Payments content policies

Google has developed the following policies to ensure overall program quality and a positive user experience for everyone. Any individual or business processing transactions with Google payments must adhere to these policies.

Google reserves the right to expand or edit these policies at any time. Google will also exercise its sole discretion in the interpretation and enforcement of these policies along with the program's Terms of Service. We may restrict products, goods, services, and other items not listed below:

Unacceptable product categories

Academic paper-writing and test-taking services

Examples: Pre-written essays, thesis papers, and dissertations; offers for paper-writing or test-taking services

Adult goods and services

Examples: Pornography and other sexually suggestive materials (including literature, imagery, and other media); escort or prostitution services; anything related to sex trafficking

Alcohol

Examples: Payment processing of beer or liquor. Alcohol content is permitted for the purposes of allowing a user to save a “show and scan” object to Google. 

Animals and regulated species

Examples: Animal parts, blood, or fluids; noxious weeds; prohibited seeds; plants or other organisms (including product derivatives) in danger of extinction or whose trade is otherwise regulated by law

Bulk marketing tools

Examples: Email lists, software, or other products enabling unsolicited email messages (spam)

Child sexual abuse imagery

Examples: Sexual abuse imagery materials involving minors, or content that can be perceived as pedophilia erotica

Copyright media and software

Examples: Unauthorized copies of books, music, movies, and other licensed or protected materials including copies without proper attribution; unauthorized copies of software, video games, and other licensed or protected materials, including OEM or bundled software

Counterfeit and unauthorized goods

Examples: Replicas or imitations of designer or other goods; items without a celebrity endorsement that would normally require such an association; fake autographs; currency; stamps; tickets; other potentially unauthorized goods

Devices or techniques for unlocking technical protection measures

Examples: Mod chips or other devices for circumventing technical protection measures on digital devices, including for unlocking iPhones

Drugs and drug paraphernalia

Examples: Controlled substances, narcotics, illegal drugs, and drug accessories, including psychoactive and herbal drugs such as salvia and magic mushrooms and materials promoting their use; legal substances, such as plants or herbs, in a manner that suggests ingesting, inhaling, extracting, or otherwise using any substance or compound from the legal substance will provide the same effect as an illegal drug, compound, or substance or that will provide unsubstantiated health benefits

Financial or other regulated products, services, securities, and stored value

Examples: Payment processing is forbidden for the following services: Investment consulting; refinancing or transfer of non-collectable debt; stock brokerage; manual cash disbursements; transfers involving any virtual currency; money orders; traveler's checks; stocks, bonds, or related financial products; insurances; units in collective investment schemes; stored value cards; credit services (not including credit reports or scores provided to a consumer by a consumer reporting agency); provision of services regulated or prohibited by applicable law.

Under certain conditions, some financial services would be permitted for the purposes of allowing a user to save a “show and scan” object to Google. 

Fund solicitations

Examples: Donation solicitations from parties without a valid 501(c)(3) tax exempt status clearly displayed to the public; solicitations from parties without valid proof of exempt tax status or proof of registration with the relevant country's regulatory bodies and authorities; and political organizations that have registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

Gaming/gambling

Examples: Lottery tickets, sports bets, memberships / enrollment in online gambling sites, and related content. Promotion of offline brick and mortar casinos is allowed.

Government IDs, documents, or uniforms

Examples: Including but not limited to government-issued IDs, passports, diplomas, noble titles, and uniforms, except if sold by an authorized government agency or by a supplier accredited by an authorized government agency

Hacking and cracking materials

Examples: Manuals, how-to guides, information, or equipment that violate the law by damaging or enabling unlawful access to software, servers, websites, or other protected property

Human parts

Examples: Organs or other body parts; body fluids; stem cells; embryos

Illegal / Stolen goods

Examples: Materials, products, or information promoting illegal goods or enabling illegal acts; goods you don't own or have the right to sell; goods produced in violation of a third party's rights; smuggled goods and goods in violation of export, import, or labeling restrictions; motor vehicles subject to transfer restriction; goods recorded on public registers (such as real estate) and whose transfer requires formalities that can't be legally completed online. Note: You're solely and completely responsible for verifying that all items you sell are authentic and legal.

Illegal telecommunications equipment

Examples: Devices intended to obtain cable and satellite signals for free, cable descramblers and black boxes, access cards, access card programmers and unloopers, unlawful tools or products to modify cellular telephones, and other equipment deemed unlawful by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or other competent regulatory body in the country in which the goods are offered for sale

Miracle cures

Examples: Unsubstantiated cures, remedies, or other items marketed as quick health fixes

Multi-level marketing and wealth creation programs

Examples: Multi-level marketing programs (including online payment randomizers), matrix, pyramid, Ponzi schemes, wealth creation programs, paid to click schemes, and all similar programs

Offensive goods

Examples: Goods, literature, products, or other materials that:

• Defame or slander any person or groups of people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, or other factors
• Defame or slander any person or groups of people protected from defamation or slander by applicable law (such as the protection afforded to the royal family in some jurisdictions)
• Encourage or incite violent acts
• Promote intolerance or hatred
• Promote or support membership in terrorist groups or other organizations prohibited by law
• Promote revisionist theories proscribed by applicable law
• Contravene public morality

Offensive goods, crime

Examples: Crime scene photos or items, such as personal belongings, associated with criminals or a criminal act

Precious materials

Examples: Bulk sales of rare, scarce, or valuable metals or stones

Prescription drugs and medical devices

Examples: Drugs or other products requiring a prescription by a licensed medical practitioner, veterinarian, or any online pharmacies or whose distribution is otherwise regulated; medical devices that require government authorization for distribution; and drug test circumvention aids. Health-related product promotion is permitted, subject to certain conditions and restrictions, to enable a user to save show and scan objects to Google.

Protected cultural items and artifacts

Examples: Material covered by the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property or otherwise restricted by law from sale, export or transfer; Artifacts, cave formations (speleothems, stalactites, and stalagmites) and grave-related items that are protected under federal laws, such as The Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988, and the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act

Pyrotechnic devices and hazardous materials

Examples: Fireworks and related goods; toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials and substances; gunpowder; explosives

Regulated goods

Examples: Air bags; batteries containing mercury; freon or similar substances/refrigerants; chemical/industrial solvents; medical procedures; car number plates; police badges and law enforcement equipment; lock-picking devices; medical devices; pesticides and insecticides; postage meters; passive fitness equipment and electrostimulators; recalled items; slot machines; surveillance equipment that's primarily used to obtain unlawful interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications and/or to facilitate the unlawful view or recording of individuals; goods regulated by government or other agency specifications

Traffic devices

Examples: Radar jammers, license plate covers, traffic signal changers, and related products

Travel packages and offers

Examples: Payment processing for travel services, including hotel, flight, cruise and car reservations, travel clubs, etc. All travel-related content letting a user “show and scan” an offer, boarding pass or ticket is permitted. Also, travel packages and offers are an acceptable product for users of Android Pay.

Tobacco and cigarettes

Examples: Cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and alternative products

Weapons

Examples: Firearms, ammunition, and other items including but not limited to firearms, disguised, undetectable, or switchblade knives, martial arts weapons, silencers, ammunition, ammunition magazines, BB guns, and tear gas. Under certain conditions, some products and services would be permitted for the purposes of allowing a user to save a “show and scan” object to Google. 

Wholesale currency

Examples: Discounted currencies or currency exchanges; currency backed by precious metals