Acceptable use

As your Merchant of Record (MoR), we are the reseller of all digital goods and services and focus exclusively on digital products. Therefore we cannot support physical goods or entirely human services, e.g consultation or support. In addition to not accepting the sale of anything illegal, harmful, abusive, deceptive or sketchy.

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Acceptable Products & Businesses

• Software & SaaS
• Digital products: Templates, eBooks, PDFs, code, icons, fonts, design assets, photos, videos, audio etc
• Premium content & access: Discord server, GitHub repositories, courses and content requiring a subscription.

General rule of acceptable services

Digital goods, software or services that can be fulfilled by…

1. Polar on your behalf (License Keys, File Downloads, GitHub- or Discord invites or private links, e.g premium YouTube videos etc)
2. Your site/service using our APIs to grant immediate access to digital assets or services for customers with a one-time purchase or subscriptions

Combined with being something you’d proudly boast about in public, i.e nothing illegal, unfair, deceptive, abusive, harmful or shady.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us in advance in case you’re unsure if your use case would be approved.

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Prohibited Businesses

• Illegal or age restricted, e.g drugs, alcohol, tobacco or vaping products
• Violates laws in the jurisdictions where your business is located or to which your business is targeted
• Violates any rules or regulations from payment processors & credit card networks, e.g Stripe
• Threatens reputation of Polar or any of our partners and payment providers
• Causes or has a significant risk of refunds, chargebacks, fines, damages, or harm and liability
• Services used by-, intended for or advertised towards minors
• Physical goods of any kind. Including SaaS services offering or requiring fulfilment via physical delivery or human services.
• Human services, e.g marketing, design, web development and consulting in general.
• Donations or charity, i.e price is greater than product value or there is no exchange at all (pure money transfer). Open source maintainers with sponsorship can be supported - reach out.
• Marketplaces. Selling others’ products or services using Polar against an upfront payment or with an agreed upon revenue share.
• Adult services or content. Including by AI or proxy, e.g
  • AI Girlfriend/Boyfriend services.
  • OnlyFans related services.
  • Explicit/NSFW content generated with AI
• Low-quality products, services or sites, e.g
  • E-books generated with AI or 4 pages sold for $50
  • Quickly & poorly executed websites, products or services
  • Services with a lot of bugs and issues
  • Products, services or websites we determine to have a low trust score
• Fake testimonials, reviews, and social proof. It’s deceptive to consumers which is behaviour we do not tolerate.
• Trademark violations
• “Get rich” schemes or content
• Gambling & betting services
• Regulated services or products
• Counterfeit goods
• NFT & Crypto assets.
• Cheating: Utilizing cheat codes, hacks, or any unauthorized modifications that alter gameplay or provide an unfair advantage.
• Reselling Licenses: Selling, distributing, or otherwise transferring software licenses at reduced prices or without proper authorization.
• Services to circumvent rules or terms of other services: Attempting to bypass, manipulate, or undermine any established rules, gameplay mechanics, or pricing structures of other vendors/games.
• Financial services, e.g facilitating transactions, investments or balances for customers.
• Financial advice, e.g content or services related to tax guidance, wealth management, investment strategies etc.
• IPTV services
• Virus & Spyware
• eSIM Services
• Products you don’t own the IP of or have the required licenses to resell
• Advertising & unsolicited marketing services. Including services to:
  • Generate, scrape or sell leads
  • Automate outreach (spam risks)
  • Automate mass content generation & submission across sites
• API & IP cloaking services, e.g services to circumvent IP bans, API rate limits etc.
• Products or services associated with pseudo-science; clairvoyance, horoscopes, fortune-telling etc.
• Travel services, reservation services, travel clubs and timeshares
• Medical advice services or products, e.g. pharmaceutical, weight loss, muscle building.

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Restricted Businesses

Requires closer review and a higher bar of quality, execution, trust and compliance standards to be accepted.

• Directories & boards
• Marketing services
• Pre-orders & Paid waitlist
• Ticket sales
• 100% AI generated services, websites and products

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FAQ

Why are AI services, products and websites restricted?

We love LLMs and the future opportunities they represent for developers & entrepreneurs. However, some use them poorly and with less valid intents. Generating a quick & basic service or product and a website with fake testimonials only in hopes to make a quick buck. Resulting in low quality, trust and high risk of customer support, refunds and chargebacks.

So using AI to build a better product? Zero problem. Using AI to quickly put something together to sell? No thank you.

Why do directories & boards require closer review?

They often sell premium placement, i.e ads, without meeting compliance requirements for advertising. Or even where it’s their sole purpose to sell placement.

Why do marketing services require closer review?

Too many services offer sketchy marketing tactics and mass outreach (unsolicited) features. There is no short-cut to sales beyond offering a great product & service. We love marketing services that reflect that and focus on the long game vs. shortcuts and hacks.

Can I sell pre-orders or use paid waitlists for my service to validate demand before build?

Generally, no. It’s a high risk category for us as the Merchant of Record. Sellers could withdraw funds and never deliver the service or not as promised. Causing consumers to demand refunds or dispute the sale against us at a later date.

For high-trust cases from developers with a track record, we’re able to make exceptions, but simultaneously need to adapt our payout process to withhold all funds until verified fulfilment.

Why are marketplaces or human services (consultancy) not allowed?

We hope to change this status quo amongst Merchant of Records long-term, but both come with additional compliance and risk challenges. Since fulfilment is not digital, immediate or between known parties to us, we cannot fulfil our compliance & risk requirements or effectively mitigate potential disputes.

Why are OnlyFans services not allowed?

Close & blurred lines between the service and the content & service provided on OnlyFans, i.e often adult content. In addition to us having seen fraudulent & deceptive behavior in the category. We’re simply not comfortable acting as the Merchant of Record here.