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Dash/Process

Adult & dating

Specialist acquirer

Adult payment processing

Card brands permit adult content under registration programs with specific content, consent and age-verification obligations.

Commonly assigned MCC

5967 · 7841

The category actually assigned is set at boarding and can differ from these.

Reviewed

The short version

Adult is not prohibited — it is programmed. The card networks operate registration regimes for adult content merchants with defined obligations around age verification, documented consent for every performer, and content-removal processes with fixed response times.

Merchants inside those programs are boardable. The compliance obligations are ongoing rather than one-off, and the registration fees are a real line item on the account.

What is actually being priced

What underwriting is looking at.

Brand registration required

Registration with the applicable card-brand program is a condition of acceptance, with annual fees attached.

Consent and age documentation

Documented consent and age verification for every performer in every piece of content is an audited obligation.

Descriptor privacy

Descriptors that reveal content on a shared statement drive disputes independent of any fraud.

What their lists say

Stripe, Square and PayPal on adult.

Their own published policies, quoted verbatim and dated, next to where the category stands with our acquiring partners.

Stripe

Prohibited

“Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery, and other media) designed for the purpose of sexual gratification”

Square

Prohibited

“adult entertainment oriented products or services (in any medium, including internet, telephone, or printed material)”

PayPal

Restricted · approval required

“Any adult content delivered digitally including video on demand (VOD) and web-cam activities”

'Certain sexually oriented materials or services' are separately prohibited.

Dash Process

Specialist acquirer

A specialist acquirer registered under the relevant brand programs; registration handled as part of the account.

What we ask for
All twenty categories, with sources

In the product

What your application looks like from your side.

The same five stages we publish on the site, a named contact, and the document list for adult in one place — received, requested, or not needed.

How it works
Meridian Botanicals/Application
Sandbox
  1. Apply
  2. Underwriting
  3. Approve
  4. Integrate
  5. Live

Underwriting in progress

Acquiring review · Adult program · MCC 5967

In review

Documents · 3 of 4 received

  • Content moderation, consent and age-verification processesReceived
  • Existing brand registrations if anyReceived
  • Traffic sources and geographic mixReceived
  • Processing history and chargeback ratioRequested
Illustrative · figures are fictional, not a quote

What we put in place

  • A specialist acquirer registered under the relevant brand programs
  • Registration and ongoing compliance handled as part of the account
  • Discreet descriptor and receipt configuration
  • Recurring billing with account updater and self-service cancellation

What underwriting will ask you for

Assemble these before you apply anywhere. The list does not get shorter by waiting, and having it ready is the single biggest thing you control about how long this takes.

  • Content moderation, consent and age-verification processes
  • Existing brand registrations if any
  • Traffic sources and geographic mix
  • Processing history and chargeback ratio
Why each document is on the list

Questions

About adult.

The category sits with specialist acquirers registered under the relevant brand programs. They write it as stated policy, and registration and compliance are handled as part of the account.

On this account

What an account in this vertical usually runs on.

Also in adult & dating

Next

Online dating

Tell us about your adult business.

We will tell you which of our acquiring partners writes it and what your file needs before it goes anywhere.

Get approvedAsk a questionor call (347) 594-9686