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Offering the American Express (Amex) card brand to your users requires a contract addendum and compliance with the conditions below. For reference, Mangopay’s guidelines on its own accepted and prohibited business activities is available here. Mangopay complies with the Amex scheme rules irrespective of its own policy. The American Express conditions below are subject to change without notice at the request of American Express.

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Prohibited activities

American Express does not allow platforms operating in the following prohibited activities:
  • Bail/bail bond
  • Bankruptcy services
  • Check cashing/guarantee
  • Child pornography
  • Collection agencies
  • Commercial leasing
  • Credit financing
  • Credit restoration
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Debt repayment (past due or defaulted)
  • Escort services
  • Gambling, for example but not limited to: regulated (real money) betting, including casino, poker and sports betting; advance-deposit wagering, including horse/dog racing; fantasy sports; skill-based, pay-to-play games that award monetary prizes; games of chance that are not free to enter and award monetary prizes; non-government-owned or run lotteries; gambling chips; gambling credits
  • Investments, for example but not limited to: securities; investment on future contracts and commodities trading; equity crowdfunding
  • Licensed insolvency practitioners
  • Marijuana-related businesses
  • Online adult entertainment
  • Payday lending
  • Prostitution
  • Real estate down payments
  • Virtual currencies
  • Wire transfers in person (not online)

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Restricted activities

The following business activities are restricted and would require Mangopay to obtain written consent from American Express:
  • Auction houses
  • Bullion
  • Cash at point of sale / cash on card
  • Charities, crowdfunding and not-for-profit activities
  • Dating services
  • Digital file hosting (cyberlockers)
  • Door-to-door sales
  • Foreign exchange
  • Multi-level marketing or pyramid selling
  • Non-travel-related memberships / subscriptions
  • Payment facilitator
  • Payment intermediaries: back-to-back staged wallet transactions, buy-now-pay-later transactions or top-up transactions
  • Pharmacies (card not present)
  • Political party donations
  • Telemarketing – travel related
  • Timeshares
  • Tobacco and smokeless tobacco retailers (card not present)
  • Topup wallet (managed by merchants, not intermediaries)
  • Travel industry suppliers: air travel, cruise lines, car rentals, lodging, travel agencies and tour operators)
  • Wine futures

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Prohibited transactions

Your platform must not accept American Express cards for any of the following:
  • Damages, losses, penalties, or fines of any kind;
  • Costs or fees over the normal price of the goods or services (plus applicable taxes) or charges that card members have not specifically approved;
  • Overdue amounts, or amounts covering returned or stop-payment checks;
  • Adult digital content sold via Internet Electronic Delivery Transactions;
  • Cash;
  • Sales made by third parties or entities conducting business in industries other than your platform;
  • Amounts that do not represent bona fide sales of goods or services on your platform (e.g., the “funding” of an account without a corresponding provision of goods/services to another person is prohibited, as are purchases by the owners (or their family members) or employees of your platform contrived for cash flow purposes);
  • Illegal business transactions; or
  • Other items of which American Express may notify Mangopay.