Legal

Merchant Terms and Conditions


The Merchant Terms and Conditions described here in constitute an integral part of the Merchant Services Agreement (“Agreement”) between you (if your business is a sole proprietorship) or your business (if you are signing up on behalf of a corporation or other legal entity) (the “Merchant”, “you”, or “your”), PointCheckout Holding Company Limited and its subsidiaries (“PointCheckout”), and its third-party payment processor (“Processor”) (collectively with PointCheckout referred to as “we”, “our” or “us”).

 

PointCheckout's products and services are provided by PointCheckout Holding Company Limited, its subsidiaries, and its affiliates. Please read the following Merchant Terms and Conditions carefully before registering on, accessing, browsing, downloading or using the PointCheckout website located at pointcheckout.com, and all associated sites linked to pointcheckout.com, or any of the PointCheckout mobile applications or any similar platform (hereinafter collectively, the “PointCheckout Platform”).

 

If you are entering into this Agreement on behalf of a corporation or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to bind such entity to the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, in which case the terms "you", "your", "user" or "customer" shall refer to such corporate entity. If, after your electronic acceptance of this Agreement, PointCheckout finds that you do not have the legal authority to bind such corporate entity, you will be personally responsible for the obligations contained in this Agreement, including, but not limited to, the payment obligations. PointCheckout shall not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from PointCheckout’s reliance on any instruction, notice, document or communication reasonably believed by PointCheckout to be genuine and originating from an authorized representative of your corporate entity. If there is reasonable doubt about the authenticity of any such instruction, notice document or communication, PointCheckout reserves the right (but undertakes no duty) to require additional authentication from you. You further agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement for transactions entered into by you, anyone acting as your agent, and anyone who uses your account or the Services, whether or not authorized by you.

SECTION A: THE POINTCHECKOUT PAYMENTS SERVICES

1.              OUR ROLE

The PointCheckout Payments service (“PointCheckout Payments” or “Service”) is a service that helps you accept and process credit card, debit card and other types of card payments or online payment methods (collectively “payments”) from your customers in exchange for your products and services for internet-based transactions (“Transactions"). The Processor provides the payment services to you on behalf of PointCheckout.  PointCheckout reserves the right to change the Processor, subject to the terms of our agreement with Processor. Neither PointCheckout nor the designated Processor are a bank or a money services business (“MSB”) nor do they offer banking or MSB services. In addition, we do not assume any liability for the products or services purchased by and sold to customers using our Service. You will be required to register for a Payments Account to use the Payments Services. This account allows you to review card transactions that are in the process of settling from Payment Networks (as defined below) and us to your designated settlement bank account.

 

 

2.              OUR SERVICES

PointCheckout and Processor provide the payment software to enable you to use the Payments Services. We reserve the right to require you to install or update any and all software updates to continue using the Service. The foregoing offering is separate and distinct from any other services that are provided by PointCheckout under separate terms and conditions, which are independent of this Agreement. Our Payments Services may also include tools to help you manage recurring and subscription billing charges for your products and services. It is your responsibility to obtain your customers’ consent to be billed on a recurring basis in compliance with applicable legal requirements and Visa Europe Ltd, Visa U.S.A., Inc., Visa Canada Inc. and Visa International (collectively, “Visa”) and MasterCard International Incorporated (“MasterCard”), Discover, American Express or other applicable card network (collectively, the “Payment Networks”) payment rules.

