 13:24:23

The official version of Rainforest’s prohibited merchants listing is available at legal.rainforestay.com/prohibited. 

Drugs
  • Illegal Drugs and related Paraphernalia
  • Non-pharmaceutical synthetic Drugs
    o Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and/or other psychoactive products
  • Inhalants / Amyl Nitrite
  • Marijuana (Cannabis or CBD) or direct relationships to industry
  • Sales of goods requiring age verification (e.g. alcohol) not in-person
  • Tobacco Products (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.)
Extended Payments
  • Advanced Payments Greater Than 1 Year (any product or service)
  • Extended Warranty Companies
  • Lifetime Subscriptions (any product or service)
Financial Services
  • Cash Advances (other than regulated financial institutions), Cash Gifting, Check Cashing
  • Currency, Commodity Exchange, Foreign Exchange, Money Transfer Businesses
  • Credit Card Protection
  • Credit Repair Agencies
  • E-Cash, Digital cryptocurrency and/or cybercurrency
  • Informal Value Transfer System – A currency or value transmission system whereby money is paid to an agent who instructs a remote associate to pay the final recipient
  • Marketplace
  • Mortgage Reduction Services / Mortgage/ Loan Modification/ Consulting services
  • Payment Faciltiators (PayFac)
  • Payment processors
  • Predatory Lenders and Payday Loans
  • Prepaid Stored Value Card Companies
  • Programs on how to apply for low-interest credit cards
  • Quasi Cash
  • Wholesale currency, which includes discounted currencies or currency exchanges
  • Collection Agencies or firms involved in recovering/collecting past due receivables
  • Foreclosure Protection/Guarantees (including “how to” guides)
  • Investment Programs or Opportunities
  • Virtual currency/cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or credits that can be monetized, re-sold, or converted to physical or digital goods or services or otherwise exit the virtual world
Health & Beauty
  • Massage Parlors
  • Modeling Agencies
  • COVID-19 (Sale of any goods or services that purports to test, cure, treat, or prevent COVID-19) (excluding licensed/genuine healthcare providers)
  • Astrology/Tarot Card/Psychics
Marketing
  • “Get Rich Quick” Schemes
  • Hate-related material
  • Deceptive Marketing Practices
  • Merchants offering free gifts, prizes, sweepstakes, incentives, or enticements, the winning of a contest as an inducement to purchase a product or service
  • Multi-level / Affiliate Marketing Businesses
  • Negative renewal option business models
  • Inbound Telemarketing with an “Up-Sell” and “Up-Sell” Merchants
  • Negative Option Billers
  • Outbound Telemarketing
  • Ponzi Schemes
  • Sweepstakes
Relationships
  • Companion/Escort Services, Dating Services
  • Bride Catalog /Mail Order Spouse/International Match Making Services
  • Most Sexually Oriented or Pornographic Products and Services
Retail
  • Pawn Shops
  • Counterfeit Goods / Replicas
  • Weapons or Gun Dealers
  • Any Product/Service considered illegal
Technology
  • Cyberlocker and similar storage entities
  • Phone Unlocking Services
  • Prepaid Access, Phone Cards, Phone Services and Cell Phones
  • Resale of Social Media Activity
  • Social Media “Click Farms” (e.g. the sale of clicks/likes/reviews/endorsements)
  • Spyware
  • Jammers
  • Malware
Travel
  • Subscriptions to travel services or prepackaged trips
Other Services
  • Gambling
  • Age Verification CNP: Card-not-present sales where products require age verification
  • Brand or reputational damaging, potential or otherwise, activities including but not limited to Occult materials, non-consensual mutilation of a person or body part
  • Fake references and other services / products that foster deception (including fake IDs and government documents)
  • Immigration Services (a business entity that providers employment-based immigration services programs)
  • Merchants that have ransom-like or extortion-like basis for their business model
  • Paper Mills (AKA Essay or Term Paper Mill)
  • Penny Auctions