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The document prohibits use of PayPal for a defined list of transaction types including controlled substances, stolen goods, hate-related content, obscene materials, firearms, and intellectual property infringement, as well as financial schemes including pyramid programs, bribery, and certain credit and debt services.
This analysis describes what PayPal's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision defines the outer boundary of permissible PayPal usage; transactions falling within these categories are not eligible for pre-approval and are categorically excluded from the platform, with violations triggering User Agreement enforcement.
Interpretive note: Multiple prohibited categories use the qualifier 'certain,' which the document does not define; the precise scope of these terms is not determinable from this document alone.
Under this clause, users who process payments for any listed prohibited category are in breach of both the AUP and the PayPal User Agreement. The list includes qualifiers such as 'certain' for some categories, meaning the precise scope of items like 'certain sexually oriented materials' or 'certain weapons' may not be fully determinable from this document alone.
How other platforms handle this
Use the services for commercial activities and/or promotions such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, pyramid schemes, advertising, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation.
You may not, however, distribute, copy, reproduce, display, republish, download, or transmit the Clip or any portion of the Clip for public or commercial use, including without limitation, using the Clip in any ad-supported blogs or websites
Please take steps to secure your access credentials such as login name and password, and do not share them with anyone.
Monitoring
PayPal has changed this document before.
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"You may not use the PayPal service for activities that: violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation. relate to transactions involving (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) cigarettes, (d) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (e) stolen goods including digital and virtual goods, (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime, (g) items that are considered obscene, (h) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (i) certain sexually oriented materials or services, (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.Excerpt from PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Prohibitions on narcotics, firearms, and stolen goods engage FinCEN AML reporting obligations and potentially the Controlled Substances Act. Hate-related and obscene content prohibitions engage FTC consumer protection authority. Copyright and trademark infringement prohibitions engage the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and USPTO-adjacent enforcement. The bribery and corruption prohibition engages the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for US-connected entities. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The use of qualified language ('certain controlled substances,' 'certain sexually oriented materials,' 'certain weapons') throughout the prohibited list creates interpretive ambiguity that compliance teams must resolve without additional document guidance. The document does not provide a reference list or definitional appendix for these qualified terms. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: Definitions of 'obscene,' 'sexually oriented,' and 'regulated weapons' vary by jurisdiction; merchants operating cross-border may face inconsistent application of these prohibitions depending on the applicable legal standard in their operating jurisdiction. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Merchants whose product catalogs include items adjacent to prohibited categories (e.g., legal firearms accessories, legal adult content, legal tobacco alternatives) should obtain documented clarification from PayPal regarding categorical scope before relying on PayPal for payment processing. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should conduct a product and service audit against the prohibited activities list, paying particular attention to the qualified-category items, and document the rationale for any determination that a product or service falls outside the prohibited scope.
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, and regulatory mapping built from archived source documents and historical version tracking.
This provision defines the outer boundary of permissible PayPal usage; transactions falling within these categories are not eligible for pre-approval and are categorically excluded from the platform, with violations triggering User Agreement enforcement.
Under this clause, users who process payments for any listed prohibited category are in breach of both the AUP and the PayPal User Agreement. The list includes qualifiers such as 'certain' for some categories, meaning the precise scope of items like 'certain sexually oriented materials' or 'certain weapons' may not be fully determinable from this document alone.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 287 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by PayPal.