Why is there an issue related to selling pseudo-pharmaceuticals on Shopify?

The risk of using Shopify Payments Service to sell pseudo-pharmaceuticals

Michael Alarcon avatar
Written by Michael Alarcon
Updated over a week ago

Pseudo-pharmaceuticals have slightly different regulations with the Shopify payment gateway than other products. This article will outline all you need to know about stocking and selling products that are classified as pseudo-pharmaceuticals.

First of all, what are pseudo-pharmaceuticals?

These are products that make health claims- including supplements, skin peels, teeth whitening products, skin brightening and whitening creams, vitamins etc. These also include products that contain hyaluronic acid, retinol, glycolic acid, kojic acid, vitamin C serums and hydroxy acids. 

Retinol creams, lash growth serums  and medical devices are also considered in this bracket.

Pseudo-pharmaceuticals are prohibited for sale via Shopify Payment Gateways. This does not mean that you cannot sell them on your Shopify store- you will just have to use a different gateway. Here are some external gateways that you can choose based on the country you reside in and market to: Alternate Payment Gateways

If you sell pseudo-pharmaceuticals using Shopify Payment Gateway, there is a chance that you will be banned from using Shopify’s gateway. Your store will function as normal- you will just be denied access to Shopify’s payment gateway. Since the decision to revoke access to the Shopify Payment Gateway is irreversible, even if a merchant removes those products, it is best to be aware of the violations and make decisions accordingly. This means that you will not be allowed to use Shopify’s Payment gateway even when the products are removed from your shop.

We do our best to safeguard our products from infringing such rules, by monitoring the product descriptions and claims made by products, but the risk here is a little complicated. Shopify’s process of identifying the pseudo-pharmaceuticals is complicated, and a bit of a gamble- so we recommend you to take this into account before adding such products.

If your store tends to such a niche, it is best to use a different payment gateway. We advise reading through the terms and conditions of every gateway, and ensuring you can safely conduct business without much trouble.

You can check out all the products that run a similar risk in section B.5 of Shopify Payments Legal Terms

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