Honestly discouraged building an adult site — can't find a payment processor that sticks

[iopyyt]

Spent the last couple of years building an adult subscription site from scratch. Custom platform, recurring billing model, the whole thing.

The hardest part isn't development. It's finding a payment processor that won't shut you down.

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while. Then one day they banned us with no warning and held our funds. That's when you realize: conventional gateways aren't safe for an adult business. You can't build anything on top of them — at any moment they can decide to censor you and take your money.

We barely get chargebacks. The problem isn't risk — it's censorship.

Crypto is often suggested as an alternative, but it kills conversion. No recurring billing, and most people don't understand it or can't be bothered. Credit cards are still what works, but finding a bank that will process for adult is nearly impossible.

[CarlosTheGaucho]

Stripe won't work for adult, I can't imagine they'd even approve anything adult.

Crypto will have a minimum coverage.

If you have a legit site incl. all the documentation for the content, it shouldn't be that difficult to get billing approved.

If you'd want a recommendation

Hit me up with some basic info, such as:

- product
- country of incorporation
- volume

And I can point you towards the right direction.

[fuzebox]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while.

Why don't you ask ChatGPT to list all the adult payment processors while you're getting it to write your GFY posts?

[SecretEmpire]

You'd probably have to use ancient CC processors like ccbill/epoch unless you were able to get your own merchant account approved.

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

Spent the last couple of years building an adult subscription site from scratch. Custom platform, recurring billing model, the whole thing.

The hardest part isn't development. It's finding a payment processor that won't shut you down.

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while. Then one day they banned us with no warning and held our funds. That's when you realize: conventional gateways aren't safe for an adult business. You can't build anything on top of them — at any moment they can decide to censor you and take your money.

We barely get chargebacks. The problem isn't risk — it's censorship.

Crypto is often suggested as an alternative, but it kills conversion. No recurring billing, and most people don't understand it or can't be bothered. Credit cards are still what works, but finding a bank that will process for adult is nearly impossible.

That's when you realize: conventional gateways aren't safe for an adult business.

Most people do that research before they build their sites

But Epoch or Segpay should solve that issue for you.

And if you do enough revenue, you can get your own merchant account for less %

[plsureking]

spent a couple years building a paysite by scratch. didn't bother looking up payment processing.

well at least you're here now.....

#

[fuzebox]

I have $10 on "the existing adult processors are too strict and want your blood type and your first born before they'll accept you"

[Rochard]

Let's see if I have this correctly... You've been here since Oct 2025 and just decided to post today using Chat GPT?

Fake nick.

[CaptainHowdy]

Originally Posted by Rochard

Let's see if I have this correctly... You've been here since Oct 2025 and just decided to post today using Chat GPT?

Fake nick.

The dashes gave it away . . .

[CharliGo]

I feel your pain 100%.
Building the actual platform is the "easy" part nowadays. The real war is finding a payment processor that doesn’t fuck you over randomly. Stripe, PayPal, and most big names treat adult content like radioactive waste - they’ll happily take your volume until one day they decide they don’t want it anymore and freeze everything.
You’re not alone. A ton of serious adult site owners have the exact same story: months or years of smooth sailing, then sudden ban + funds held for 90–180 days.

[SpicyM]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while. Then one day they banned us with no warning and held our funds.

If you've ever bothered reading their terms (or at least asking them), you would know that they don't allow porn.

Originally Posted by iopyyt

conventional gateways aren't safe for an adult business.

No shit.

[Peace]

Adult billing is often harder than the site build. I would not build the whole business around one processor.

Have a backup path, keep chargeback/refund rules tight, and separate the product so you can switch billing without rebuilding everything.

[Dmitry]

Yeah, that’s the adult problem in one sentence: the tech is the easy part, the payment stack is the part that can disappear overnight. What usually sticks longer than Stripe is a real high-risk acquiring setup through an adult-friendly processor, ideally with one backup route already integrated before you need it.

