Acceptable Use Policy | Amazon Pay Help (original) (raw)

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Updated February 28, 2025

This Acceptable Use Policy lists items and activities that we prohibit or restrict because they may be illegal or inappropriate in connection with the use of our services. It applies to any person or entity using our payment service and any transactions that we are asked to process. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this policy. In limited instances, specific merchants may operate in some of these categories (other than illegal items and activities) after receiving direct prior permission from us. We may modify this policy at any time.

If we believe or suspect that any transaction violates this policy or is otherwise illegal or unsuitable, we may take any corrective action that we deem appropriate, including blocking the transaction, holding funds associated with a prohibited transaction, suspending or restricting the use of our service, terminating the accounts of violators, or any other corrective action. Please use the Contact Us page to report any known or suspected violations of this policy.

Prohibited Items and Activities:

• Adult Entertainment — includes all pornography and sexually explicit materials (in all media types such as internet, phone, and printed materials), escort services and prostitution services.
• Crowd funding or any activity related to soliciting contributions, donations, investments or pre-orders to fund the development of a product or a project.
• Drugs, Drug Paraphernalia, and Dietary Supplements — includes illegal drugs and controlled substances, online or mail order pharmacies, prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be sold over the counter, importation of pharmaceuticals from foreign countries, prescription devices, and drug paraphernalia (except that growing equipment, such as lights or fertilizers, is not prohibited). Marijuana and Cannabidiol (CBD) products are also prohibited, regardless of whether legal under state law. Restrictions and their guidelines set forth on Amazon’s Restricted Products pages for Drugs & Drug Paraphernalia and Dietary Supplements also apply.
• Financial Intermediaries and Money Service Businesses — includes online auctions; internet malls, banks and credit unions, equities and securities, currency exchange and dealing; check cashing, cash advance and payday lending services; and escrow services, money transmitters, third party payment processors, and any service that receives, moves, or processes money on behalf of others.
• Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Weapons — includes guns, rifles, pistols, antique or collectible firearms, firearm parts, smoke grenades, fireworks, knives (other than kitchen knives, hunting knives, camping knives, and multitools that include knives), and all examples of prohibited listings set forth on Amazon’s Restricted Products page for Explosives, weapons, and related items.
• Gambling Businesses — includes online gambling (including poker), lotteries, bingo, games of chance such as raffles (other than in connection with fundraising by a pre-approved charitable organization) and sweepstakes, sports forecasting, betting, odds-making, bookmaking, slot machines, casinos, fortune telling or related forecasting, casino gaming chips and lottery tickets.
• Illegal, Inappropriate or Offensive Items or Activities — includes any good or service that violates local, state, or federal laws or regulations or encourages, promotes, or facilitates others to engage in illegal activity, or that would be generally offensive to others or are designed to or promote such offensive activities. Examples include stolen goods, materials that infringe (or encourage the infringement of) others’ intellectual property or proprietary rights (including pirated software and counterfeit goods) or right to privacy, human body parts, animals and animal byproducts (such as fur, feathers or bones), items that defame or slander others, hate literature, occult materials, and any other items or activities that in our judgment are illegal, inappropriate or offensive.
• Products or services identified by government agencies to have a high likelihood of being fraudulent — includes the following:
  • Credit Services and Collection Agencies — includes debt collection businesses, credit repair services, credit counseling services, and debt/mortgage relief, settlement or reduction services and bankruptcy attorneys;
  • Healthcare or medical discount plans or membership programs;
  • Marketing Businesses and Money Making ("Get Rich") Businesses — includes direct marketing, telemarketing, and multi-level marketing;
  • Miracle Cure Products — includes cures, remedies or enhancement products, and other health/nutritional products offering guaranteed results. Examples include: claim to cure incurable conditions, make extraordinary promises like “shrinks tumors”, promise a long list of benefits, including “treats rheumatism, arthritis, infections, prostate problems, ulcers, cancer, baldness, and more!”, are promoted with phrases like “scientific breakthrough,” “ancient remedy,” or “miraculous cure,” or scientific-sounding terms like “thermogenesis”.
  • Prize, Rebate, Sweepstakes, and Lottery Businesses — includes any business requiring payment or disclosure of financial information to get a prize or increase odds of winning, or any product or service where there is a prize; or any business model for products or services that are solely based on guaranteed “rebate”, “refund” associated with the sale of those products or services (especially those where the rebate or refund equals or exceeds the product or service purchase price or value).
  • Remote technical support or activity needing remote access to a buyer's computer or other device to initiate or complete a purchase or to provide the service being paid for.
• Products from Restricted Countries and Regions — Amazon’s worldwide current business policy is to prohibit the sale of products originating, produced, or processed in the following countries or regions: North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Cuba, Syria, Iran, Region of Crimea, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). This includes those products that partially contain ingredients, materials, or inputs from restricted countries and regions.
• Regulated Products, Services, and Activities — includes the following:
  • Alcohol sold unlawfully, including without proper licenses or adherence to age verification requirements or shipping rules and regulations, and alcohol sold by licensed or unlicensed manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers (i.e., only licensed retailers of alcohol operating in accordance with applicable laws are permitted to use our services);
  • cash or cash equivalent instruments — includes open loop stored value products (such as generally accepted gift cards), any gift card with a value greater than $2,000, gift cards available for use other than at the issuing merchant, cryptocurrency, and all examples of prohibited listings set forth on Amazon’s Restricted Products page for Currency, Coins, Cash Equivalents, and Gift Cards;
  • regulated investment services;
  • websites or online services directed to or that collect personal information from children under 13 years of age; and
  • all services or treatments provided by a person or organization holding itself out as a provider of health-care services, including, but not limited to, all health-care services for which government licensure is required in the provider’s jurisdiction or in the jurisdiction where services are being provided.
• Smoking/Tobacco Products — includes all examples of prohibited listings set forth on Amazon’s Restricted Products page for Tobacco & Tobacco-Related Products.

Items and Activities Requiring Prior Approval:

The items and activities below require prior approval before registration for our payment services:

• Donations and Charitable Solicitations — includes charities and non-profit organizations, charitable solicitations, commercial fundraisers (including commercial co-ventures), or any activity associated with the solicitation of donations.
• Travel and Time Share Services — includes travel agencies, tour operators, airlines and air carriers, lodging (hotels, motels, resorts and central reservations services), steamship and cruise lines, passenger railways, and timeshares.
• Marketplaces processing third party payments.

Please contact our sales team to request approval for using our payment services for the items and activities described above.

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