Quick Answer: Who We Help and What "Compliant" Means
Unison Payment Solutions provides high-risk merchant accounts to businesses that sell research peptides, research chemicals, and related products online. "Compliant" in this context means your business meets the underwriting standards of acquiring banks and card networks — and stays within those standards after approval.
Underwriters evaluate three things: your business legitimacy (registration, licensing, website), your risk profile (chargeback potential, return rates, transaction sizes), and your operational controls (fraud prevention, billing clarity, customer communication). Merchants who score well across all three get approved faster and retain their accounts long-term.
This hub collects every resource you need in one place. If you sell peptides and want to accept credit cards without constant account freezes, start here.
Underwriting Checklist: What Acquiring Banks Review
Before an acquiring bank approves your peptide merchant account, an underwriter reviews your application against specific criteria. Having these ready before you apply can cut approval time from weeks to days.
Business documentation:
- Active business registration (LLC, Corp, or Sole Proprietorship with DBA)
- EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS
- Business bank account statements (3–6 months)
- Processing history statements (if you have them — not required for new merchants)
- Government-issued photo ID for all owners with 25%+ ownership
Website compliance (critical for peptides):
- Products clearly labeled as "for research use only" or "not for human consumption" — see our guide on compliant peptide website language
- Published refund/return policy accessible from every page
- Published shipping policy with estimated delivery times
- Terms of service and privacy policy
- Clear contact information (phone, email, physical address)
- SSL certificate (HTTPS) — non-negotiable
- No health claims, dosage recommendations, or clinical language
Financial profile:
- Projected monthly processing volume
- Average transaction amount and highest expected ticket
- Expected chargeback ratio (ideally under 1%)
- Refund/return rate estimates
For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see Peptide Merchant Account Approval: Step-by-Step.
Policy Templates
Your website policies are one of the first things underwriters check — and one of the most common reasons applications get delayed. We have created ready-to-customize templates for peptide merchants:
- Refund Policy Template for Peptide Stores — Covers return windows, restocking conditions, damaged-in-transit handling, and "research use only" language that satisfies underwriters
- Shipping Policy Template for Peptide Ecommerce — Covers carrier selection, tracking requirements, signature confirmation for high-value orders, and international shipping disclosures
Both templates include the exact language that acquiring banks expect to see. Customize the specifics (return windows, shipping carriers) to match your operations, but keep the compliance language intact.
Risk Controls: Protecting Your Account After Approval
Getting approved is step one. Staying approved requires ongoing risk management. Here are the controls that matter most for peptide merchants:
Billing descriptors: Your billing descriptor is what appears on your customer's credit card statement. A vague or confusing descriptor is one of the top causes of "friendly fraud" chargebacks in the peptide industry. See Billing Descriptor Best Practices for Peptide Sellers for specific examples and formatting rules.
Chargeback prevention: Peptide merchants operate in a category where chargebacks can spike quickly. Unison provides Ethoca and Verifi chargeback alerts, which intercept disputes before they become chargebacks. Read our full guide: How to Reduce Chargebacks in a Peptide Ecommerce Store.
Rolling reserves: Most high-risk merchant accounts include a rolling reserve — a percentage of each transaction held by the processor as a buffer against chargebacks. This is normal for peptide accounts. Understand how they work and how to minimize them: Rolling Reserves Explained for Peptide Merchant Accounts.
Fraud prevention: Peptide merchants face card testing, stolen-card purchases, and triangulation fraud. A proper fraud stack includes AVS, CVV, 3D Secure, velocity checks, and IP geolocation. See our full breakdown: Fraud Prevention for Peptide Stores.
ACH and eCheck payments: Offering ACH as an alternative to credit cards reduces your chargeback exposure and lowers processing costs. ACH disputes follow different rules than card chargebacks and are harder for bad actors to abuse.
Recurring billing and subscriptions: If you offer subscription peptide boxes or auto-ship programs, recurring billing introduces additional compliance requirements around customer consent and cancellation. See Peptide Recurring Billing & Subscription Processing.
Common Reasons Peptide Merchants Get Declined or Shut Down
Understanding why processors decline or terminate peptide accounts helps you avoid the same mistakes. The most common reasons:
Before approval (declined applications):
- Website contains health claims, dosage instructions, or "before and after" language
- Missing or insufficient refund/shipping policies
- No SSL certificate
- Business registration issues (expired, wrong state, name mismatch)
- Incomplete financial documentation
- Prior terminations not disclosed upfront
Full breakdown: Peptide Merchant Account Requirements
After approval (account terminations):
- Chargeback ratio exceeding 1% of transactions
- Sudden volume spikes without notice to the processor
- Adding product categories not disclosed during underwriting (e.g., adding SARMs when only approved for peptides)
- Customer complaints escalated to the card networks
- Website content changes that introduce non-compliant language
- Being placed on the MATCH list by a previous processor
Full breakdown: Why Payment Processors Shut Down Peptide Businesses
If your account has already been terminated: Don't panic. You have options, even if you've been MATCH-listed. Read Peptide Merchant Account Terminated? What to Do Next.
LegitScript Certification
LegitScript certification is increasingly becoming a requirement — or at least a strong advantage — for peptide merchants seeking payment processing. LegitScript verifies that your products, website, and business practices meet their compliance standards. Unison Payment Solutions is a LegitScript partner and can help you navigate the certification process, including discounted pricing for our merchants.
Having LegitScript certification signals to acquiring banks that your business has been independently vetted, which can speed up approval and improve your terms.
Why Aggregators Don't Work for Peptides
If you've tried Stripe, Square, or PayPal and had your account frozen or terminated, you're not alone. These platforms are payment aggregators — they process everyone under a single master merchant account and use automated risk screening to flag categories they don't want to underwrite individually.
Peptides trigger these automated systems because the category overlaps with pharmaceuticals, supplements, and controlled substances in the aggregators' risk models. The result: holds, freezes, and terminations — often with little warning and no appeal process.
A dedicated high-risk merchant account from a specialized provider like Unison works differently. You get your own merchant ID, individual underwriting, and a processor that understands your business category. Full explanation: Why Stripe, Square & PayPal Don't Work for Peptides.
Get Started
Ready to get your peptide business approved for payment processing? Contact Unison Payment Solutions for a free consultation. We typically approve peptide merchants within 3–7 business days when documentation is complete.
Call us at (925) 290-6003 or email info@unisonpayment.com.