Yet Another Bigoted Credit Card Processing Company

I may have to start a label for Dishonorable Mentions...

I'm an FFL and have a small firearms sales and instruction business outside my employment as an HR Sith Lord. It's not much but it lets me continue to pursue my passion for promoting fun, safe shooting opportunities and communities at a higher level than I used to be able to. Being small, I operate on some pretty tight margins and was really taking it on the chin to accept credit/debit cards. It seems like once I'd made the commitment, everyone decided they'd rather pay cash.

So, after having battled with my former merchant services provider to cancel my agreement, I took the plunge and invested in a smartphone and a 2-year contract, with data plan, so that I could go with one of those companies that's been all the recent rage, Square. No more having the hide the POS terminal in a drawer around the home office. No more stiff monthly fees that I had to pay regardless of whether or not I'd had any sales (don't get me started on minimum monthly sales amounts).

All seemed right with the world and I even had a new business toy to play with (no, the iPhone's not going back!). Joyous!!!

And, then comes today's email letting me know that:

From time to time we update our agreement governing the use of Square's payment processing services, Square Reader, and Square Register.
...
The vast majority of changes result from either reorganization, clarification of language, the deletion of duplicative text, or other aesthetic changes, although there are a few substantive modifications. (See, for example, Section 6 [Your Square Account]...
...
The updated agreement will take effect on June 9, 2013. If you continue to use our services after June 9, 2013, you agree to the terms of the new agreement.

Okay... I've been burned by the fine print before... So I go in and decide I'd better check out Section 6.

Exhibit A is Section 6 from the soon-to-be-superseded agreement:

By creating a Square Account, you confirm that you are either a legal resident of the United States, a United States citizen, or a business entity authorized to conduct business by the state in which it operates. The Services and your Square Account may only be used in the fifty states of the United States of America and the District of Columbia. You may not export the Services directly or indirectly, and you acknowledge that the Services may be subject to export restrictions imposed by US law, including US Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. Chapter VII).

By creating a Square Account, you also confirm that you will not accept payments in connection with the following businesses or business activities: (1) any illegal activity, (2) buyers or membership clubs, (3) credit counseling or repair agencies, (4) credit protection or identity theft protection services, (5) direct marketing or subscription offers or services, (6) infomercial sales, (7) internet/mail order/telephone order pharmacies or pharmacy referral services (where fulfillment of medication is performed with an internet or telephone consultation, absent a physical visit with a physician including re-importation of pharmaceuticals from foreign countries), (8) multi-level marketing businesses, (9) inbound or outbound telemarketers, (10) prepaid phone cards or phone services, (11) rebate based businesses, (12) up-sell merchants, (13) bill payment services, (14) betting, including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting, and wagers at races, (15) financial institutions offering manual or automated cash disbursements, (16) financial institutions offering merchandise and services, (17) sales of money-orders or foreign currency by non-financial institutions, (18) wire transfer money orders, (19) high-risk merchants, including telemarketing merchants, (20) service station merchants, (21) automated fuel dispensers, (22) adult entertainment oriented products or services (in any medium, e.g., internet, telephone or printed material), (23) internet/mail order/telephone order firearm or weapon sales, (24) internet/mail order/telephone order cigarette or tobacco sales, (25) drug paraphernalia, (26) occult materials, (27) hate products, (28) escort services, and (29) bankruptcy attorneys.

By accepting this Agreement you confirm that you will satisfy these requirements.

Seems Reasonable, doesn't it?

Now, Exhibit B [emphasis mine] is the revised Section 6, effective June 9, 2013:

By creating a Square Account, you confirm that you are either a legal resident of the United States, a United States citizen, or a business entity authorized to conduct business by the state(s) in which you operate. The Services and your Square Account may only be used for business purposes in the fifty states of the United States of America and the District of Columbia. You may not export the Services directly or indirectly, and you acknowledge that the Services may be subject to export restrictions imposed by US law, including US Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. Chapter VII).

By creating a Square Account, you also confirm that you will not accept payments in connection with the following businesses or business activities: (1) any illegal activity or goods, (2) buyers or membership clubs, including dues associated with such clubs, (3) credit counseling or credit repair agencies, (4) credit protection or identity theft protection services, (5) direct marketing or subscription offers or services, (6) infomercial sales, (7) internet/mail order/telephone order pharmacies or pharmacy referral services (where fulfillment of medication is performed with an internet or telephone consultation, absent a physical visit with a physician including re-importation of pharmaceuticals from foreign countries), (8) unauthorized multi-level marketing businesses, (9) inbound or outbound telemarketers, (10) prepaid phone cards or phone services, (11) rebate based businesses, (12) up-sell merchants, (13) bill payment services, (14) betting, including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting, and wagers at races, (15) manual or automated cash disbursements, (16) prepaid cards, checks, or other financial merchandise or services, (17) sales of money-orders or foreign currency, (18) wire transfer money orders, (19) high-risk products and services, including telemarketing sales, (20) service station merchants, (21) automated fuel dispensers, (22) adult entertainment oriented products or services (in any medium, including internet, telephone, or printed material), (23) sales of (i) firearms, firearm parts or hardware, and ammunition; or (ii) weapons and other devices designed to cause physical injury (24) internet/mail order/telephone order cigarette or tobacco sales, (25) drug paraphernalia, (26) occult materials, (27) hate or harmful products, (28) escort services, (29) bankruptcy attorneys or collection agencies engaged in the collection of debt.

This may mean I have to drop accepting credit cards for a while.

What a crock of goody two-shoes crap! I'd heard this about PayPal and, apparently, this is true with Intuit Merchant Services as well.

I chose the term bigoted very carefully, because that is exactly what it is.Words beyond that just fail me at the moment.