Who reviews a restricted business on Shopify Payments?

Who decides — Shopify or your payment processor?

Shopify's Payments terms create two tiers, not one: categories "prohibited from using the Payments Services", and those that "require additional review and approval by us to use the Payments Services" — the Restricted Businesses. Behind Shopify Payments, that us is the Shopify entity for your Designated Country — not the processor.

Those same terms let a category be imposed by law, the Payment Network Rules, Shopify itself or a Payment Processor's financial services providers, while the lists themselves are "provided by each Payment Processor in your Designated Country", with the links in the Payment Processor List. For the United States that list has two rows, Stripe, Inc. and PayPal, Inc., each with a category list of its own, and it does not say which of the two serves a given store. In 31 European countries the list also names Adyen — how Adyen's list treats vehicle sales.

No Shopify page we have read publishes one consolidated, across-country set of Restricted categories: you follow your own country's row in the Processor List to the processor's page. Read it the day you need it — the terms call those lists "representative but not exhaustive", and let Shopify or the processors update them "at any time without notice to you". Which rulebook holds which category is mapped out separately.

Is the review process published anywhere?

Both reviews are described in outline. Shopify's acceptable-business-practices page describes the general process, not a separate restricted track: "Your business is evaluated when you first apply for Shopify Payments, and risk is continuously monitored throughout your use of the platform." Stripe describes its own review in outline too: "We independently review every account and all relevant information during account activation."

Stripe says what the review asks: in a restricted category, at account creation you will be asked for additional information, such as "proof of relevant licenses or more details about your business model."

A documented door to a person sits inside the list. Stripe's entry for legal firearms carries the note "Limited availability: Please contact our sales team if you would like to work with Stripe" — see our firearms page. PayPal's US Acceptable Use Policy routes its 18 Activities Requiring Approval categories to a Sales team.

No Shopify page we have read states how long a Restricted Business review takes, and none names the team inside Shopify that runs it. Stripe's own pages we have read carry no number either, and neither do PayPal's for its pre-approval route. A published figure nearby covers documents you upload, not your business category — what that figure actually covers sits on its own page.

One number is not it: on a higher-risk account payouts might take 5 to 20 business days — a payout schedule, not a review time. Stripe offers a contrast — approval is "nearly instantaneous" in most cases, while "businesses on our Restricted Business list commonly experience longer processing delays".

What does approval actually mean afterwards?

Approval is not a status you keep. Where Stripe approves, it says "the approval is specific to each service offer, and it may be modified or revoked by Stripe at any time". Shopify's own monitoring is continuous, and a review finding elevated risk can leave an account "declined, deactivated, or subject to restrictions such as payout holds, reserves, or payout delays".

The money side is narrower than it sounds. Shopify says "reserves generally don't stop you from accepting payments through Shopify Payments, unless explicitly communicated otherwise", with the reserve's terms sent by email — and that "some reserves can't be appealed".

A decline or a deactivation arrives by email with next steps, and the routes back differ: an appeal for a deactivated store, reapplying for a declined application, and a separate appeal for Shopify Payments access alone.

Reapplying normally costs 6 to 12 consecutive months on a third-party gateway with a chargeback rate below 1%, and "meeting the reapplication requirements doesn't guarantee approval". One shortcut: with no Shopify Payments chargebacks and at least 4 months since the rejection, you might be eligible for early reapplication review. How an appeal actually works has its own page.