Unqualified/Unacceptable Business

1. Unqualified/Unacceptable Business

The following industries are considered unacceptable merchant processing candidates due to Card Brand prohibition; illegal or likely to be deemed illegal activity; high fraud potential; high potential for excessive chargebacks; or excessive risk exposure. These merchants should not be solicited. Waivers may be considered for some industries under certain circumstances (see note at the bottom of this Unqualified/Unacceptable Business section) subject to approval by the appropriate authorised individuals/level.

Industries that must not be solicited and for which no waiver is available:

• All sexually oriented or pornographic merchants:
• Adult telephone sex adult conversations or Internet
• Adult websites and content
• Adult Misc. entertainment (not elsewhere classified)
• Adult book stores, video stores, toys
• Any illegal activity (e.g. child pornography, bestiality etc)
• Any products on the internet containing graphic or nude content
• Companion/Escort Services
• Dating services aimed at “sex contact” or similar, or with sexually explicit pictures
• Fetish products
• Gentleman’s clubs, topless bars/clubs
• Massage parlors
• Memberships, clubs, subscriptions
• Modeling agencies (adult)
• Prostitution
• Video (web-based sexually oriented video)
• Any illegal products/services or any service providing peripheral support of illegal activities (e.g. drugs)
• Decryption and descrambler products including mod chips
• Digital Game Reseller Services
• Fake references and other services / products that foster deception (including fake IDs and government documents)
• Jammers or devices that are designed to block, jam or interfere with cellular and personal communication devices/signals
• Illegal lotteries and/or illegal gambling, including internet gambling (any 7995 SIC)
• Illegal medical marijuana or affiliated services (e.g. “How To” instructions on growing etc)
• Illegal marijuana, marijuana products, marijuana services and marijuana related businesses
• Merchants engaged in activities prohibited by MasterCard and Visa
• Merchants that have ransom-like or extortion-like basis for their business model (e.g. mugshot removal)

Credit Policy Manual

Confidential and proprietary. No reproduction without written consent of Fiserv

• Merchants physically located outside of Australia other than where permitted by MasterCard and Visa rules (e.g. under the International Airline Program)
• Merchants, principals or related entities previously identified by any card Brand for deceptive practices or any violation of Card Brand rules
• Merchants that use tactics to evade Card Brand excessive chargeback or fraud monitoring programs
• Merchants up-selling or cross selling products of other merchants and then sharing the cardholder data with the third party or receiving cardholder data from third parties
• Merchants offering a negative renewal option following a free or low cost purchase or any other deceptive or questionable billing practice (e.g. hidden disclosures, bogus claims and endorsements, pre-checked opt-in boxes, refund/cancellation avoidance)
• Products/services that promote hate, violence, harassment or abuse
• Replica or counterfeit products that infringe on copyright or similar
• Sale of Government-issued Licences
• Substances designed to mimic illegal drugs and/or other psychoactive products (e.g., K2, salvia divinorum, nitrite inhalers, bath salts, synthetic cannabis, kratom, herbal smoking blends & herbal incense)

Industries where waivers may be considered, subject to the approval by the appropriate authorized individuals/level as specified at the end of this section:

• Advance payments greater than 1 year, including lifetime subscriptions (any product or service)
• Any broker for or lender of small value loans over a short payment period, attracting very high interest rates (including “Pay Day” loans) *
• Audio/Video text
• Airlines/Cruise lines
• Cash advances (other than financial institutions)
• Cash gifting* (ponzi scheme similar to chain letters where consumers are encouraged to “gift” a payment to another party and then solicit others to gift funds to them)
• Chain letters*
• Check cashing
• Collection agencies or firms involved in recovering/collecting past due receivables*
• Credit card protection (including identity theft protection)
• Credit repair/credit restoration
• Currency exchange
• Debt/ interest consolidation services or reduction services
• Drug paraphernalia*
• Extended warranty companies
• File sharing services/cyberlockers
• TARGET MARKETS:
• UNQUALIFIED / UNACCEPTABLE BUSINESS III-B
• Credit Policy Manual
• Confidential and proprietary. No reproduction without written consent of Fiserv
• Foreclosure protection/guarantees services (including instructional guides/books)
• Free gift, prize, sweepstakes or contest as an inducement to purchase a product/service
• “Get-rich-quick” schemes
• Health clubs (extended/lifetime)
• High Risk Securities, including but not limited to the following*: -
• Binary Options Trading
• Contracts For Difference (CFD)
• Foreign Exchange (FOREX) Currency Options Trading
• Cryptocurrency Options Trading
• Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
• Internet Search / Advertisement Optimization
• IT services help desk
• Investment programs/Opportunities
• Lottery Clubs
• Merchants or principals on MATCH OR VMTS
• Merchants in a Card Brand excessive chargeback or fraud program or merchants with chargeback or fraud rates over 1%*
• Merchants splitting sales across multiple transactions*
• Merchants offering rebates or special incentives
• Merchants trading (buying/selling) in gold and other precious metals
• Money Transfer Services (other than authorized Western Union agents)
• Money services businesses
• Mortgage / credit / debt reduction /consulting services
• Mortgage or loan modification services (includes merchants offering “short sale” services and/or instructional guides/books)
• Multi-level marketing or pyramid schemes where the primary objective is the solicitation of new distributors and not the sale of products/services
• Non face-to-face sale of firearms/weapons*
• Non face-to-face sale of prescription drugs, contact lenses or medical devices (non-institutional)*
• Non face-to-face sale of tobacco products (including e-cigarettes/smokeless cigarettes)*
• Non registered Charities
• Nutraceuticals (e.g. acai berry, health related teas, herbal remedies or drinks etc)
• Private Detectives
• Products that contain CBD and/or THC*
• Pseudo-pharmaceuticals (e.g. weight-loss, diet pills, anti-aging pills, anti-wrinkle creams, teeth whitening products, muscle building, sexual stimulants supplements, sex nutrients, male enhancement products, colon cleansers, detox products, glucose strips, hCG, HGH-like substances, etc.)
• Social media “click farms” (e.g. the sale of clicks/likes/reviews/endorsements on social media)
• Sports forecasting or odds-making/gambling advice
• Third Party Payment Processors /payment services companies (e.g. bill pay services, crowd funding, peer-to-peer payments, digital wallets, commissary accounts etc) Aggregators falling outside of MasterCard/Visa approved program requirements (Payment Facilitators)* 
• Ticket Agencies 
• Virtual currency / Quasi-cash (that can be monetized, resold, converted, traded into physical/digital goods and services outside the virtual world) 
• Businesses with the following methods of operations: 
  1. Merchants engaged in outbound telemarketing or facsimile
  2. Solicit cardholders when they contact call centers to purchase products of other direct marketers (“up-sell”) 

NOTE: Under ordinary circumstances, FDMS Australia would not do business with the merchants noted above. FDMS Australia may consider entering into or maintaining a relationship in this segment only to the extent that the account presents an extraordinary revenue opportunity and/or there is an existing significant Fiserv relationship and:

• Where applicable, Fiserv legal approval is obtained 
• Documentation requirements as stipulated in the section ‘Restricted Business’ applies. Any waiver to these documentation requirements must have the Vice President, International Credit or higher approval
• Meets all Card Brand registration & content requirements 
• Any waivers to prohibited industries require sign-off from a direct report of the Vice President, International Credit Risk Management or higher. Industries with an asterisk mark (“*”) require a Vice President or higher approval. 

• Evidence of all waivers must be documented in electronic or file format.