What to Know Before Getting Started
Starting a New Business?
Selecting a credit card processor is often more complicated than most people expect. How much should you be paying in fees? Should you lease or buy equipment? Should you be locked into a service agreement for anything length of time? These considerations and several others are imporant to understand before signing up with any merchant account provider. Mistakes are easily made and can be very costly to your business. Along with seeing our top choices for payment services below, be sure to checkout this post to avoid common traps in the merchant services industry.
Considerations For Current Business Owners
Changing merchant accounts can be an expensive, complicated, and time consuming process. Are you really going to save as much as promised? Do you need to buy to new equipment or sign new lease agreements? Will there be other less accountable costs such as those associated with employee retraining? Before selecting one of our choices below, you may want to consider renegotiating your fees with your current payment processing vendors using the help of a contingency-compensated consultant. It can result in a dramatic decrease in costs without the pains of switching. In some cases business owner have also obtained substantial refunds of prior overcharges along with saving thousands in future processing costs. See this post to learn more about this little-known alternative to changing merchant account provider.
Merchant Accounts For Hard-To-Approve Businesses
It’s hard to find quality credit card processors for high risk business types. Many large merchant account providers will refuse to process transactions for high risk businesses, which limits the options that are available to hard-to-place merchants. With so few processors to choose from, merchants can find themselves simply signing up with the first provider that will accept them instead of shopping around and looking for reputable, experienced processors that specialize in high risk merchant accounts. This leads to headaches down the road, as high risk merchants are especially vulnerable to chargebacks, fund holds, excessively high rates, or placement on the TMF/MATCH list.
Find A Flexible Credit Card Processor Below
To help you find the right provider for your business, we’ve compiled the following list of the top high risk merchant account providers. Each of these processors is able to place a wide range of high risk business types, but we’ve included a specific list of industries that each provider serves so that you can narrow your search to companies that suit your business needs. Legal and banking regulations are constantly shifting, so these industry lists should only be considered current as of this article’s publication date.
In addition to having significant experience working with high risk merchants, these providers also maintain positive reputations among merchants and are known to offer fair pricing and quality customer support. As always, the best way to ensure that you receive a great deal on your high risk merchant account is to contact multiple providers and compare their pricing and service packages.
Our unbiased articles are supported in part by helping you find highly reviewed merchant accounts. You can learn more here.
Why These Merchant Account Providers
PaymentCloud
Strong Reputation For Fast Approvals
Based in Woodland Hills, California, PaymentCloud is a merchant account provider that specializes in serving high risk business types. This includes CBD and Kratom businesses. The company’s products and services include point-of-sale solutions, mobile phone swipers, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, EMV-compatible terminals, and merchant cash advances. PaymentCloud provides a dedicated account rep to all new merchants for the life of the account. The company has not received any negative complaints on consumer forums, and it customizes its pricing according to each merchant’s business type and processing history. The BBB does not maintain a profile for PaymentCloud at this time, but CPO gives the company an “A.”
High Risk Business Types Served By PaymentCloud
Adult, Airlines and Jet Charters, Bad Credit, Bail Bonds, CBD, Kratom, Cigars, Pipes, Tobaccos, Collection Agency, Credit Repair, Debt Consolidation, Diet Programs, Educational Seminars, Electronic Cigarette, Electronics, Gaming, High Ticket, High Volume, Moving Companies and Transportation, Multi-Level Marketing and Bizops, Nutraceutical, Online Firearm Sales, Prepaid Calling Cards, Software and E-Books, Sports Betting Advice, TMF Merchants, Tech Support, Travel & Timeshares, VOIP & Telecom.
For more information, visit the PaymentCloud website or call (888) 506-7859.
eMerchantBroker
Established High Risk Veterans
eMerchantBroker.com is a Los Angeles-based credit card processor that primarily serves high risk e-commerce business types. The company’s high risk processing services include chargeback dispute resolution, an online payment gateway, ACH processing, merchant cash advance, and MOTO processing options. eMerchantBroker.com has maintained a low complaint rate since our first review of the company and appears to offer custom pricing plans depending on each business’s type and processing history. Our review of eMerchantBroker.com currently awards the company an “A” rating, while the BBB gives it an “A+.”
