Why did Stripe close my account for counterfeit or replica goods?
No, and unlike a restricted category, there are no conditions that change it. Counterfeit or stolen goods sits on Stripe's prohibited list. Accounts matched to it are generally closed without warning rather than reviewed, and any remaining balance is held 90–120 days against chargeback exposure before it pays out. If this is genuinely your business, the useful question is which processor underwrites the category, not how to present it differently to Stripe.
Why this one is prohibited rather than restricted
Counterfeiting exposes Stripe and its acquiring banks to direct liability from brand owners, and the card networks run dedicated enforcement programmes against it. There is no compliant version of the activity, so unlike a restricted category there is nothing to negotiate. The word 'replica' in a product title is frequently sufficient on its own, because screening does not distinguish a counterfeit from a legally sold homage or reproduction.
How Stripe detects the category
Screening runs against the website on your business profile, at onboarding and periodically afterwards. It reads for category vocabulary, terms like "counterfeit", "replica handbags", "replica watches", "aaa replica", "knockoff", and the match is made on language, not on what you actually sell. That is why the false-positive rate on this category is high, and why a single legacy page can close an account that has traded cleanly for years.
Everything public counts as your site: subdomains, staging environments that were never locked down, PDFs, blog archives, and outbound affiliate links. If it is reachable, it is in scope.
Legitimate businesses that get caught by this screen
These are lawful businesses that are not in the category, but read as though they are:
- Secondhand and consignment resellers of genuine branded goods, where authenticity language sits alongside the brand names that trigger the match.
- Vintage and reproduction furniture, watch and lighting sellers who legitimately use the word 'replica' to mean a licensed or out-of-copyright reproduction.
- Cosmetics and fragrance brands marketing 'dupes', which is legal as a comparison claim but reads as counterfeit to an automated screen.
- Costume, cosplay and prop makers whose products imitate branded designs for a purpose nobody would mistake for the real item.
If you recognise your business here, the account is usually recoverable, but the case has to be made with the site changed first, not promised. Reviewers work from what they can see.
What to actually do
- If you sell genuine secondhand goods, publish your authentication process prominently and drop 'replica' and 'dupe' from titles and metadata entirely. Those two words do most of the damage.
- If you hold a licence to reproduce a design, put the licence on the site where a reviewer will find it without asking.
- If the goods are in fact counterfeit, no processor will support it and the exposure is legal rather than financial.
If your account is already closed
A closure for a prohibited category is normally recorded as rejected.terms_of_service . Check the code on your account first. If it is something else, the cause is
something else, and the fix is different. Do not open a replacement account for the same
business: it is detected quickly, re-terminated, and repeat evasion is how merchants end up
on the card networks' MATCH list, which blocks onboarding at other processors for five
years.
Find out how your site reads before a review does
Opsidion fetches the website on your Stripe business profile and screens it against every prohibited and restricted category, quoting each matched term in context, so a false positive is obvious and fixable rather than mysterious. $29 for a live account, $49 for a diagnosis if you are already restricted.
Frequently asked
Does Stripe allow counterfeit or stolen goods?
No. Counterfeit or stolen goods is a prohibited category on Stripe, not a restricted one, and there are no conditions under which it becomes supportable. Accounts matched to it are usually closed without warning, with any remaining balance held 90–120 days to cover chargeback exposure before being paid out. Counterfeiting exposes Stripe and its acquiring banks to direct liability from brand owners, and the card networks run dedicated enforcement programmes against it. There is no compliant version of the activity, so unlike a restricted category there is nothing to negotiate. The word 'replica' in a product title is frequently sufficient on its own, because screening does not distinguish a counterfeit from a legally sold homage or reproduction.
My business isn't in this category. Why did Stripe flag it?
Stripe screens the website on your business profile for category vocabulary, and the match is made on language rather than on what you actually sell. The businesses most often caught by this category are: Secondhand and consignment resellers of genuine branded goods, where authenticity language sits alongside the brand names that trigger the match. Vintage and reproduction furniture, watch and lighting sellers who legitimately use the word 'replica' to mean a licensed or out-of-copyright reproduction. Cosmetics and fragrance brands marketing 'dupes', which is legal as a comparison claim but reads as counterfeit to an automated screen. Costume, cosplay and prop makers whose products imitate branded designs for a purpose nobody would mistake for the real item.
What can I do if my business really is in this category?
If you sell genuine secondhand goods, publish your authentication process prominently and drop 'replica' and 'dupe' from titles and metadata entirely. Those two words do most of the damage. If you hold a licence to reproduce a design, put the licence on the site where a reviewer will find it without asking. If the goods are in fact counterfeit, no processor will support it and the exposure is legal rather than financial.