What actually happens with processors, platforms, and the FDA - written from building and running live research-use-only storefronts, not from reading other people's blogs. Dates, numbers, and what to do in order.
Payments + shutdowns
What the 180-day hold really means, how to stay off the MATCH list, and how to keep taking orders this week.
Why there is no appeal, the data to export before final termination, and a realistic 7-14 day path to a store you own.
Decoding the deactivation email, the exact 180-day fund release mechanics, and the order to stand up replacement rails.
What "permanently limited" means, the realistic 180-day fund timeline, and why a borrowed account makes everything worse.
What underwriters review on your site before approving, honest rates (3.5-6.5% plus reserves), and first-pass approval prep.
Card high-risk, ACH, crypto, and P2P rails compared on shutdown risk, fees, and reserves - and why one rail is never enough.
BRAM and VAMP in plain English, the April 2026 1.5% VAMP drop, and the three-layer architecture that survives.
How peptide merchants land on MATCH, how to check if you're listed, the 5-year exit, and rails that never touch card networks.
The 2025-2026 die-off mapped: FDA letters, processor terminations, platform bans, and the traits of stores still standing.
Which P2P rails tolerate RUO commerce in practice, where each app breaks, and the graduation path to a real merchant account.
FDA letter files
Retatrutide, tirzepatide, and a bac-water injection kit cited - and the two rules a compliant store enforces in code.
GLP1-R, GLP1-S, GLP1-T were read as retatrutide, semaglutide, tirzepatide instantly. Renaming never changes status.
Same day, same trick, same outcome as Prime Sciences. Coded compound names are now a scanned pattern, not a loophole.
The December 2024 letter that set the template: a research-only disclaimer ruled void because the site's totality implied human use.
Cited for SARMs marketed research-only. Proof that enforcement runs wider than the weight-loss peptides making headlines.
Compliance
RUO sales are legal in a narrow lane, and the FDA judges it by your whole site, not your disclaimer. Where the line sits.
Every peptide warning letter, mapped to the site element that triggered it. Updated as new letters drop.
The exact wording a compliant disclaimer needs, and why the FDA voids it the moment your copy implies human use.
The FDA infers intended use from your site's totality - every headline, image, and email. The tells that flip a research site into a drug site.
The checklist a compliant store enforces in code: copy rules, banned compounds, gates, consent logging. Each item cited to a real letter.
Category 2 removal is not authorization. Where BPC-157 and TB-500 actually stand, and what stores still have to do.
Start a brand
Pick your lane, source, build compliant, get paid - the playbook grounded in the 2026 enforcement wave.
AI builders don't know RUO and $100 gigs get accounts terminated. What a store with compliance enforced in code looks like.
The AUP prohibits peptides, and Shopify Payments is Stripe underneath. The honest comparison of what survives.
The supplier gives you vials. The other 80% - storefront, compliant copy, payment rails, fulfillment - is on you.
A line-item budget from real builds: website, inventory vs dropship, processing fees and reserves, testing, legal.
Dropship vs holding inventory with real unit economics - the 60% gross margin claim vs your actual net.
Meta cold traffic is dead for RUO and Google bans the ads. The channels that actually work: SEO, organic, linted email, affiliates.
No single "peptide license" exists - it depends on your lane. RUO vs compounding vs cosmetic, plus the state outliers.
These guides are general information for store operators, not legal advice.
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Every rule in these guides is enforced in code on the stores we build. Grade your current site in 60 seconds, or talk through a build.
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