Can I sell firearms and ammunition on Stripe, Shopify Payments or PayPal?
Stripe permits firearms in limited circumstances. PayPal prohibits them along with parts and accessories. The trap here is accessories: merchants who sell no firearms at all routinely assume they are outside the category and find that the policies reach parts and components too.
Also searched as: guns, ammo, gun parts, 80% lowers, suppressors.
Stripe
RestrictedNamed, and allowed only on stated conditions or in certain countries.
“Firearms, including rifles, shotguns, and pistols”
Named, and restricted with limited availability, meaning approval is exceptional rather than routine and depends on the country and the specific business. Treat it as a maybe that has to be arranged in advance, not a permission you can rely on.
Source: Stripe: Prohibited and restricted businesses. The policy states it was last updated 13 May 2026. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
PayPal
ProhibitedNamed on the list and refused. Applying anyway is how merchants end up on MATCH.
“ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law”
Named and prohibited, and note how far it reaches: ammunition, parts and accessories, and regulated knives. An accessories-only store that assumed it was outside the firearms category is inside this clause.
Source: PayPal: Acceptable Use Policy. The policy states it was last updated 29 October 2022. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
Shopify Payments
RestrictedNamed, and allowed only on stated conditions or in certain countries.
No policy of its own
Inherits Stripe's limited availability. As with vapes, Shopify's platform rules on what may be listed are separate from the payments rule.
Source: Shopify: Payment processor list. The document publishes no last-updated date. We last read it on 27 August 2026. Check it yourself before you act on this: these lists change, and ours is a reading of theirs, not a substitute for it.
What actually happens
The most common failure is not a gun dealer being declined, which everyone expects. It is a parts, optics or accessories retailer being approved without anyone looking closely, running for months, and then being terminated when a catalogue review finds regulated components. The merchant's honest belief that they were not in the firearms business is not a defence, because the policy language is broader than the everyday meaning of the words.
What works instead
Declare the full catalogue, including accessories and components, to an acquirer that underwrites this category deliberately. FFL status, where you hold it, is an asset in that conversation and should be produced up front rather than after a question.
Want the version that accounts for your actual store?
This page is about firearms and ammunition as a category. Approval turns on your specific catalogue, your claims and your paperwork, and we will tell you where you stand whether or not it leads to work for us.
Both are free and neither is a sales call. The check asks for your web address and nothing else; the call is thirty minutes and ends with an answer whether or not it leads to work for us. Ready to start instead? Tell us what you sell.