# State of RUO Payments 2026: What 614 Merchant Posts Say

> Original data: 614 r/PaymentProcessing posts that mention peptides, Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, counted by keyword. Complaint shares by year, the method, and its limits.

Updated: 2026-10-31 · https://researchpay.io/blog/state-of-ruo-payments-2026

Finding a processor at all is the top problem. Of 614 public posts that mention peptides, 340 (55%) match words for searching for a processor or being denied. Next come Stripe, PayPal, Square or Shopify by name (117, 19%), closed or frozen accounts (106, 17%), fees (97, 16%), held funds (65, 11%) and chargebacks (62, 10%).

Every number on this page is a keyword-match count from 614 posts on r/PaymentProcessing, posted Nov 9, 2023 to Oct 10, 2026. One post can match several themes. These are counts of what people wrote, not a survey of all merchants.

## How was this counted?

1. We collected 7,436 public posts from [r/PaymentProcessing](https://www.reddit.com/r/PaymentProcessing/), dated Mar 7, 2022 to Oct 13, 2026 (UTC).
2. We kept posts whose title or body contains the word "peptide". That leaves 614 posts, dated Nov 9, 2023 to Oct 10, 2026.
3. We matched each post's title and body against a fixed word list per theme, shown in the table below. A post counts once per theme it matches.
4. We counted matches per year and divided by that year's peptide posts.
5. Nobody was contacted. No post was edited. Deleted posts that kept only a title were matched on the title.

## What do peptide merchants post about most?

| Theme | Words matched (examples) | Posts | Share of 614 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Looking for a processor or denied | high risk, denied, declined, rejected, looking for, need a processor, recommend | 340 | 55% |
| Stripe, PayPal, Square or Shopify named | the four company names | 117 | 19% |
| Account closed, banned or frozen | frozen, terminated, shut down, banned, suspended, deactivated | 106 | 17% |
| Fees or rates | fee, fees, rate, rates, pricing | 97 | 16% |
| Reserves or held funds | reserve, held funds, funds on hold, withheld | 65 | 11% |
| Chargebacks or disputes | chargeback, dispute | 62 | 10% |
| Scam or bad broker | scam, ripped off | 19 | 3% |

## How did complaint shares change by year?

Peptide posts grew fast: 1 in 2023, 18 in 2024, 140 in 2025 and 455 in 2026 through Oct 10. Shares for 2023 and 2024 rest on very few posts, so read them loosely.

| Theme | 2024 (18 posts) | 2025 (140 posts) | 2026 (455 posts) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Looking for a processor or denied | 8 (44%) | 71 (51%) | 261 (57%) |
| Stripe, PayPal, Square or Shopify named | 3 (17%) | 21 (15%) | 93 (20%) |
| Account closed, banned or frozen | 1 (6%) | 20 (14%) | 85 (19%) |
| Fees or rates | 0 (0%) | 15 (11%) | 82 (18%) |
| Reserves or held funds | 0 (0%) | 12 (9%) | 53 (12%) |
| Chargebacks or disputes | 1 (6%) | 12 (9%) | 49 (11%) |
| Scam or bad broker | 1 (6%) | 0 (0%) | 18 (4%) |

Every theme's share rose from 2025 to 2026. Closed or frozen accounts went from 14% to 19% of peptide posts, and fees from 11% to 18%.

## What are the limits of this data?

- One public forum. People post when something has gone wrong, so problems are overrepresented.
- Keyword matching misses posts that use other words and catches some that use the words in passing.
- Posts are not verified. A post describes one person's account of events.
- Some posts are from brokers or agents, not merchants. They were not removed.

## What does this mean for a research peptide store?

Most of these posts come from stores that started on a platform processor and got pushed off. The Stripe, PayPal, Square and Shopify policies are quoted in our [Shopify Payments, PayPal and Square guide](/blog/shopify-payments-paypal-square-research-peptides) and [does Stripe allow peptides?](/blog/does-stripe-allow-peptides).

For closed accounts and held funds, see [frozen funds: the first 72 hours](/blog/peptide-merchant-account-frozen-funds). For brokers, see [how to vet a high-risk payment broker](/blog/how-to-vet-a-high-risk-payment-broker).

## Sources

- [r/PaymentProcessing public posts (614 mentioning peptides, of 7,436 collected)](https://www.reddit.com/r/PaymentProcessing/), Reddit, posted Nov 9, 2023 to Oct 10, 2026, counted Oct 31, 2026

Counts are keyword matches by ResearchPay on public posts and are not a survey. ResearchPay works only with merchants that sell products labeled and marketed for research use only, not for human or animal use. Pricing, reserves and settlement terms are set by the acquiring bank during underwriting. This is general information, not legal advice.