I’m in the process of launching a start up that will use stripe to process payments and I’ve been following the Stripe Subreddit for a year or so and I can’t tell if shady people are just complaining or is it really that common to get banned?
Also, any tips on how to avoid getting flagged as “risky”? To be honest I just want to make sure I follow the rules and not do something stupid and tank my business 
Hello !
Unfortunatly you are at the wrong place for asking these kind of question. This forum is for developper feedback on new stripe-related technologies.
But as far as my experience goes, stripe never has been problematic for me. Be sure to read the list of Prohibited and Restricted Business from the stripe documentation. This will tell you right away if you are at risk of getting kicked of the platform. You may also get kicked if your business is getting too much fraudulent usage, so be sure to follow the best practicies for preventing fraud.
Also keep in mind that stripe has to comply with laws against all sorts of fraud and illegal activities and sometime they can be overzealous to be on the safe side. Additionnaly, you only see the people wrongfully (in their opinion) banned complaining. Not the hundred of thousands of customer who use the platform without issues nor the thousands of accounts that are banned rightfully due to abuse.
FYI: I’m not an employee from stripe and this is based on my own experience as a stripe user and customer.
Hope this helps.
- Vasco
I’m not an employee for Stripe, and I’m familiar with the alarming stories you might have read on Reddit. I was at the Stripe Session conference in April I brought this issue up with the Stripe Payments team. We were told that chargebacks and refunds are an unavoidable part of doing business. If you are running a legitimate business, you don’t have a reason to fear using Stripe. That said, Stripe is not a high risk payment processor. There are special merchants that do cater to high risk payments. I’ve been using Stripe since 2014 with no problems. I believe you’re seeing a sampling bias on Reddit. From what I can tell, you’re seeing a lot of shady companies complaining on there. I think the Stripe public relations team should devote a team member to responding to some of the stories on reddit; we’re not hearing Stripe’s side of things on there and it’s damaging to the Stripe brand.
I want to follow up with my comment to emphasize to Stripe Employees: YOU ARE LOSING THE WAR ON REDDIT. As a long-time Stripe user, I find the constant stream of negative reviews on Reddit - Dive into anything disheartening. Please, someone who’s a real Stripe employee, hire someone to stick your thumb in the stream of negative reviews by (clearly) illegitimate companies. We, as non-Stripe employees, have tried to stem the flow, but it’s clear this needs to be a full-time job. Please hire someone.
Hello @bensontrent - thanks for flagging this. We’ll follow up internally at Stripe on how best to proceed.
Whereever you heard that “honest businesses get banned from stripe” are probably the dishonest owners who had gotten banned …I’ve been with Stripe now since 2018 when I started my lawn business and I’ve had NOTTA 1 problem…Maybe those people on reddit that you were referring to maybe didn’t follow the steps while signing up I think I had to submit some paperwork I think from the IRS and normal business stuff to prove that I’m actually a business yeah I’ve had no problems not a one actually they’ve been great they actually help me with a few questions a few situations that I had come up with at one point when I had first started the business plus they have a plethora of videos on YouTube teaching you everything about it the platform stripe services are freaking awesome they just now did a a customer portal I believe it is that your customers can go and once you set it up they can go and take care of payment themselves it’s amazing and it’s for such a small fee I love it but they are raising the fees here soon shortly if I do remember they’re going from I think it’s 5% to 8% now which doesn’t sound like much but still if you’re small small business like myself I only have I think 50 customers 45 customers it kind of adds up other than that as long as you follow the steps that they require you to do to join you should have no problem I’ve had none okay hopefully this helps you take care and good luck and stay off of Reddit people on there they just like to hear themselves talk and bitching complain about stuff I never go on Reddit my personal opinion later
If you decide as a team at Stripe to counter the vitrol on /r/stripe on reddit.com. I feel for the people who might attempt this. After commenting on so many posts, I decided to sum up my feelings in one post at https://www.reddit.com/r/stripe/comments/1fa4vla/my_unpopular_opinion_despite_what_you_read_on/
I dove head-first into the cesspool with this post, but I learned that many people don’t feel listened to, which seems to be the primary driver of vitriol on Reddit. I’m a fan of Stripe. I love Stripe. But perhaps there needs to be an expansion of the department that communicates with disenfranchised Stripe users who have been flagged as fraudulent. I can hear a lot of pain in their stories (99% illegitimate, I’m sure), and the main complaint from the haters is a lack of TLC communication and a clear path forward. That might be a legitimate concern for the Stripe brand. I worry about the 1% who have real legitimate issues, and I’m sure that’s a percentage your team grapples with every day. I don’t envy those who have the job to worry about that.
Thaaaaat said, Stripe is not a high-risk merchant and I understand why Stripe errs on the side of being fraud free. It’s the right move, it makes payments safer for everyone.