Who needs a high risk merchant account high risk payment processing solutions?
- On top of that, many industries categorize banks and mainstream payment processors (PayPal, Stripe, Venmo) as high risk.
- They may not seem all that risky to other people, but typically these industries have a higher credit card chargeback ratio than what the banks have decided “the norm” to be (which is extremely low).
- And if your business falls into that category, getting a payment gateway and a merchant account becomes even harder.
- Mainstream high-risk payment processors typically follow the same guidelines as banks. They will don’t let you open a merchant account if you declare your high-risk business.
- If you do get around this somehow, you might be able to use such a service for a while. But it comes at great risk to you and your business. Hence, these services can shut your account down with no warning, and immediately cut off your cash flow.
- To add insult to injury, they can even freeze your funds until you clear any wrongdoings. Losing revenue and access to a chunk of your cash reserves this way can quickly kill any business.
What to do to secure your business and its cash flow?
Rather than trying your luck with the banks playing roulette with services like PayPal, get a high-risk merchant account. This will ensure that you have a stable high-risk payment processor and can sleep soundly at night. Thereafter, your customers will still be able to buy from you and your revenue will keep flowing in.
5 Star Processing can be your high-risk payment processors
Our high-risk payment processors come with the expertise of working with high-risk industries. We have chosen to specialize in this area, and have customers ranging from guns & ammo stores. It includes also gaming, adult entertainment, lending, and credit repair.
How to Choose the Perfect Payment Processor for Your Small Business?
There are a lot of payment processing providers out there, and they each have different functionalities and features. Fees may vary, and they can allow your customers to pay in different ways. Giving your customers options at checkout could determine if they come back or move on to your competition. More than 70% of customers say the types of payment options would sway their decision when choosing between two providers. Before you start Googling your options, let’s look at your business. It’s essential to know how much your customers are spending and how they’re paying; for instance, do you know what percentage of customers still want to pay in cash when they pay with their credit card? What’s the average cost of those purchases? And how many of your customers now pay with a mobile wallet while digital and contactless options are trending upward? You want to keep those who still use more traditional methods.
Make sure you find a payment processor that can handle all the ways your customers can pay.
Once you have determined your business needs and what your customers like, it’s time to dig into the technology. What’s the processing time? You need money to run your business, so consider how long it will take for your customers to hit your account. Also, check out the fees. I’m not just talking about standard credit card fees; look to see if there are monthly account fees, early termination costs, or chargeback and retrieval fees. If so, ensure you understand how these costs might impact your bottom line.
In addition, you want a processor that provides plugins or APIs that will let you connect to your CRM. That way you can keep all of your customers estimates, invoices, messages, job details, and history all in one easy-to-access place.
A major red flag is if the payment processor doesn’t offer 24/7 customer support. Imagine it’s 7 pm on a Friday, and you’re finishing a job. You go to take the payments, and you get an error message. It’s not an ideal situation. But you know what would make it even worse? Calling customer support to fix the issue and hearing this. We’re sorry, our offices are closed. Please call back during business hours Monday through Friday. Yikes. You cannot wait until Monday morning to get a problem like that resolved. Otherwise, goodbye, the customer. A merchant who offers 24/7 customer service in your back pocket is a lifeline you might need.
Finally, put on your consumer hat before making your decision. Customers check your reviews before giving you a call. So why shouldn’t you do the same for your payment processing provider? Check sources like GE to the App Store or the Better Business Bureau. There you can see if they’ve experienced any major data breaches and, if so, how they handled it or how intuitive their interfaces are.
Most importantly, do they provide extra security like fraud protection or PCI compliance? This will give you a good understanding of how the company operates and how easy or difficult it may be to work with them. There you have it. Having the right payment system is about more than just getting paid. It’s about providing your customers with the best experience possible, giving you a competitive edge.
Call us today for more information on high-risk payment processing solutions
If you have questions, about high-risk payment processing in general or specific to your business, please call 5 Star Processing now at (888) 253 9692 or send us an email to [email protected].
