[FounderBurr]

I’m sure we could spot what the high risk behavior in question is with your business if you provide us with the url.

But truth is, stripe decides who they want to be in business with. They have decided they don’t want to be in business with you. Tough, but they also aren’t placing you on the MATCH list or other common nightmare senerios many non-compliant businesses find themselves in when dealing with violations of payment processing guidelines.

My advice is to cut your losses with stripe and get a real merchant account.

The pre-vetting process will likely be quite clear with you about what and why your business is considered too high a risk, or you’ll end up with a less frangible business relationship you can depend on to not rug pull you in the future.

[oropolo]

> I’m sure we could spot what the high risk behavior in question is with your business if you provide us with the url.

Sleuth away: https://www.SupernerdMedia.com

[eli]

Probably related to soliciting donations (See "Businesses that are prone to abuse by fraudulent actors" on that Stripe link)

A lot of payment processors do not like it when individuals (versus certified nonprofits) take donations. Because, well, it is more prone to fraud. It's a really easy way to cash out stolen credit card numbers. The systems are set up for a transaction, not a one way transfer of funds.

[Finnucane]

"taking the wife out on date night" sounds like the kind of thing a regular nonprofit wouldn't be able to solicit donations for. I have no reason to believe that the OP is not representing that honestly or abusing it, but Stripe is not going to care.

[LeifCarrotson]

The first linked website (https://www.barnhardt.biz/) says (if I'm understanding it correctly) some pretty unkind things about the Pope regarding to his conciliatory attitude towards homosexuality.

Stripe's page says that their prohibited categories include "Businesses that engage in, encourage, promote or celebrate unlawful violence toward any group based on ... sexual orientation..." among other things.

[atherton33]

Practically/realistically, there's also some content in the podcast that's going to make payment processors nervous. Even if made with best intentions, legal departments will worry eventually someone is going to end up sued or worse, and the company will be named. Even algorithmic filters are likely to class this as fringe/conspiracy. So regardless of what rule they're pointing at to cut the account, they may really just want to cut the risk regardless.

https://www.barnhardt.biz/category/barnhardt-podcast/

For context, some random excerpts from barely a skim that jump out and are going to raise eyebrows:

203: "we attack the topic of In Vitro Fertilization and break down how this grotesque process" 195: "part of what made the fires in Hawaii worse than they needed to be: the deeply-seated paganism of the natives who worship the volcanoes" 191: "it’s possible that “they/them” pronouns are favored among trans because of the demonic they/them legion possessing such poor souls" 187: suggests extracting and storing your own blood and taking methylene blue?

I don't have all the context, and generally I do support the author's right to expression, so I'm trying to be objective and kind here. But candidly, I'd have difficult to overcome personal reservations about partnering in business with (and in Stripe's case, since they take fees: profiting from) the content here.

I don't mean to offend anyone, just seems like an elephant in the room worth noting.

[oropolo]

> My advice is to cut your losses with stripe and get a real merchant account.

I thought Stripe was a real merchant account.

[FounderBurr]

Nope.

Sort setup, short teardown, same as PayPal

Stripe is a minimal to no vetting payment processor. A real merchant account will require contracts and pre-vetting that includes a review of your payment processing history and suitability to the rules of the card networks in question.

[incangold]

This. There is _so much_ fraud.

People blame the payment processors, and they can certainly be opaque sometimes. But perhaps fairer to lay most of the blame on the fraudsters.

I’m sure Stripe would love the revenue from this enterprise, but they can’t have it without making KYC as complex as banks and losing a lot of their value prop.