 

3.              AUTHORIZATION FOR HANDLING OF FUNDS

By accepting this Agreement, you authorize PointCheckout to hold, receive, and disburse funds on your behalf when such funds from your card transactions settle from the Payment Networks. You further authorize Pointcheckout to determine the manner of how your card transaction settlement funds should be disbursed to you (such as by wire transfer or sending a paper check payable to you) and the timing of such disbursements. You also authorize PointCheckout to hold settlement funds in a deposit account at a local financial institution pending disbursement of the funds to you in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. You agree you are not entitled to any interest or other compensation associated with the settlement funds held in the deposit account or  pending settlement to your designated bank settlement account, that you have no right to direct that deposit account, and that you may not assign any interest or grant any security interest or lien in the settlement funds or the deposit account. From time to time, we may make available to you, information in the Payments Account regarding anticipated settlement amounts that we have received on your behalf from the Payment Networks and are being held by us pending settlement. The settlement information reflected in the Payments Account is for reporting and informational purposes only and does not create any ownership or other rights in settlement funds, which are provisional credits only, until such funds are credited to your designated bank settlement account. Your authorizations set forth herein will remain in full force and effect until your Payments Account is closed or terminated.

 

4.              PAYMENT METHODS

The PointCheckout payment processing service supports the most popular payment cards with a Payment Network logo, including credit, debit, pre-paid, or gift cards. The PointCheckout payment processing service may also support other payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, JoMoPay, PayPal, reward point payments, or other local payment methods. PointCheckout will only process card transactions that have been authorized by the applicable Payment Network, card issuer, or Processor. You are solely responsible for verifying the identity of users and of the eligibility of a presented payment card used to purchase your products and services, and PointCheckout does not guarantee or assume any liability for transactions authorized and completed which may later be reversed or charged back (See Chargeback’s section below). You are solely responsible for all reversed or charged back transactions, regardless of the reason for, or timing of, the reversal or chargeback. PointCheckout may add or remove one or more types of payments as a supported payment card any time without prior notice to you.

 

5.              CUSTOMER SERVICE

PointCheckout will use its commercially reasonable efforts to provide you with customer support to resolve any issues relating to your Payments Account, your card payment processing and use of our software, and the distribution of funds to your designated bank settlement account. You assume the sole and exclusive responsibility for providing customer service or support to your customers for any and all issues related to your products and services, including, but not limited to, issues arising from the processing of Cards through the Service.

 

6.              TAXES AND REPORTING

You have sole and exclusive responsibility to determine what, if any, taxes apply to the sale of your goods and services and/or the payments you receive in connection with your use of the Payments Services ("Taxes"). It is solely your responsibility to assess, collect, report, or remit the correct taxes to the proper tax authority, whether in customers’ jurisdictions, your jurisdiction or elsewhere. We are not obligated to, nor will we, determine whether Taxes apply, or calculate, collect, report, or remit any Taxes to any tax authority, arising from any Transaction. You acknowledge that we may make certain reports to tax authorities regarding transactions that we process and merchants to which we provide card payment services. You hereby indemnify and hold PointCheckout harmless from and against any and all liability related to Taxes and filings made by PointCheckout in respect thereof. You agree that we may send you any tax-related information electronically.

 

7.              YOUR CUSTOMERS

If prohibited by law, you will not impose any fee or surcharge on a customer that seeks to use an eligible Card. You will provide an informational slip or receipt to your customer at the conclusion of the Transaction that includes all information required under Payment Network Rules and applicable law.

 

8.              SECURITY

PointCheckout and Processor maintain commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical procedures to protect all the personal information regarding you and your customers that is stored in our servers from unauthorized access and accidental loss or modification. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures or use such personal information for improper purposes.

 

9.              DATA SECURITY

You are fully responsible for the security of data in your possession (including your website, store, or any other medium). You agree to comply with all applicable laws and rules in connection with your collection, security, and dissemination of any personal, financial, Card, or transaction information (defined as “Data”) in your possession. You agree that at all times you shall be compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI-DSS”) and the Payment Application Data Security Standards (“PA-DSS”), as applicable.

 

10.           AUDIT RIGHT

If we believe that a security breach or compromise of data has occurred, PointCheckout may require you to have a third party auditor that is approved by PointCheckout conduct a security audit of your systems and facilities and issue a report to be provided to PointCheckout, financial banks, and the Payment Networks.

