Peptide compliance resources
Practical guidance with the sources attached.
01 / RUO & claim discipline
What FDA and FTC actually look at
Intended use, net impression, and why a research-use-only line does not decide either one.
Is a “research use only” disclaimer enough for a peptide website?
What FDA and FTC actually look at on a peptide storefront, why a research-use-only line does not decide intended use, and which parts of the site get cited.
Read the guideWhat did FDA actually say in the Gram Peptides warning letter, and why does it matter for my storefront?
A section-by-section walk through FDA’s March 2026 letter to Gram Peptides: what was reviewed, which claims were quoted, and why the RUO label did not control.
Read the guideWhat did FDA actually cite in the Xcel Research warning letter, and does “research subjects” wording change anything?
A section-by-section walk through FDA’s December 2024 letter to Xcel Research: what was reviewed, which claims were quoted, and why “test subjects” didn’t help.
Read the guideWhat did FDA actually say in the USApeptide.com warning letter, and why does it matter for my storefront?
A section-by-section read of FDA’s February 2025 letter to USApeptide.com: four disclaimers set aside, brand-name comparisons, and stacked misbranding theories.
Read the guideWhat counts as an implied health claim on a peptide website?
What the FTC counts as an implied health claim on a peptide storefront: net impression, disclosures, substantiation, testimonials, and how FTC differs from FDA.
Read the guideCan a product name alone be a health claim on a peptide website?
Can a peptide product name alone be a health claim? The naming patterns FDA has quoted, where names hide on a storefront, and what neutral naming looks like.
Read the guideDo reviews, photos, and dosing instructions on a research peptide site count as health claims?
Why reviews, before/after imagery, reconstitution instructions, and bundled syringes read as claims to FDA and FTC, with the letters and rules that say so.
Read the guideIf buyers agree at checkout that it’s “for research purposes only,” does that protect the site?
Why an “I am a researcher” checkbox, terms of sale, and every variant of research-only wording get set aside together when the product page says something else.
Read the guide02 / Peptide payment processing
Why the vertical is treated as high risk
Category codes, restricted-business policies, fund holds, and what a provider can and cannot be shown.
Why is my peptide business “high risk” when I have no chargebacks?
Processors restrict peptides by category in their published policies, before any chargeback exists. What they say, and why a clean record does not lift it.
Read the guideCan a peptide store use Stripe, and what does the policy actually say?
What Stripe's restricted businesses list and its FAQ actually say about peptides, research chemicals, and pseudo-pharmaceuticals, read line by line and dated.
Read the guideWhy did my processor freeze my peptide store’s funds, and what happens now?
What a hold, a reserve, and a closure mean in Stripe, PayPal, and Square's own terms, why a restricted category triggers them with no disputes, and what to do.
Read the guideWhat is the difference between a “compliance score” and an observable risk score, and why does it matter?
What a “compliance score” like Merit’s claims, why a site scanner cannot make that call, what RUO Clear’s Observable Risk Score measures, and how to judge one.
Read the guideHow long will my processor hold my peptide store’s funds?
What PayPal, Stripe, and Square's own terms state about hold and reserve duration, which publish numbers and which do not, and why holds track dispute windows.
Read the guideWhat merchant category code does a peptide store get, and why does it matter?
What an MCC is, who assigns it, which codes a peptide store tends to receive, and why Visa lists card-absent 5122 and 5912 as high integrity risk.
Read the guideHow long does it take to get card processing for a peptide store?
The order of steps from storefront fix to provider decision, what the merchant controls, what the provider controls, and why nobody publishes a number of days.
Read the guideWhat is a sealed, tamper-evident order record, and why would a processor want one?
What a processor asks for in a dispute, why an editable order log is weak evidence, and what a hashed, timestamped order record does and does not prove.
Read the guide03 / Platform & processor policies
What each processor's own text says
Stripe, WooPayments, Shopify Payments, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net, quoted and dated.
Can I sell peptides on WooCommerce, and what does WooPayments actually prohibit?
What WooPayments’ published policy says about peptides, how the gateway differs from the WooCommerce platform, and what to review before applying anywhere.
Read the guideWhy did Shopify Payments approve my peptide store and then shut it down?
Shopify Payments activates fast and reviews later. What its US terms say about banned businesses and reserves, and why a live peptide store can be shut.
Read the guideWhy did PayPal suspend or limit my peptide store after months of normal use?
What PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy and User Agreement say that reaches peptide sellers, how limitation works, and why it can arrive months after normal use.
Read the guideCan a peptide store use Square, and what does its policy actually say?
Square's Payment Terms never name peptides. What the unsupported-industries list does say, how Square describes review and termination, and what that means.
Read the guideCan a peptide store use Authorize.net?
Authorize.net is a gateway. The merchant account behind it is underwritten by an acquiring bank with its own category rules. Who decides what, in their words.
Read the guide04 / Storefront fixes
What a reviewer checks, and how to fix it
Checklists for names, disclaimers, bundles, testimonials, buyer controls, and evidence packages.
What does a reviewer actually check on a peptide storefront?
Surface by surface, what a reviewer checks on a peptide website: names, descriptions, imagery, bundles, reviews, checkout, disclaimer placement, metadata.
Read the guideWhere should the “research use only” disclaimer go on a peptide storefront, and where does it not help?
Where a research-use-only disclosure belongs on a peptide storefront, which placements the FTC treats as avoidable, and wording rules that keep it accurate.
Read the guideDoes a buyer attestation or researcher verification help with payment processing?
What a checkout attestation, credential check, or account gate can do for a peptide storefront, what it cannot, and how to record it so a reviewer can use it.
Read the guideAre peptide stores actually high-chargeback businesses?
No public source publishes a chargeback rate for peptide stores. What the card networks do publish, how the ratio is measured, and what really drives disputes.
Read the guideWhat should I fix in my WooCommerce store before applying for card processing?
Where claims hide inside a WooCommerce peptide store: product fields, theme copy, reviews, checkout terms, policy pages, and what to export before you apply.
Read the guideWhat does payment readiness look like on a Medusa peptide storefront?
Where claims live on a headless Medusa peptide store, why the processor’s policy applies regardless of the integration, and what to review before applying.
Read the guideWhat should a peptide merchant put in a processor evidence package, and what should stay out?
My storefront is custom-built. How does a readiness review work without a plugin?
Transparency pages
Inspect the method behind the guides
The same discipline the guides follow applies to the product: what was examined, how, and against which sources.