Payment Processing & Processor Eligibility

1. Payment launch status

Initial processor request: oral tea/infusion and reviewed non-consumable botanical products only. No inhalation, smoking, combustion, vaporization, tobacco, nicotine, cannabis, CBD, or controlled-substance products are included in that request.

This is a pre-launch operational draft. It is deliberately not represented as attorney-approved, and it must not be treated as a substitute for product-specific legal advice.

Stripe is the proposed initial payment processor, but payment processing is not yet enabled. The presence of Stripe integration code, a Stripe account, test credentials, or a successful test transaction does not mean Stripe has approved Lot & Leaf’s business or any product category.

Commerce requires separate legal approval, Stripe configuration, signed-webhook verification, and a recorded Stripe approval for the exact disclosed catalog version. A technical switch cannot override those requirements.

2. Truthful underwriting and product descriptions

Lot & Leaf must give Stripe accurate, current information about the operating entity, beneficial owner, website, products, intended uses, claims, average order value, fulfillment timing, refund policy, customer support, and every material change. It must not use a vague descriptor, omit a restricted category, route another merchant’s transactions, or process a product that was not disclosed and approved.

Website wording must describe the real product honestly. A disclaimer cannot reclassify a smokable product as tea, education, incense, or a generic botanical when its design, directions, imagery, name, merchandising, or expected use communicates inhalation. Processor rules apply to the transaction’s actual nature and the overall business presentation.

3. Stripe restricted-category boundary

Stripe’s published restricted-business list identifies tobacco products and herbal or vitamin electronic cigarettes and cigarettes as restricted categories requiring additional due diligence. It separately prohibits illegal drugs, cannabis businesses, certain CBD products, unsafe or harmfully marketed nutraceuticals, deceptive practices, and inaccurate or misleading information about the nature of a business.

Because Lot & Leaf discusses smokable herbs and has contemplated inhalation products, Stripe must review the complete site and confirm the permitted scope in writing. Unless Stripe expressly approves a specifically disclosed inhalation catalog, all inhalation-class products remain processor-blocked even if they are tobacco-free, nicotine-free, herbal, lawful, or otherwise available through a different channel.

Stripe may approve, decline, limit, monitor, modify, or revoke support. Lot & Leaf will not state or imply that Stripe endorses the products or their safety.

4. Checkout and card-data handling

The planned integration redirects customers to Stripe-hosted Checkout. Product identity, price, quantity, inventory, eligibility, shipping country, and the approved product scope remain server-authoritative. The application must never accept a client-supplied price as authoritative.

Full card numbers and card security codes should be entered into Stripe’s hosted interface and not stored in Lot & Leaf’s application database. Lot & Leaf may retain transaction identifiers, status, amount, currency, order linkage, limited fraud or support information, and the legal and catalog versions associated with the order.

Success-page redirects are not proof of payment. Only a webhook whose Stripe signature is verified against the unmodified request body may move an order to paid status. Webhook events must be processed idempotently so retries cannot create duplicate payments or fulfillment.

5. Authorization, fulfillment, and errors

A card authorization or completed Checkout page does not itself constitute acceptance or shipment. Lot & Leaf may hold or cancel an order for address, inventory, legal, safety, fraud, processor, pricing, recall, or eligibility reasons and will issue any required reversal or refund through the approved payment workflow.

Fulfillment must not begin from a browser redirect. It may begin only after the order, payment, inventory reservation, state matrix, product release, and fraud checks are in an approved state. Processor errors must be logged without exposing credentials or sensitive payment data.

6. Refunds, disputes, and descriptors

Refund timing and eligibility follow the Returns policy and non-waivable law. A refund is not complete until the processor confirms it. Customers should receive an accurate receipt and a recognizable statement descriptor tied to the operating entity or Lot & Leaf DBA.

Chargebacks and payment disputes must be answered with truthful transaction, fulfillment, policy, consent, and customer-service records. Lot & Leaf will not fabricate evidence, pressure a customer to withdraw a valid dispute, or use misleading billing descriptors.

7. Changes and alternative processors

If Stripe declines or limits the catalog, the affected products remain unavailable through Stripe. Lot & Leaf may narrow the storefront to an approved scope or evaluate another lawful processor that knowingly supports the disclosed category. It will not split or disguise transactions to evade Stripe’s rules.

A replacement processor requires its own underwriting, technical, privacy, security, refund, dispute, descriptor, and product-scope review. Payment alternatives do not cure an illegal product, an unsupported claim, or incomplete business compliance.