 

11.           PRIVACY

Your privacy and the protection of your data are very important to us. PointCheckout its Processor to provide the PointCheckout Payments, and both PointCheckout and its Processor may collect or receive certain personal data about you and your customers. For more information about PointCheckout’s privacy practices, you should review https://www.pointcheckout.com/en/legal/privacy/privacy-policy. Reviewing these policies will help you understand how we collect, use, and safeguard the information you provide to us.

 

12.           PRIVACY OF OTHERS

You represent to us that you are in compliance with all applicable privacy laws, you have obtained all necessary rights and consents under applicable law to allow PointCheckout and/or the Processor to collect, use, retain, and disclose any Cardholder Data that you provide to, or authorize us to collect, including information that we may collect directly from you of your customers via cookies or other means and to use that data to provide the Payments Services (e.g., to process Transactions and to screen for fraud or compliance purposes).

Further, you represent that we will not be in breach of any such laws by collecting, receiving, using, and disclosing such information in connection with the Payments Services as described in our Privacy Policy. As between the parties to this Agreement, you are solely responsible for disclosing to your customers that we will collect and process their Cardholder Data in our supply of the Payments Services to you, and that in so doing we may transmit or possess it outside of your or their jurisdiction, and that it may be subject to disclosure as required by applicable law.

If you receive information about others, including cardholders and other customers, through the use of the Payments Services, you must keep such information confidential and only use it in connection with the Payments Services or as otherwise permitted by the subject of such information.

You may not disclose or distribute any such information to a third party or use any such information for marketing purposes unless you receive the express consent of the subject thereof to do so. You may not disclose Cardholder Data to any third party other than in connection with processing a Transaction requested by your customer.

 

13.           RESTRICTED USE

You are required to obey all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to your use of the Payments Services (e.g., including those governing financial services, consumer protections, unfair competition, anti-discrimination, or false advertising). In addition to any other requirements or restrictions set forth in this Agreement, you shall not: (i) utilize the credit available on any Card to provide cash advances to cardholders; (ii) submit any Transaction for processing that does not arise from your sale of goods or service to a customer; (iii) act as a payment intermediary or aggregator or otherwise resell the Payments Services on behalf of any third party; (iv) send what you believe to be potentially fraudulent authorizations or fraudulent Transactions; or, (v) use the Payments Services or the Payment Processing services in a manner that a Payment Network reasonably believes to be an abuse of the Payment Network or a violation of the Payment Network Rules.

You further agree not to permit any third party to do any of the following: (i) access or attempt to access our systems, programs, or data that are not made available for public use; (ii) copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, resell, or distribute, in any way, material from us; (iii) permit any third party to use and benefit from the Payments Services via a rental, lease, timesharing, service bureau, or other arrangement; (iv) transfer any rights granted to you under this Agreement; (v) work around any of the technical limitations of the Payments Services, use any tool to enable features or functionalities that are otherwise disabled in the Payments Services, or decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer the Payments Services, except to the extent that such restriction is expressly prohibited by law; (vi) perform or attempt to perform any actions that would interfere with the proper working of the Payments Services, prevent access to or use of the Payments Services by our other users, or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; or, (vii) otherwise use the Payments Services except as expressly allowed under this section.

 

14.           SUSPICION OF UNAUTHORIZED OR ILLEGAL USE

We reserve the right to not provide the Payments Services (including authorizing or settling) in respect of any Transaction you submit that we believe, in our sole discretion, is in violation of this Agreement, any other PointCheckout or Processor agreement, or exposes you, PointCheckout, the Processor, or any other third party to actual or potential risk or harm, including, but not limited to, fraud and other criminal acts. You are hereby granting us authorization to share information with law enforcement about you, your Transactions, or your Payments Account.

 

15.           PAYMENT NETWORK RULES

The Payment Networks have established guidelines, bylaws, rules, and regulations in the form of the Payment Network Rules. You are required to comply with all applicable Payment Network Rules. The Payment Network Rules for Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are available on the Internet at the following links: Visa,  MasterCard and American Express. The Payment Networks may amend the Payment Network Rules at any time and without notice to us or to you. Insofar as the terms of this Agreement and/or the Processor Terms are inconsistent with the Payment Network Rules, the Payment Network Rules shall prevail. We reserve the right to amend this Agreement at any time, with notice to you, as may be necessary to comply with the Payment Network Rules.

