Payments · Supplements5 min readUpdated October 26, 2026

Supplement Merchant Account Compliance: The Rules to Follow

The rules a supplement brand must follow to keep its merchant account: Visa and Mastercard codes, thresholds and subscription rules, claims and affiliates.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 11 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Keeping a supplement merchant account means following three sets of rules at once: the card networks' (merchant codes, registration for auto-ship, dispute thresholds, trial and subscription rules), the FDA's and FTC's (claims, disclaimer, evidence, affiliates), and your processor's own policy. Check your dispute ratio, offers and claims every month, not only at approval.

Mastercard requires negative option billing merchants of physical products to be registered and coded MCC 5968.
Visa flags US merchants at 1.5% fraud plus disputes since April 1, 2026; Mastercard at 1.5% chargebacks.
Visa requires trial terms shown separately, a reminder at least 7 days before a trial ends, and online cancellation.
The FDA disclaimer is required next to structure/function claims; disease claims make the product a drug.
You can be liable for an affiliate's deceptive claim "even when the endorser is not liable".

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On this page

This guide is part of our hub on nutraceutical payment processing. General information, not legal advice.

The rules, by who sets them

Who	What they set	Where it bites
Visa and Mastercard	Merchant codes, registration, dispute thresholds, subscription rules	Monitoring programs, fees, termination
FDA	Labels, claims, disclaimer	Warning letters; processors read the same pages
FTC	Evidence for claims, endorsements, subscription law	Enforcement actions
Your processor	Its prohibited list and contract limits	Reserves, closure

Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

Card network rules

Merchant category codes1

MCC	Used for
5499	Miscellaneous food stores, including vitamin stores
5968	Direct marketing, continuity and subscription merchants; Visa's manual cites "nutraceuticals"

Registration and thresholds

Rule	Requirement	Source
Mastercard negative option registration	Required for auto-ship of physical products; MCC 5968	Mastercard 9.4.102
Registration fee	$500 a year (February 2025 rules)	Mastercard 9.2.12
Visa VAMP	1.5% (fraud + disputes ÷ settled), at least 1,500 cases a month	Visa3
Mastercard ECM	1.5% and at least 100 chargebacks; ratio on prior month's transactions	Chargeback Gurus4, Mastercard 8.32

1.5%

Visa VAMP threshold, fraud plus disputes, US

1,500

Visa cases a month before the threshold applies

100

Mastercard chargebacks a month before ECM applies

$500

Mastercard negative option registration fee, per year

Subscriptions and trials

Rule	Requirement	Source
Consent	Trial terms shown separately from general terms	Visa5
Trial reminder	At least 7 days before the trial ends	Visa5
Cancellation	Online cancellation for online orders	Visa5, Mastercard6
Confirmation	Terms and cancellation instructions right after sign-up	Mastercard6
Notice before billing	Cycles of 6 months or less	Mastercard6

Fig. 1The subscription rules, in the order a customer meets them

CheckoutTrial terms shown separately
ConfirmationTerms and cancellation instructions
Trial reminderAt least 7 days before it ends
Before billingNotice on cycles of 6 months or less
Cancel onlineFor any online order

Each step missing is a dispute waiting to happen.

Visa Core Rules, April 2026, and Mastercard subscription FAQs, 2022.

Applying these at checkout: how to sell supplements on subscription and trial offers.

Claims and affiliates

Rule	What it means	Source
Structure/function claims	AllowedWith the FDA disclaimer and a notice to the FDA within 30 days	21 CFR 101.937
Disease claims	The product becomes a drug	21 CFR 101.937
Evidence	"Competent and reliable scientific evidence"; the disclaimer "won't cure an otherwise deceptive ad"	FTC8
Affiliates and influencers	Brand liable "even when the endorser is not liable"	16 CFR 255.1(d)9
Material connections	Paid or gifted endorsers must disclose the connection	16 CFR 255.59

Affiliate rules to put in writing

Approved claims
Approved claims only, from a list you provide.
No unproven proof
No before-and-after or "doctor-recommended" without proof.
Disclosure
Disclosure of the paid relationship on every post.
Your right to act
Your right to review pages and remove traffic.
Monthly checks
Monthly checks of affiliate landing pages.

Watch out

Processors read affiliate pages that send traffic to your checkout. An advertorial you didn't write can still close your account. Stripe prohibits "deceptive testimonials" and "high-pressure upselling"11.

Checkout and descriptor

Before the card field: total today, price at renewal, billing frequency, next charge date, how to cancel10.
Express consent for subscriptions, separate from general terms5 10.
A descriptor customers recognize: your brand name and a support contact.
Refund and contact pages one click away.

Monthly compliance check

[ ] Visa and Mastercard ratios, by product and offer
[ ] Refund and dispute reasons, top 5
[ ] Trial reminder and renewal notice emails sent on time
[ ] Cancellation path tested online
[ ] Product pages, ads and emails: no disease claims
[ ] Affiliate and influencer pages reviewed
[ ] New products or offers declared to the processor before launch

Fig. 2One month's check, filled in

Compliance check · OctoberOne store, all products and offers

Visa ratio: Under the 1.5% line
Mastercard ratio: Under the 1.5% line
Top 5 refund and dispute reasons: Reviewed
Reminder and notice emails: Sent on time
Online cancellation: Tested
Claims in pages, ads and emails: One disease claim found
Affiliate and influencer pages: Reviewed
New products or offers: Declared before launch

Illustrative record, not real data.

The ratios are read against the 1.5% line; your processor's limit is usually lower.

Illustrative example.

How Tagada helps

An underwritten processor that refuses the shortcuts

TagadaPay lists "Supplements / nutra" among its industries; each file is underwritten, with enhanced review on regulated verticals
TagadaPay refuses chargeback evasion and deceptive marketing around trials, subscriptions and cancellation
Subscriptions with trials, billing cycles, retries and automatic recovery
Native 3DS2, device intelligence and a rules engine

Plans are on the pricing page.

Apply for processing

An underwritten processor that refuses the shortcuts

Updated on October 26, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

What MCC do supplement brands use?

Often 5499 for vitamin and food stores, or 5968 for direct-marketing subscription merchants, which Visa's manual links to nutraceuticals. Mastercard requires 5968 and registration for auto-ship of physical products sold on negative option.

What is Mastercard's negative option registration?

A registration acquirers must file for merchants that auto-ship physical products under a negative option, with MCC 5968. The February 2025 rules set a $500 annual fee.

Am I responsible for what my affiliates say?

Yes. Under FTC rules an advertiser "may be liable for a deceptive endorsement even when the endorser is not liable". Give affiliates an approved claims list and review their pages.

What dispute ratio keeps my account safe?

Stay well under 1.5%, the threshold for both Visa (fraud plus disputes) and Mastercard (chargebacks). Processors usually act earlier under their own contract limits.

Sources

Checked October 26, 2026

TagadaPay

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