September 4, 2026 · 7 min read
All four mainstream aggregators prohibit firearms and ammunition in their written terms, and enforcement is an account closure, often with your balance held. FFL dealers switch to a merchant account underwritten for firearms with the Authorize.Net gateway in front of it. The rest of this article is the policies, line by line, and the switch.
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01 — The policies
These are aggregators: your sales flow through their master merchant account, so their policy is your policy, and there is no negotiating it at the store level. GunTab keeps a running tracker of platform firearm policies if you want to check a name not listed here.
Stripe’s restricted-businesses list covers weapons, ammunition, and firearm components. Limited exceptions exist only with explicit prior written approval, which independent gun stores do not get.
When they catch you: Account review, then closure. Payouts can be paused while the review runs, so money already earned sits in limbo.
Square’s terms prohibit the sale of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition, in person and online. Some dealers run counter sales on Square for accessories only and get caught the first time a firearm crosses it.
When they catch you: Deactivation, frequently with a hold on the balance in the account at the time.
PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy has prohibited online transactions for firearms, ammunition, and certain parts since 2003. Venmo inherits the same policy.
When they catch you: Account limitation, then permanent closure, with funds commonly held for 180 days.
Shopify Payments’ prohibited-business list includes firearms, ammunition, holsters, and weapons. Shopify’s platform rules restrict firearm products on top of that, so a third-party gateway does not make the store allowed.
When they catch you: Delisted products, a suspended checkout, or a terminated store, as dealers experienced in Shopify’s 2018 policy change.
02 — The switch
The fix is structural, not a different brand of aggregator: separate the bank relationship from the software, and own the bank relationship.
Apply through a channel that underwrites FFL dealers. Have your license, entity documents, bank account, and recent statements ready; the approval checklist below covers the full file.
Authorize.Net is the one every firearms platform integrates first. If your merchant account already covers online sales, the gateway alone is all you add.
On SiteTac that is one approval inside your own Authorize.Net login. Your processing relationship stays yours, whatever the platform does.
The full document list for step one is in the firearms merchant account approval checklist; the other processors that hold firearms accounts are ranked in the 10 best gun-friendly payment processors.
03 — If you are on one now
If you are running gun or ammo sales through an aggregator today, the closure is a matter of when. Move on your schedule, not theirs: apply for the firearms-friendly account now while the aggregator is still paying out, keep the old account open for accessories until the new one is live, then cut over. A closure that lands mid-month with a held balance is the expensive version of the same switch.
Once the new account is approved, connecting it to SiteTac is a single approval in your own Authorize.Net login. Details on the payments page.
04 — FAQ
No. Stripe’s restricted-businesses list covers weapons, ammunition, and firearm components, with exceptions only by explicit prior written approval that independent dealers do not receive. Running gun sales through Stripe ends in an account review and closure, often with payouts paused.
No. Square’s terms prohibit firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition, in person and online. Dealers who use Square for accessories at the counter risk deactivation the first time a regulated item crosses it.
No. PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy has prohibited online firearms, ammunition, and certain parts transactions since 2003, and Venmo follows the same policy. Enforcement is account limitation, then closure, with funds commonly held for 180 days.
A firearms-friendly merchant account with the Authorize.Net gateway in front of it. Unlike an aggregator, the merchant account is underwritten for firearms up front and belongs to you, so no platform policy can close it. Specialists such as TacticalPay, Easy Pay Direct, and PaymentCloud are the strongest alternatives to that setup.
The application is the long pole: with a complete file, a few business days to a couple of weeks. Connecting the approved account to a SiteTac store takes about a minute, and the storefront takes cards immediately after.
Policies summarized from each platform's published terms as of September 2026. Terms change; read the current version before relying on it. Not legal advice.
SiteTac connects to your own Authorize.Net gateway and never touches the transaction. Start with a free trial.
Keep reading: Can you sell guns on Shopify?/Best gun-friendly payment processors