High Risk Business Types Served By eMerchantBroker
Adult Merchant Accounts, Airlines and Jet Charters, Bad Credit, Bail Bonds, Cigars and Pipes, Collection Agency, Credit Repair, Debt Consolidation, Diet Programs, Ecig Merchant Accounts, Educational Seminars, Electronics, Furniture, Gaming, High Ticket, High Volume, MLM and Bizops, Moving & Transportation, Nutraceutical, Online Firearm Sales, Penny Auctions, Prepaid Calling Cards, Software and E-Books, Sports Betting Advice, Tech Support, Ticket Brokers, TMF Merchants, Travel and Timeshares, VOIP and Telecom, Water Purifiers
For more information, see the eMerchantBroker website or call (877) 301-3442.
Host Merchant Services
All-Purpose High Risk Processing
Host Merchant Services is a Newark, Delaware-based merchant account provider that is well-suited for most general business types as well as domestic high risk merchants. The company’s products and services include point-of-sale solutions (with specific packages for the restaurant, salon, professional service, and contractor sectors), online marketing tools, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, mobile credit card processing, gift and loyalty programs, merchant cash advance, and offshore merchant accounts. Host Merchant Services specializes in e-commerce businesses and provides a free website and email address to new merchants who require them. The company has received exclusively positive feedback on public forums, with most reviewers singling out the company’s customer service for praise. The BBB gives Host an “A+” rating, and CPO also gives the company an “A+.”
High Risk Business Types Served By Host
Web Hosting and Telecom, SEO, Events and Tickets, Furniture, E-books, Electronics, High Ticket, Vape Shops, Drop Shippers, Glass/Head Shops, Pawn Shops, Real Estate, Travel, Tours, Software Downloads, Replicas, Weapons, Credit Repair, and some international/offshore merchants.
For more information, visit the Host Merchant Services website or call (888) 591-9026.
Other Merchant Account Options
The providers in this section may not have been researched as thoroughly or may lack a quality that prevented them from being listed above. We have listed them here to provide a broader view of potential merchant account options. Are you a decision maker with your company and believe that you should be listed below? Tell us here.
Card Z3N
High Risk E-Commerce Specialists
Founded in September 2018, Card Z3N is a Las Vegas-based merchant account provider that serves both standard-risk and high risk merchant sectors. The company offers a wide range of retail and e-commerce solutions for most business types, including adult, auto parts, collections, credit repair, diet programs, e-cigarettes, electronics, extended warranties, fantasy sports, financial services, firearms, online furniture sales, multi-level marketing, nutraceuticals, online gaming, precious metals, self storage, and travel.
Card Z3N Reviews
Card Z3N has not received any public complaints in the time that it has been operating. The company offers custom pricing plans to all of its merchants. The BBB gives Card Z3N an “A-” rating, while CPO gives the company an “A.”
High Risk Holdings
Serving Hard to Place Business Types
High Risk Holdings primarily focuses on providing offshore merchant accounts for card-not-present merchants serving both domestic and offshore e-commerce businesses. However, they can also assist with onshore high-risk options as well.
High Risk Holdings Reviews
The company has a clean complaint record, which is exceptional for a credit card processor that has been active since 2008, and even more so considering High Risk Holdings’s focus on hard-to-place business types.
High Risk Pay
Serving Hard-to-Place Business Types
Active under various names since 1997, High Risk Pay is specifically focused on serving high risk merchants. The company offers point-of-sale equipment, ACH processing, and chargeback prevention to all of its merchants. High Risk Pay can process payments for e-commerce, travel, e-cigarette, startup, bad credit, international, high volume, and adult merchants.
High Risk Pay Reviews
High Risk Pay has received only a few complaints during its existence. The company offers custom pricing plans to all of its merchants. The BBB gives High Risk Pay an “A+” rating, while CPO gives the company an “A“.
If your business offers high risk merchant processing, please leave a comment in the comment section below or contact us through our contact page in order to get listed in this article.
About Phillip Parker
Thank you for reading my review. I hope that it has helped you with your research.
Why I'm Qualified to Write About Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services
I'm a former credit card processing sales director who left the industry because I didn't like how it takes advantage of small business owners. It feeds like a leech on businesses and thrives by imposing fees that are nearly impossible to comprehend. Seeing a need for change, I left and built this website help business owners better understand the industry, research merchant services providers, and get refunds of excessive merchant account fees. My experience of working "behind the curtain" in the industry, and using that knowledge for good, has resulted in millions of dollars returned to hard-working small business owners as well as enterprise-level companies.
From the time that I starting working in the merchant services industry to when I left to create this website, I've been on the pulse of payments for nearly 15 years. It didn't seem fair to keep this "insider" knowledge to myself. To lift the fog, I've reviewed hundreds of companies, read thousands of user reviews, and learned the pricing tricks of every provider. If you have questions about credit card processing, you can find the answers on this website.
