Charging for services alongside research-only products
Do not infer service coverage from permission to process the product catalog. Describe what the buyer receives, who supplies it, when the fee is charged and which business collects it. Compare those facts with the activity already disclosed to the provider and obtain a response covering the additional service. A working fee line, invoice or payment button shows collection functionality; it does not establish that the account's permitted scope includes that activity.
For: A research-only merchant planning to collect a separate service fee through an account already used for product sales.
Start with what the buyer is purchasing beyond the physical product. Identify the promised deliverable, the party responsible for completing it, and the record that would demonstrate completion. Read the service page, order terms and invoice description together. A charge called a service fee is too vague if those records describe materially different obligations.
Distinguish a separately sold service from an amount already included in a product's price or an operational charge attached to an order. Report the actual arrangement without choosing a label to fit the existing account. If the buyer can purchase the service without buying a product, state that fact. If the fee depends on a product order, state the dependency and what happens to the service when that order is canceled.
Keep the service description within the business's actual research-only offering. Do not add outcomes, qualifications or work the supplier has not agreed to provide. If the deliverable is still undefined, resolve that commercial description before asking the provider to assess an empty fee label.
Name the supplier and the collection event
Record whether the merchant performs the work, a separate supplier performs it under an agreement, or the merchant proposes to collect money for another business's service. Name each entity and its role. A common owner, shared website or existing supplier relationship does not by itself explain whose service the buyer purchases.
Then record the billing event: the agreed point when the buyer owes the fee and the actual channel intended to collect it. Identify whether the service is charged on its own, alongside the product payment or through continuing billing. This page does not select a billing method; the purpose is to expose the activity and timing the provider must evaluate.
Compare the refund and noncompletion terms with those billing events. Record who handles the buyer's request and who bears the service cost under the relevant agreement. A product return policy may leave the service fee unanswered. That unanswered term belongs in the disclosure sheet rather than being assumed to follow the physical goods.
Read eligibility at the scope the provider actually addressed
Stripe's business-information requirements say Stripe verifies what a business sells and whether it can support that activity, alongside identity and risk checks. Its prohibited and restricted businesses policy prohibits misleading descriptions and processing undisclosed products or services. Where Stripe grants a restricted-business approval, its policy says the approval is specific to the service and may be modified or revoked.
These statements do not approve every service sold by a research-only merchant, and they do not reject every such service. Nor do they establish that a prior product-related response covers a newly sold service. Put the additional deliverable, supplier and collection arrangement in front of the provider explicitly. If the merchant uses a different payment rail, that provider's own terms and written response govern the scope question.
Compare the new activity with the last disclosure and the provider's actual response. A reply naming only products, a reply to a different entity, or a general description of payment features leaves the new service unresolved. Preserve any restrictions or conditions in a response that does address it. Silence is not a scope extension.
Close the disclosure gap before relying on the account
Prepare one description that the website, invoice and provider inquiry can all support. Ask whether the named account can collect for the described service, supplier, channel and billing event, and what further review or terms are required. Keep the dated response with the description sent so later changes can be compared against the same facts.
The result is either a response that addresses the added activity and its conditions, or an explicit unresolved scope question. If collections have already begun, retain the real history and disclose that status accurately. Renaming the fee or moving it to a different payment page does not resolve an undisclosed activity.
Prism's research-only payment-processing consultation can help organize the business description and provider questions. Send the public service URL, product context and the uncertainty you want addressed. Scope, responsibilities, fees and terms are discussed before work; eligibility remains the provider's decision. The public inquiry receives email follow-up and does not submit an application or purchase a service.
Additional service disclosure sheet
Use the real offer and agreements, marking planned activity separately from existing sales. The completed sheet should let a provider understand exactly what changes from the product-only disclosure. Record missing terms and conditional replies without treating either as permission to collect.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Additional service disclosure sheet. The last column is for temporary notes.
Disclosure item
Evidence to use
Question the record must answer
Your record
Service deliverable
Evidence to useCurrent or proposed offer and its completion terms.
Question the record must answerWhat does the buyer receive for the separate fee, and what would establish that the work was delivered?
Supplier of service
Evidence to useSeller terms and any agreement with a separate performing business.
Question the record must answerWho sells, performs and takes responsibility for the service? Identify separate entities without merging their roles.
Billing event
Evidence to useActual invoice or proposed billing terms, with the intended collection channel.
Question the record must answerWhen is the fee due, is it separate or combined with products, and is any continuing billing involved?
Website description
Evidence to usePublic service page, checkout description and buyer terms.
Question the record must answerDo the public words describe the same deliverable and supplier as the provider inquiry?
Cancellation and noncompletion
Evidence to useTerms addressing the service fee and responsibility when work is not completed.
Question the record must answerDoes the service have an explicit treatment, or is the business relying on a product policy that does not address it?
Previous account scope
Evidence to useThe latest business disclosure and provider response available to the merchant.
Question the record must answerWas this activity actually described and addressed, or did the response concern only products?
Provider response
Evidence to useDated response linked to the exact added-service description sent.
Question the record must answerWhich entity, activity, billing channel and conditions does it cover, and which questions remain open?
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.
Limits
Stripe statements describe Stripe policy and review; they are not universal rules for every processing provider or an account decision about this merchant.
Defining a service and obtaining a provider response do not determine its legal status or establish qualifications to perform it.
Keep card numbers, private payment links, account credentials, bank details, identity documents and customer records out of the worksheet and public consultation form.
Stripe prohibited and restricted businesses — checked 2026-09-21. Prohibits misleading business information and undisclosed products or services; restricted-business approvals are service-specific and can be modified or revoked.
Stripe business information requirements — checked 2026-09-21. Stripe reviews business identification, what the business sells and whether it can support the category, and risk. This does not establish coverage for an unseen added service.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Processing preparation helps organize the business description and provider questions. Scope, fees and terms precede work; the provider decides eligibility and account terms.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. The form collects the website, products and question and receives email follow-up. It excludes card details, passwords and customer records and is not a purchase or processing application.
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