Who we host Glass and smoke shop
Hosting for glass and smoke shops
Pipes, rigs, bongs, grinders, rolling papers, trays, storage and apparel. A flat monthly fee, 0% of your sales, on your own payment gateway. Here is what the platforms' own policies say about stores like yours, what we host, and what moving actually looks like.
- Sources linked, dated
- 0% of sales, ever
Who this is for
A store selling pipes, water pipes and rigs, bongs, grinders, rolling papers, trays, storage jars, torches, cleaning supplies and apparel: ordinary glass and smoke-shop retail, no cannabis or nicotine sold directly. Most of these stores already run their own payment gateway, because the mainstream platforms' own-brand processors (Shopify Payments, Square, Wix Payments) generally decline this category outright, win or lose on how an underwriter reads the word “paraphernalia.”
What platform rules do to a smoke shop
None of the five platforms below publish a single plain-English list that says “glass pipes: yes or no.” What they publish instead are payment-processor exclusion lists and broad catch-alls, read here directly rather than guessed at.
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Shopify
Shopify's own Acceptable Use Policy (shopify.com/legal/aup, read 7 Oct 2026) contains no product-category list at all, only a general-conduct rule: “You can’t use Shopify to do anything that’s illegal where you do business.” The actual product rule lives in Shopify Payments' own eligibility page, which prohibits “cannabis and related products” among its regulated/illegal categories and says in its own words that “the list of prohibited products and services isn't exhaustive” and varies by region (help.shopify.com/manual/payments/shopify-payments/eligibility, read 7 Oct 2026). A smoke shop with no cannabis for sale can still be caught by a reviewer reading “related products” broadly; the same pattern our notice-and-enforcement page documents for vaporizers.
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Square
Square's Payment Terms, last updated 30 July 2026, list among restricted businesses “(2) paraphernalia that may be used for illegal activity” (squareup.com/us/en/legal/general/payment, read 7 Oct 2026). The word is not defined on the page, so Square's own underwriters decide what counts.
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Wix
Wix Payments' published prohibited-products article says plainly: “Drugs, and tools specifically intended for the production of drugs, drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs” (support.wix.com, Wix Payments: prohibited products and services, read 7 Oct 2026). This is the most explicit of the five on paraphernalia, and the one most likely to catch ordinary glass.
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WooCommerce
WooCommerce itself is self-hosted, open-source software with no product policy of its own: restrictions come from your host and your payment processor. The built-in processor, WooPayments, prohibits “Drug paraphernalia” by name in its published policy (woocommerce.com, WooPayments: our policies, read 7 Oct 2026). A self-hosted store can still run on a different, more permissive gateway; WooPayments specifically is what excludes the category.
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BigCommerce
BigCommerce's Acceptable Use Policy (Date of Last Revision: 1 January 2025) names no product categories at all. Its “Highly Regulated Products” clause instead puts the entire burden on the merchant: you “represent and warrant” your products are lawful, and BigCommerce “disclaims any responsibility for evaluating or confirming the legality” of what you sell (read from the document linked at commerce.com/legal-archives, 7 Oct 2026). That reads as more open on paper, and leaves the real decision to whichever payment gateway you connect; the gateway approval, not the platform contract, is usually the actual blocker.
The real blocker is usually the gateway, not the storefront
On every platform above, the storefront software itself does not know what you sell. The rule that actually refuses a smoke shop lives in the payment processor's underwriting, which is why connecting your own gateway (rather than the platform's own-brand processor) is the standard workaround, and why we never require Shopify Payments, Square or Wix Payments.
What we host
Our own hosting policy says it plainly, in the “What we host” list: “Glass and smoke-shop goods: pipes, rigs, bongs, grinders, rolling papers, trays, storage, apparel.” No controls to switch on, no list to clear first for ordinary glass; it is hosted the way ordinary retail is. You connect your own Authorize.net account; we never ask you to use ours, because we do not have a bundled one for this category.
- Glass, rigs, grinders, papers, trays, storage, apparel: hosted today, no controls required.
- Dry-herb vaporizers and their parts are also hosted; see the dry-herb vaporizer page.
- Not sure about a line item? The dry run gives a row-by-row answer, product by product, not a store-level guess.
Liquid-capable devices, e-rigs, dab pens and any product needing an ID check before payment sit in a different list (the controls-required list), and nicotine products are refused today. If your catalogue is glass and smoke-shop retail without those items, none of that applies to you.
What moving looks like
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Export your products CSV
From whichever platform you run today. Nothing is sent anywhere yet.
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Send it to the free dry run
Most catalogues get a row-by-row answer immediately: allowed, needs a quick look, or refused with the reason. Start the dry run.
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Connect your own gateway
Your existing Authorize.net account, or a new one: your merchant account, your rates.
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Go live
Days, not months, once the dry run and the gateway application clear; the gateway application is usually the longer step, and it is outside our control.
Honest limits
Two things worth knowing before you start. Billing is not switched on yet. No merchant is charged a cent today. And while hosting on your own domain is built into every paid plan, we have not yet proven it end-to-end on an outside merchant's domain; ask, and we will tell you in writing where that stands before you move anything. See the pricing page for what each plan includes today.
Questions
Does Standfast require a special license to sell pipes and bongs?
No platform-level license from us. State and local law govern paraphernalia sales where you ship, and that is between you and your counsel; we do not provide legal advice. We screen the catalogue against our own hosting policy, not against licensing.
Why do platforms lump glass in with “drug paraphernalia”?
Because the word appears, undefined, in payment-processor policy (Square's “paraphernalia that may be used for illegal activity,” Wix's “drug paraphernalia” by name, WooPayments' “drug paraphernalia” by name; sources above). None of the five define it product by product, so an underwriter's broad reading can catch a grinder the same way it catches a dab pen.
Can I keep my existing payment gateway?
Yes. You connect your own Authorize.net account. We never require a bundled processor for this category.
How long does moving actually take?
Days, not months, once your dry run clears and your gateway account is approved. We give a written go-live date before you sign; the gateway's own approval timeline is the step we do not control.
What if one product in my catalogue isn't allowed?
We screen row by row, not store by store. The dry run tells you which line items are hosted, which need a quick look, and which are refused and why, so one item does not block the rest of your catalogue.
Sources
- Shopify Acceptable Use Policy: shopify.com/legal/aup (read 7 Oct 2026, no product-category list)
- Shopify Payments eligibility, “cannabis and related products” and the “not exhaustive” disclaimer: help.shopify.com (read 7 Oct 2026)
- Square Payment Terms, last updated 30 July 2026, restriction (2) “paraphernalia”: squareup.com
- Wix Payments, prohibited products and services, “drug paraphernalia”: support.wix.com (read 7 Oct 2026)
- WooPayments, prohibited and restricted products, “Drug paraphernalia”: woocommerce.com (read 7 Oct 2026)
- BigCommerce Acceptable Use Policy, Date of Last Revision 1 January 2025, “Highly Regulated Products”: linked from commerce.com/legal-archives (read 7 Oct 2026)
- Our own hosting policy, section 1, “What we host”
We are not affiliated with Shopify, Square, Wix, WooCommerce or BigCommerce. Their names are used only to describe their own public policies, each linked above.