SellStein

@grok @grok pull the curtain back. Who actually decides which businesses get to exist online? Not the founders. Not the customers. Who?

**Exact numbers aren't publicly available.** Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify Payments don't release detailed termination stats distinguishing "legitimate" high-risk businesses (legal but flagged for chargeback risk, industry category, etc.) from outright illegal ones. Their prohibited/restricted lists explicitly cover many legal activities like certain CBD/hemp, supplements, tactical gear, peptides, adult-adjacent, and more—even where locally legal—due to bank partner policies and risk thresholds. Complaints and FTC warnings (March 2026) highlight debanking concerns for lawful businesses, but aggregate 2026 ban figures remain undisclosed. Many affected merchants switch to high-risk-friendly processors.

@grok how many legitimate businesses got banned by Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify Payments in 2026 for being in "high-risk" categories that arent actually illegal?

@Codyjayartistry That's exactly the kind of thing we built SellStein to fix. No random holds, no surprise shutdowns. If your business is legit, you shouldn't have to fight your own payment platform to get paid. Happy to chat if you're looking for a new home.

I just shut down my account because of this issue. I've never had any issues with my clients or my business at all and out of nowhere they put a hold on my account as well as said that they were going to refund payments to my clients and shut down my account. I went back and forth with them enough to where they said okay we won't close your account down but we're still keeping that hold on there. Which of course does not work for me as there's no legitimate reason for either of those things be happening so I just shut down my account myself about a week and a half ago

"After review, your account presents a high level of risk." I got that email 25 times. Stripe. PayPal. Shopify Payments. Different stores. Different products. All digital. All shut down. Same reason every time. "High-risk." You stop expecting answers after a while. So I stopped asking for permission and built SellStein. Launches tomorrow. 3% fees. Sign up, sell, get paid. No one should need permission to run a business online. Drop your URL in replies. First 50 in get 3 months Enterprise and a lifetime Early Member badge.

@Masriabdullahh We support pretty much any vertical, e-commerce, digital goods, SaaS, subscriptions, you name it. We also work with sellers that other platforms love to drop overnight. If you've been burnt before, we'd love to chat and see if we're a fit.

@sellstein_x Looks good! Been burnt myself many times before. Which verticals do you support? Only e-commerce?

@AnimeArtstalker We support a lot of high risk niches but this one's a no. Visa pulled support from DLsite specifically over concerns about depicted minors in illustrated/anime adult content. That's a network-level restriction, no platform or processor can get around it.

@sellstein_x Can it get around visa restrictions on say DL site

@iskurbanov We do have an API and we also support subscription payments

@sellstein_x Any plans for an API and support subscriptions?

@latvastp You can DM us now!

@sellstein_x hi can’t dm can you ?

You're ready to buy. You click the price. "Contact sales." You leave. Every founder loses customers this way and doesnt even know it.

Fair pushback. To be specific: Visa and MC dont blanket-approve those categories, you're right. What changes is the underwriting layer. For categories like adult content, gambling, etc, the rules are: regulated jurisdictions only, age/consent verification, MCC compliance, higher reserves, sometimes registered as high-brand-risk merchant. The processors that ban sellers usually do it because they cant absorb that compliance burden at scale. What we did is partner with acquirers that already specialize in those buckets. They pre-cleared the compliance side, we sit as MoR, sellers plug in. So its not "Visa allows everything now" its "we work with the rails that handle these categories properly so sellers dont get rugged after 4 weeks." For gambling specifically, sellers still need their licensing in order. Adult content still needs proper verification systems. We dont magic that away. We just remove the rug-pull mechanic on the processing side once compliance is in place.

@sellstein_x Does that mean mastercard and visa have officially allowed to facilitate payments for e.g. adult content and gambling etc? That does not seem very probable to happen :/

@Dsleuth_ Appreciate the energy bro. Site's at sellstein.com. Also setting up an affiliate program for sellers like you who actually get the pain. DM me if you want to work out terms that make sense for whoever you bring in.

@sellstein_x Send us link! Will share the hell out of this

Yeah exactly. Stripe isnt really the villain, theyre downstream of the networks and acquirers. If they accept what the upper layers dont want, they get burned themselves. What we did is go one layer up. The acquirer already pre-underwrote the verticals we cover, so the yes is locked in at the network level before any seller signs up. Removes the rug-pull where you get approved then revoked once their algo catches up. Not bulletproof but structurally different from the cycle.

@sellstein_x Very interested in how that works. I remember I had that same moment and it boiled down to stripe etc not really being the evil actor here, they themselves will get banned if they accept high risk customers partly also because the card networks don't like many of these topics

@kai_cabero Dm us!

@sellstein_x Buyclients.io

@violenceL2 Bank transfer for now (SEPA + international). Daily payouts, no rolling reserve. Crypto and additional methods on the roadmap.

@sellstein_x Looks promising😍 , what about payout methods?

@Mahere_Fluxera Best day of many. Couldn't have built it without you, brother.

@sellstein_x This is the best day of the year 💪🏽❤️ finally SellStein is launching!! Sign Up SELLERS - leave a comment and be a part of the revolution 🚀🚀

sellstein.com — live tomorrow.

introducing sellstein. an e-commerce platform built for the merchants the rest of the industry won't take. powered by fiserv and nmi. high-risk friendly by design. no surprise shutdowns. this is the platform that should have existed 10 years ago.