 

16.           DISCLOSURES AND NOTICES

You agree that PointCheckout can provide disclosures and notices regarding the Payments Services to you by posting such disclosures and notices on our website, emailing them to the email address listed in your Payments Account, or mailing them to the address listed in your Payments Account. You also agree that electronic disclosures and notices have the same meaning and effect as if we had provided you with a paper copy. Such disclosures and notices shall be considered to be received by you within twenty-four (24) hours of the time it is posted to our website or emailed to you unless we receive notice that the email was not delivered.

 

SECTION B: GETTING A PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

1.              REGISTRATION

PointCheckout Payments is only made available to persons in PointCheckout territories that operate a business selling goods and services. You may not use the Payments Services for non-commercial, personal, family, or household purposes. To use PointCheckout Payments for your business, you will first have to register for a PointCheckout Payments Service account (“Payments Account”). When you register for a Payments Account, we will collect information such as your name, your business or trade name, your address, email, phone number, business identification or registration number, banking information, and certain other information that we require. We may also collect personal information (including name, birth date, and government-issued identification number) about your beneficial owners or principals.

You may register as an individual (sole proprietor) or as a corporation or other legal entity. If you register as a corporation or other legal entity, you must provide information about the owners or principals of the business, you must be authorized to act on behalf of such entity, have the authority to bind the entity to this Agreement, and you must agree to this Agreement on behalf of such entity. If you have so agreed, the term "Merchant", “you” or “your” will mean you, the natural person acting as a business, if you are a sole proprietor, or if you have registered as a corporation or other legal entity, it will mean that entity. You understand that by registering for a PointCheckout Service Account, you are also registering for a Processor Account under the Processor Terms and that you are simultaneously providing your information to PointCheckout for the purpose of opening a Pointcheckout Service Account, and to the Processor for the purpose of establishing your Processor Account.

 

2.              COMPANY DESCRIPTIONS AND SITE URL

As part of your registration, you must provide the name under which you do business (which may be the business’ legal name or a "doing business name") (e.g. MyStore Online Widgets) and a billing descriptor. These two fields and your site URL (e.g. www.mystore.com) may appear in your customers’ credit or debit card statements. To avoid customer confusion and Transaction disputes it is important that you enter a description that clearly identifies your business. You hereby agree to indemnify us from any costs, liabilities, losses, or expenses from disputes due to your failure to do so.

 

3.              VERIFICATION AND UNDERWRITING

To verify your identity, we will require additional information including your business EIN, TRN or Tax ID, social security number, and date of birth. We may also ask for additional information to help verify your identity and assess your business risk including business invoices, government-issued identification, business licenses, or financial statements. We may request your permission to do a physical inspection at your place of business and to examine books and records that pertain to your compliance with this Agreement. Your failure to comply with any of these requests within five (5) days may result in suspension or termination of your Payments Account. You authorize us to retrieve additional information about you from third parties and other identification services. PointCheckout may use your information to apply for card merchant acquiring accounts on your behalf with certain Payment Networks (such as American Express).

 

After we have collected and verified all your information, PointCheckout will review your account and determine if you are eligible to use the Payments Services. PointCheckout may also share your information with our payment processors and partner financial institutions, each of which may also make a determination regarding your eligibility. We will notify you once your account has been either approved or deemed ineligible for use of the Payments Services.

 

By accepting the terms of this Agreement, you are providing us with authorization to retrieve information about you by using third parties, including credit bureaus and other information providers. You acknowledge that such information retrieved may include your name, address history, credit history, and other data about you. We may periodically update this information to determine whether you continue to meet the eligibility requirements for a PointCheckout Service Account.

