Terms of service.
Updated September 2026 · The Decline File
1. Acceptance of terms
By visiting or reading declinefile.com (the "Site"), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please discontinue use of the Site.
2. No legal, tax, financial, or compliance advice
All content, fee comparisons, vertical overviews, MCC discussions, and architectural breakdowns published on this Site are provided strictly for educational and informational review purposes only.
Nothing on this website constitutes legal, tax, financial, accounting, regulatory, or merchant underwriting advice. Merchants and operators remain solely responsible for consulting qualified legal and compliance counsel regarding their business structure, licensing, and compliance with applicable local, state, federal, and international laws.
3. Merchant responsibility for licensing & compliance
Implementing any payment rail, gateway, or non-custodial checkout does not satisfy, replace, or waive your legal, statutory, or licensing obligations. Merchants are independently responsible for maintaining all necessary permits, age verification mechanisms, record-keeping protocols, and jurisdictional registrations applicable to their industry.
4. Third-party provider terms & fee verification
Payment provider fee schedules, subscription pricing, accepted verticals, on-ramp options, and acceptable use policies are subject to change without notice by third-party providers.
Readers must independently verify current pricing, terms, and technical compatibility directly with any payment provider before signing up, integrating, or processing live customer transactions.
5. Intellectual property
Original articles, data models, calculations, and editorial guides published on this Site are protected by copyright. Short excerpts may be quoted with explicit attribution and a link to the source page. Systematic automated scraping or full republication is prohibited.
6. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Decline File and its author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from the use of information on this Site, including but not limited to merchant account terminations, funds holds, chargeback assessments, or business interruption.