This policy mirrors Stripe’s Restricted Businesses list. Where the two differ, the stricter rule applies. Stripe may also restrict a business we do not name here. That decision stands regardless of this page. This policy changes as those rules do, and the last-updated date above moves whenever it changes materially.
Never allowed
These may not be sold, given away, bundled, raffled, or granted through a ticket on Gatekeepers, whether or not they are legal where your event takes place. Local legality is not the test, and neither is a licence. If it is on this list, it cannot be sold here.
- Cannabis, THC, CBD, and all other cannabinoid or hemp-derived products, including hemp-derived THC, delta-8 and similar synthetic or semi-synthetic cannabinoids, CBD oils and topicals, edibles, vapes, and pre-rolls. There is no exemption for regulated, hemp-derived, or locally legal products: no CBD or THC product may be sold on Gatekeepers under any circumstances, with any licence, in any jurisdiction.
- Illicit or controlled drugs, research chemicals, legal highs, and drug paraphernalia.
- Adult or pornographic content, and events whose admission is to sexually explicit performance or material.
- Gambling: casino play, betting, sports wagering, lotteries, raffles with a paid entry, and games of chance with a paid entry and a prize of money or anything else of value.
- Counterfeit goods and any item that infringes a trademark, copyright, or right of publicity, including unlicensed artist merchandise.
- Weapons, ammunition, explosives, and their regulated components.
- Anything else Stripe lists as a restricted business, including stolen goods, human remains, endangered species products, and items subject to sanctions.
The workaround clause
Structuring a sale so the prohibited item is not the thing being paid for does not change what it is. We treat all of the following as selling a prohibited item:
- Mislabeling: listing a prohibited item under an innocuous name, a generic “donation”, or a placeholder SKU.
- Bundling: including a prohibited item “free” with a ticket or a merch purchase, at any price, including $0.
- Access: a ticket whose value is entry to, or a claim on, prohibited goods, services, activities, or content, whether they are handed over at the door, at a separate location, or later.
- Splitting: taking payment on Gatekeepers and delivering the prohibited item through a separate channel, cash, or a third party.
- Hosting: an event whose purpose or advertised draw is the consumption, distribution, or exchange of a never-allowed item — a consumption lounge, a market or expo where vendors sell it, a bring-your-own gathering built around it — is itself prohibited, even if the item never appears in your listings.
Allowed only with the right licence
Some things are legal to sell, but only by someone licensed to sell them. You may sell these through a Gatekeepers listing — a drink-inclusive ticket, a consultation add-on with a licensed professional — only if you hold every licence, permit, and approval the jurisdiction of your event requires, and can produce them on request.
This section applies only to what is sold through your Gatekeepers listings. What happens at the event outside your listings — a licensed venue running its own bar, for example — is not a Gatekeepers transaction and is not governed by this section. The “Never allowed” rules above, including the hosting clause, still apply to the event itself.
Several of these categories are also restricted businesses to Stripe, which means Stripe has to approve your connected account for that category as well. A local licence on its own does not make them sellable here. Without both, they belong in the section above.
- Alcohol: a listing that includes alcohol, such as a ticket that includes drinks or a table with bottle service, requires the applicable liquor licence or a licensed venue or caterer serving it.
- Tobacco, nicotine, and vaping products, where lawful and licensed, with age verification.
- Regulated professional services: anything requiring a licence to provide, such as medical, legal, or financial services offered as part of an event.
Holding a licence, and getting any processor approval the category needs, is your responsibility, not ours, and we verify neither before your event goes live. Selling without them is a violation of this policy on top of whatever the law says about it. This page is our policy, not legal advice; what a licence permits in your jurisdiction is a question for your own counsel.
What happens if you break this
For a first violation that appears to be an honest mistake, our usual response is to fix the listing, not end the relationship:
- We contact you and tell you which item or listing violates this policy.
- The event is quarantined: it is removed from public view, checkout is disabled, and fulfillment and redemption of the violating item are suspended, so no further sales or hand-overs occur while it is in violation.
- The quarantine can lift once the violating item is removed. Orders already placed for a violating item may be refunded to buyers from your connected Stripe account.
That courtesy is discretionary, not a right. We may skip it entirely and move straight to full enforcement, at our sole discretion, and we will for anything illegal, anything the card networks prohibit, anything that endangers attendees, a repeat violation, or any use of the workarounds described above. Full enforcement acts on the event, the money, and the account:
- The event is removed from Gatekeepers.
- We initiate refunds of its orders to buyers, drawn from your connected Stripe account, to the extent funds are available. Any shortfall remains owed by you.
- Your Gatekeepers account is suspended.
Stripe may separately freeze funds, close your connected account, or report the activity, on its own terms and its own timeline. Stripe does not participate in the graduated response above, and we cannot reverse its decisions.
Reporting a listing
If you believe an event or item on Gatekeepers violates this policy, email support@gatekeepers.app with the event link and what you saw. We may remove or disable access to a listing while we review it.
This policy sits alongside the Terms of Service, which govern everything else about running an event here.