Compliance has become a very important part of our operation and we have to be very mindful of the rules, regulations, and requirements of various bodies governing our operation including the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA), the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), our partner banks and the card associations (VISA, Mastercard).
Compliance is categorised into
1. no processing through PayFast and
2. non-card processing
Card processing includes aggregated card processing (Visa and Mastercard), debit card processing and the Masterpass cashless app (debit, credit or cheque cards)
Non-card processing methods include Instant EFT, Mobicred and Bitcoin
Non-card methods are generally classified as non-risk methods as they cannot be disputed/reversed and so have less regulatory rules and risk product profiling.
What Goods and Services are prohibited for processing through PayFast:
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Securities, business opportunities, franchises, multi-level marketing (pyramid schemes)
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The pre-order of goods
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Illegal goods or services, including but not limited to counterfeit or intellectual infringing goods or services
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Pirated content or file sharing
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Independent financial adviser services
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Key-entry telecom services (long distance services)
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Adult entertainment, sexually oriented or pornographic merchants, including but not limited to: Sexual contact sites, escort agencies, pornography, adult pictures and photos and miscellaneous adult entertainment (not elsewhere mentioned)
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Any form of direct marketing activities (such as, but not limited to inbound and/or outbound telemarketing activities) and travel-related services
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Prescription or non-prescription (over-the-counter) medicines
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No controlled substances or herbs and botanicals used to imitate the effects of actual controlled substances, including hallucinogenic, stimulant, or opioid-like effects.
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Wholesale distribution of prescription drugs, proprietary drugs, vitamins, druggists’ sundries and toiletries, antiseptics, bandages, pharmaceuticals, and biological or related products. Retail sale is allowed
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Tobacco and tobacco accessories
A note on tobacco and tobacco accessories: The sale of tobacco over the internet is not allowed by South African Law under the Tobacco Control Act ( (a) No person shall sell, offer to sell, supply, distribute or buy any tobacco product through the postal services, the internet or any other electronic media. This would include the sale of cigarettes, cigars, hubbly tobacco and tobacco accessories such as hookahs
Goods and Services below are prohibited for card processing. Processing methods allowed are EFT, Mobicred and Bitcoin:
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Bureau de change
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Commodity investments
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Cryptocurrency
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Hemp and CBD products
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eCigarettes vaping and vaping accessories
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Mobile phone insurance
If your business is in the above list of 'prohibited for card processing' please contact us on support@payfast.co.za when you register with PayFast so we can enable only the non-card payment methods on your account.