 

You agree that PointCheckout is permitted to contact and share information about you and your application (including whether you are approved or declined), and your Payments Account with the payment processors. This includes sharing information: (i) about Transactions for regulatory or compliance purposes; (ii) for use in connection with the management and maintenance of the Payments Services; (iii) to create and update our and their customer records about you, and to assist us and them in better serving you; and, (iv) to conduct our and their risk management process.

 

4.              PROHIBITED BUSINESSES

The following categories of businesses and business practices are prohibited from using the Payments Services (“Prohibited Businesses”). Prohibited Business categories may be imposed by law or through the Payment Network Rules, by PointCheckout or the requirements of the Processor’s Financial Services Providers. The types of businesses listed below are representative but not exhaustive. If you are uncertain as to whether your business is a Prohibited Business or have questions about how these requirements apply to you, please contact us. We may add to or update the Prohibited Business list at any time.

 

FINANCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Investment and credit services

Securities brokers; mortgage consulting or debt reduction services; credit counseling or repair; investment services; real estate opportunities; lending instruments

Money and legal services

Financial institutions, money transmitters and money services businesses, check cashing, wire transfers, money orders; currency exchanges or dealers; bill-pay services; crowdfunding; insurance; bail bonds; collections agencies; law firms collecting funds for any purpose other than to pay fees owed to the firm for services provided by the firm (e.g., firms cannot use PointCheckout to hold client funds, collection or settlement amounts, disputed funds, etc.)

Virtual currency or stored value

Virtual currency that can be monetized, resold, or converted to physical or digital products and services or otherwise exit the virtual world (e.g., Bitcoin); cryptocurrency mining equipment; initial coin offerings; digital wallets, sale of stored value or credits maintained, accepted and issued by anyone other than the seller

 

IP INFRINGEMENT, REGULATED OR ILLEGAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Adult content and services

Pornography and other obscene materials (including literature, imagery, and other media) depicting nudity or explicit sexual acts; sites offering any sexually-related services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per-view, adult live chat features; sexually-oriented items (e.g., adult toys); adult video stores and sexually-oriented massage parlors; gentleman’s clubs, topless bars, and strip clubs; sexually-oriented dating services

Counterfeit or unauthorized goods

Counterfeit goods; unauthorized sale or resale of a brand name or designer products or services; sale of goods or services that are illegally imported or exported

Gambling

Lotteries; bidding fee auctions; sports forecasting or odds making for a monetary or material prize; fantasy sports leagues with cash prizes; internet gaming; contests; sweepstakes; games of chance including legal or illegal forms of gambling, internet gambling, sweepstakes and contests with buy-in or cash prize; charity sweepstakes and raffles for the explicit purpose of fundraising

Intellectual property or proprietary rights infringement

Sales, distribution, or access to counterfeit music, movies, software, or other licensed materials without the appropriate authorization from the rights holder; any product or service that directly infringes or facilitates infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, or proprietary or privacy rights of any third party; use of PointCheckout intellectual property without express consent from PointCheckout; use of the PointCheckout name or logo, including use of PointCheckout trade or service, or in a manner that otherwise harms PointCheckout or the PointCheckout brand; any action that implies an untrue endorsement by or affiliation with PointCheckout.

Regulated or illegal products or services

Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses; sale of tobacco, e-cigarettes, and e-liquid; online pharmacies; prescription-only products including card-not-present pharmaceuticals; peptides and research chemicals; fake references or ID-providing services; age-restricted goods or services; weapons and munitions; gunpowder and other explosives; fireworks and related goods; toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials; products and services with varying legal status on a state-by-state basis; goods or services, the sale of which is illegal under applicable law in the jurisdictions to which your business is targeted or directed

Sanctions

Use of the Payments Services or use of PointCheckout Payments in or for the benefit of a country, organization, entity, or person embargoed or blocked by any government, including any person/entity on government sanctions lists

 

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THAT ARE OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW OR OUR FINANCIAL PARTNERS

Aggregation

Engaging in any form of licensed or unlicensed aggregation of funds owed to third parties, factoring, or other activities intended to obfuscate the origin of funds; payment facilitation


Last Updated  March 17, 2021