Skip to main content

Accepting Payments: Prohibited Products and Services

Updated over 3 weeks ago

Talo is required to review and verify the information and site content of anyone opening a Talo Payments account. We work with regulators, payment processors, and financial partners to create a transparent environment and prevent illegal or restricted activity from being conducted through Talo Payments.

Because of these requirements, some products and services cannot be offered.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the products and services you list are not included in the Prohibited Products and Services list. If prohibited items appear on your site, Talo may hide or remove them, suspend or close your Talo Payments account, hold or block funds, and/or refund customers when necessary.

Notes:

  • The information below applies to the United States. For other regions, check the prohibited product lists for our provider partners, PayArc and Pathward Bank.

  • Merchants using Google Pay must follow Google Pay’s prohibited/restricted merchant lists.

  • Merchants using Afterpay with Talo Payments must follow Afterpay’s terms.

  • Merchants using Affirm with Talo Payments must follow Affirm’s payment terms.

  • Merchants using PayPal with Talo Payments must follow PayPal’s acceptable use policy.

Prohibited products or services

Talo Payments may not be used for any of the following categories.

Adult

  • Adult goods

  • Pornographic content: books, magazines, audio, videos, sites, streaming content, or other formats of sexual material

  • Adult entertainment: strip clubs, topless bars, gentleman’s clubs, escort services, sexually oriented massage parlors, etc.

  • Sexually oriented dating services

Financial businesses

  • Binary options

  • Buy now, pay later / installment payment methods

  • Credit repair or credit protection

  • Identity theft protection

  • Debt repayment or collection agencies

  • E-wallet or e-money that can be monetized or converted

  • Money service businesses, including but not limited to:

    • Traveler checks

    • Money orders

    • Foreign exchange

    • Check cashing

    • Virtual currencies

    • Cash advances from non-financial institutions

  • Penalty or fine collections

  • Forwarding brokers

  • Independent or unlicensed financial advisors

    • Note: Educational financial content is allowed as long as it does not include financial advice and includes a clear disclaimer.

  • Insurance sales/services (life and non-life)

  • Money transfer and remittance businesses

  • Payday loans, unsecured loans, or loans from non–FDIC insured banks

  • Payroll, invoice, and business services

  • Provider/seller of prepaid access/stored value (including gift cards over $2,000)

  • Shell banks

Healthcare

  • Prescription-only or regulated medical devices

  • Dental supplies

  • Medical benefit packages

  • Pharmaceutical and prescription medicine

  • Supplements containing prescription ingredients, CBD, or THC

  • Nutraceuticals that are unsafe or make unsupported claims

  • Weight-loss or sexual performance nutraceuticals

Intellectual Property (IP)

  • Counterfeit products or replicas

  • Essay/paper mills used to submit work dishonestly

  • Products that bypass copyright protections or enable unauthorized use of copyrighted material

Marketing practices

  • “Get rich quick” schemes

  • Ransom/extortion-style business models

  • Practices designed to avoid chargeback monitoring

  • Data pass

  • Deceptive marketing: misleading claims, false endorsements, unclear cancellations or refunds, hidden opt-ins, etc.

  • Fake references or deceptive services

  • Inbound telemarketing tied to mail campaigns

  • Products or services promoting hate, violence, discrimination, terrorism, harassment, or abuse

  • Pyramid schemes, chain letters, financial scams

Not for profit

  • Unregistered charities

    • Important: By using Talo Payments for donations, you confirm that you manage all funds directly and do not forward them to third parties.

Crowdfunding

(Not supported)

Other products and services

  • Airlines

  • Endangered or protected wildlife products

  • Bidding fee or penny auctions

  • Certain social media businesses (click farms, fake followers/likes, etc.)

  • Cloud storage, VPN, file sharing, high-risk cyber lockers

  • Cruise lines

  • Direct marketing: inbound/outbound telemarketing, travel arrangement services, insurance services, catalog sales, door-to-door sales

  • Government services (embassies, consulates, etc.)

  • Hazardous materials (B2B and B2C), including:

    • Hydrofluoric acid

    • Cyanide products

    • Ozone-depleting substances

    • Nitric acid

    • Research chemicals, peptides

    • Bacterial cultures (e.g., E. coli)

    • Toxic, flammable, radioactive materials

  • Human body parts or bodily fluids (except hair/teeth)

  • Live-streaming platforms with in-app currency or donation features

  • Multi-level marketing

  • Pawn shops

  • Telemarketing resellers

  • Timeshares and timeshare maintenance

  • Veterinary practices

Regulated (non-financial) products and services

  • Alcohol as the main product (bars, alcohol stores, wineries, breweries)

  • Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses

  • Drugs, paraphernalia, or tools for producing drugs

    • Important: Talo Payments does not support CBD/THC sales.

  • Illegal products or services or support services for illegal activity

  • Gambling (legal or illegal) including casinos, poker, bingo, fantasy sports, racing, lotteries, and any U.S.-based gambling

  • Products used to create or grow controlled substances

  • Tobacco, e-cigarettes, and e-liquids

  • Fireworks, flammable materials, radioactive materials

  • Weapons, ammunition, explosives, firearm parts

Securities and trading

  • Cryptocurrency exchange

  • Cryptocurrency mining equipment

  • High-risk securities:

    • CFDs

    • Spread betting

    • ICOs

    • Forex options

    • Crypto options

  • Security brokers/investments of any kind

  • Trading or purchasing:

    • Securities

    • Currencies

    • Derivatives

    • Commodities

    • Shares

    • Options

    • Precious metals

    • Other financial instruments

Third-party payment processing

  • Aggregators such as:

    • Marketplaces

    • Platforms

    • Staged digital wallet operators

    • Payment facilitators or IPSPs

  • Payment services including:

    • Peer-to-peer payments

    • Bill pay

    • Commissary accounts

Technology

  • Decryption/descrambler devices

  • Products that block or interfere with cellular or personal communications

Did this answer your question?