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Prohibited and Restricted Businesses​

warning

If you violate our terms of service or attempt to sell prohibited products/services, you risk getting your Zip account placed in review or suspended without notice.

List of prohibited products/services​

You must not use Zip's services for any illegal activities or for the businesses or product types listed below. The types of businesses listed here are representative of prohibited categories, but this is not an exhaustive list.

Any illegal products and services​

  • Illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs, (including kava)
  • Equipment and items intended to be used for making or using drugs
  • Fake references or ID-providing services
  • Telecommunications manipulation equipment including jamming devices
  • Businesses that engage in, encourage, promote or celebrate unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property
  • Businesses that engage in, encourage, promote or celebrate 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

Adult content and services​

  • Adult services, including prostitution, escorts, pay-per-view, sexual massages, fetish services, mail-order brides, and adult live chat features
  • Adult video stores
  • Gentleman's clubs, topless bars, and strip clubs
  • All online dating services, including matchmakers
  • Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery and other media) depicting nudity or explicit sexual acts
  • Any artificial-intelligence-generated content that meets the above criteria
  • Cyberlockers, regardless of if they host adult content

Debt relief companies​

  • Debt settlement, debt negotiation, and debt consolidation

Gambling​

  • Games of chance including gambling, internet gambling, casino games, sweepstakes and contests, and fantasy sports leagues with a monetary or material prize
  • Games of skill including video game and mobile game tournaments or competitions, darts, card games, and board games with a monetary or material prize
  • Payments of an entry or player fee that promises the entrant or player will win a prize of value
  • Sports forecasting or odds making with a monetary or material prize
  • Lotteries
  • Bidding fee auctions

Government services​

  • Offering products and services by or on behalf of embassies and consulates
  • Offering government services without authorization or value add
  • Offering government services with misleading claims
  • Disbursement of government economic support, such as grants

Identity services​

  • Identity theft protection services including monitoring and recovery

Products and services that infringe on intellectual property rights​

  • Sales or distribution of music, movies, software, or any other licensed materials without appropriate authorization
  • Counterfeit goods
  • Cyberlockers, regardless of if they host infringing content
  • 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
  • Bankruptcy attorneys
  • Bail bonds
  • Law firms collecting funds for purposes other than legal service fee payment

Lending and credit​

  • Loan repayments with credit cards
  • Credit monitoring, credit repair and counseling services

Marijuana​

  • Cannabis products
  • Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses
  • CBD products with THC levels that are greater than the applicable local jurisdiction’s legal limit, including CBD edibles
  • Hydroponic equipment and other cultivation or production equipment marketed for growing marijuana
  • Courses and information on cultivating marijuana

Nutraceuticals and pseudo pharmaceuticals​

  • Pseudo pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals focused on significant weight loss or sexual performance
  • Pseudo pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals making unsupportable or harmful claims

Non-fiat currency​

  • Cryptocurrency mining and staking
  • Initial coin offerings (ICOs)
  • Secondary NFT sales

Unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices​

  • Pyramid schemes
  • Multi-level marketing services offering commission or recruitment-based sales
  • “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; and sites that promise fast and easy money
  • Businesses that make outrageous claims, use deceptive testimonials, use high-pressure upselling, or use fake testimonials; (with or without a written contract)
  • Businesses offering unrealistic incentives or rewards as an inducement to purchase products or services
  • No value added services including the 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 option marketing, negative option membership clubs, and reduced price trials with unclear or hidden pricing
  • Telemarketing
  • Predatory mortgage consulting
  • Predatory investment opportunities with no or low money down
  • Suspicious remote technical support
  • Door-to-door sales
  • Document falsification services
  • Any other businesses that Zip considers unfair, deceptive, or predatory towards consumers

Weapons, firearms, explosives and dangerous materials​

  • Guns, gunpowders, ammunitions, fireworks and other explosives
  • Weapon components such as firing pins, magazines, clips, and firearm conversion kits and any 3D-printed weapons
  • Improperly marked replicas of modern firearms, including toys
  • Pepper spray and stun guns
  • Swords and katanas, unless they are meant as replicas or for the practice of martial arts
  • Machetes
  • Disguised knives and knives with opening mechanisms designed for quick deployment of a blade
  • Pesticides requiring application by a certified professional
  • Research chemicals
  • Toxic, flammable, combustible or radioactive materials
  • Unmailable goods