This page describes what the document states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability may vary by jurisdiction. Methodology
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Summary
This is PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy for US users, which defines the types of transactions and business activities that users may not conduct through PayPal, as well as activities that require PayPal's prior approval before use. The policy prohibits a specific list of transaction types including those involving narcotics, hate content, stolen goods, obscene items, certain weapons, pyramid schemes, bribery, and currency exchange businesses, and separately requires pre-approval for 18 business categories including cryptocurrency, gambling, adult content, telemedicine, prescription items, online dating, live streaming, alcohol, tobacco, and marketplace operations. Violations of this policy are treated as violations of the broader PayPal User Agreement, which can result in account-level enforcement actions.
Technical / Legal Breakdown
This document is PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for US users, governed as a component of the PayPal User Agreement, establishing the categories of transactions and activities that are prohibited or require pre-approval on the PayPal platform. The agreement states that users are 'independently responsible for complying with all applicable laws in all of your actions related to your use of PayPal's services' and that violation of the AUP 'constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement,' which may trigger enforcement under the User Agreement's account suspension and termination provisions. The document establishes two distinct restriction tiers: a categorical prohibition list covering narcotics, hate-promoting content, obscene materials, stolen goods, certain weapons, and financial crimes including bribery; and a pre-approval requirement list covering 18 specific business categories including cryptocurrency, gambling, telemedicine, adult content, multilevel marketing, and marketplace operations. The AUP engages the Bank Secrecy Act, FinCEN regulations governing money services businesses, FTC consumer protection standards, and state-level gambling and licensing frameworks; the applicability of specific provisions to individual users depends on jurisdiction, business type, and licensing status. Compliance teams operating in the financial services, healthcare, or digital content sectors should assess whether their transaction types fall within the pre-approval categories, as operating without pre-approval constitutes a policy violation with potential account-level consequences under the User Agreement.
Institutional Analysis
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This provision lists specific categories of transactions that PayPal users are prohibited from conducting through the platform, including transactions involving controlled substances, hate content, stolen goods, obscene materials, intellectual property infringement, certain weapons, and firearms. The list also prohibits pyramid schemes, bribery, currency exchange businesses, and sales of fraudulent products identified by government agencies.
This provision establishes that any violation of the AUP is automatically treated as a violation of the broader PayPal User Agreement, and that users bear independent legal compliance responsibility for all PayPal-related activities. This linkage means AUP violations trigger the User Agreement's enforcement mechanisms, which may include account restriction or termination.
This provision establishes that businesses operating in any of 18 enumerated categories must obtain PayPal's prior approval before accepting payments through the platform. The 18 categories include transportation, charities, high-value item dealers, payment facilitators, investments, gambling, cryptocurrency, prescription items, telemedicine, mature audience content, online dating, live streaming, file-sharing, alcohol, tobacco, medical items or services, multilevel marketing organizations, and marketplaces.
This provision prohibits using PayPal to collect payments on behalf of merchants in a payment processor or payment facilitator capacity without pre-approval, as the payment facilitator category is separately listed in the pre-approval table. This restriction affects embedded finance providers, white-label payment operators, and marketplace payment aggregators.
This provision requires PayPal pre-approval for any business accepting payments for cryptocurrency, virtual in-game currencies, or non-fungible tokens (NFTs), defined broadly as any digital representation of value that can be traded, transferred, or used for payment. The definition's breadth encompasses NFTs and virtual gaming assets beyond traditional cryptocurrency.
This provision requires PayPal pre-approval for businesses operating gambling, gaming, or prize-based activities including casino games, sports betting, fantasy sports, sweepstakes, and games of skill, subject to the condition that both the operator and customers are located exclusively in jurisdictions where such activities are lawfully permitted. Games of skill are explicitly included regardless of whether they are legally classified as gambling.
This provision establishes that PayPal users bear sole and independent legal compliance responsibility for all their actions in connection with PayPal services, without limitation as to jurisdiction, transaction type, or purpose. The obligation applies regardless of the purpose of the use.
This provision requires PayPal pre-approval for all medical device sales and all healthcare services where the provider holds itself out as a healthcare provider, including licensed healthcare services and medical tourism involving cross-border patient services. The category encompasses any health-care services requiring government licensure in either the provider's or the patient's jurisdiction.
This provision prohibits PayPal transactions involving the promotion of hate, violence, or discriminatory content, the financial exploitation of a crime, and payments made or received for bribery or corruption purposes. The bribery and corruption prohibition covers both the offering and receiving sides of corrupt payment arrangements.
This provision establishes that PayPal encourages users to report AUP violations, and provides a contact mechanism for submitting reports or questions about whether specific transactions may violate the policy. The reporting link directs to PayPal's customer contact page.
Added May 21, 2026CommonSeen across 173 platforms
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