The other thing people miss is that “low chargebacks” doesn’t automatically matter if the business is category-sensitive or the provider’s compliance team gets spooked by content, descriptors, or even a sudden traffic spike. I’d also plan for fallback billing now: card + one alternative rail, with account recovery and dunning built in so you’re not trapped if one partner drops you.

If you’re in the middle of migrating billing rails, this guide may help you think through the messy parts: https://zyrox.io/blog/switching-from...crypto-billing.

[Retiree]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

Spent the last couple of years building an adult subscription site from scratch. Custom platform, recurring billing model, the whole thing.

You spent years on something that can be done in a day?

[EddyTheDog]

Look up GFY user Sly - He will sort you out...

[Retiree]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while.

You should try Paypal next.

[Dmitry]

PayPal could block as well.
You can be blocked even if you are using adult payment processing just because someone complained or whatever. The only solution is to use multiple billing platform.

It's the same as making an online service without a disaster recovery plan - the risk is too high.

[adultinnovation]

investing money into building a paysite in 2026 is the dumbest thing ever

i mean if it was the year 2000 - 2012...

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by iopyyt

Spent the last couple of years building an adult subscription site from scratch. Custom platform, recurring billing model, the whole thing.

The hardest part isn't development. It's finding a payment processor that won't shut you down.

We were using Stripe. It worked fine for a while. Then one day they banned us with no warning and held our funds. That's when you realize: conventional gateways aren't safe for an adult business. You can't build anything on top of them — at any moment they can decide to censor you and take your money.

We barely get chargebacks. The problem isn't risk — it's censorship.

Crypto is often suggested as an alternative, but it kills conversion. No recurring billing, and most people don't understand it or can't be bothered. Credit cards are still what works, but finding a bank that will process for adult is nearly impossible.

Stripe's Terms of Service link is https://stripe.com/en-ca/legal/restricted-businesses and it tells you what you can and cannot use their services for. This includes:

Adult content and services (see the FAQs for additional details)
Adult services, including prostitution, escorts, pay-per-view, sexual massages, fetish services, mail-order brides and adult live-chat features
Adult video stores
Gentleman's clubs, topless bars and strip clubs
Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery and other media) designed for the purpose of sexual gratification
Any artificial-intelligence generated content that meets the above criteria

Next, saying "chargebacks are few" doesn't really say anything. Most payment processors have a 1% cap on chargebacks. Idealy, you should never have chargebacks. It's always a good idea to invest some time to talking to customers to find out why they are upset, then offering them a refund - this is much better for you as a merchant.

Complaining about payment processors is always the wrong approach. What you want to do is to consider your payment processor as your business partner and not as any kind of pain in the ass that you have to deal with.

A good payment processor will work with you to make sure your site is compliant with all MC/Visa Rules, and help you to grow your business. The more money they can make with you, the more interested they will be to help you to grow your business, which is always what you want in a good business partner.

Do this: Go to all the usual payment processors for adult content: CCBill, Segpay, Netbilling, Mobiuspay, Epoch, etc. See my payment processor comparision at https://2much.net/payment-processors/comparison.php. READ THEIR TOS. Reach out to their reps and ask your questions. If your ideal processor is a little pricey, ask if they can be flexible to help get you started. Don't fuck around with them - be completely honest when you describe your site and content. Do exactly what they say when it comes to content moderation, policies, 2257, etc and you'll be good to go.

Good luck!

[kuprum]

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It is discussed individually.

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[CurrentlySober]

Have you tried getting them to purchase apple gift cards and send you the codes?

[INever]

Originally Posted by CurrentlySober

Have you tried getting them to purchase apple gift cards and send you the codes?

tested the gift card process at a ~$150 price point and it validated. got buyers.

[CurrentlySober]

Originally Posted by INever

tested the gift card process at a ~$150 price point and it validated. got buyers.