High Risk merchant account revisited

[djohn]

I read most info I could find on this forum about high risk (tobacco) merchant accounts.


I am in need of an account again and would like to gather more current experiences.


I have a merchant account with CtoPay, however I'm still looking for an alternative processor.


I have tried a few providers:


Bardo


QWIPI


Baian


Please share whatever experience you have had in the last 2 years.


Also I know that some banks in Panama support high risk businesses. Do someone have any experience with Panama processors/banks?

 

[JohnLocke]

I read most info I could find on this forum about high risk (tobacco) merchant accounts.

Sorry to ask, may be a stupid question but do you sell tobacco?

 

[djohn]

yes, I do manage a tobacco business

 

[JohnLocke]

hmmm, it's getting complicated to place... you may approach payment processors like https://www.failsafepayments.com/, PSBill: internet merchant account provider, credit card processing, ach and online checks payments and maybe even Verotel the latter is a Adult processor but I know they from time to time take on other business as well.


All the best and good luck with your business.

 

[djohn]

thank you for your suggestion, I do know about these payment processors and I contacted them, unfortunately non of them accepted us, other suggestion???

 

[CaptainJack]

If you are out of luck, this could be a solution. One of my clients dropped finding a merchant account that accepted tobacco products (he just sells papers, not the actual tobacco) and after using 3 different providers in a 1 year period, with various troubles and high fees, he set up a regular low risk web shop and got a regular low rate account for that in 3 days. Still processing on it's 3rd year.


I usually don't recommend breaking rules to get processing, but after dealing with various shady companies/processors, this seemed like a much better solution.

 

[JohnLocke]

Well, Visa and Mastercard are not stupid and they have setup a huge monitoring program which catch most of such. Just one charge back where the customer claims never to have received the tobacco or papers needs to hit your client and the game is over! But congratulations that it last that long, amazing, usually it's going fast to get such accounts shut down

 

[CaptainJack]

I guess it depends on the business and if it's delivering as promised. If you run a legitimate business and ships the products whilst keeping the customer informed of delays that may happen, chargebacks is not a problem. Of course fraudulent orders are being made once in a while with stolen cards, but they won't flag the account since the card holder does not know on which website the card was used, nor which products was ordered. And just as a safety precaution, we have a backup account ready so we can switch from day to day.


We choose this solution over the more shady solutions that 'accepts all businesses'. The highest rate we were offered was 15%, far above any acceptable standard no matter what product is being sold. If you have a good volume, it's more cost effective to setup a few businesses/merchant accounts, compared to paying that high rate. And also in the one year, 2 of MAPs vanished in thin air with no payouts for the last months + they kept the rolling reserve. Too much looses compared to running with no problem on the 3rd year

 

[JohnLocke]

And also in the one year, 2 of MAPs vanished in thin air with no payouts for the last months + they kept the rolling reserve.

Yep, unfortunately that's what happen's many times in this industry. While there are shady businesses / merchants that try to fool the MAP's then there are shady MAP's (most often 3rd party payment processors) as well only out to fraud the merchants.

 

[djohn]

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate your suggestions, hope I can make the decision soon.


By the way can you pass to me your experience and let me know which processors accept offshore company to get a regular low rate account

 

[JohnLocke]

If 2co.com or Moneybookers will wok for you then it may be the easiest to apply for. Otherwise First Atlantic Commerce are a good suggestion.

 

[djohn]

First Atlantic Commerce do not take start-up businesses, which reliable processing accept regular start up businesses?

 

[JohnLocke]

Try Wire Card in Germany or their click2pay that may work maybe.. let me know otherwise I will have to Digg a little deeper.

 

[djohn]

thank you Admin, will try them and share my experience here

 

[djohn]

was contacted by Wire Card, unfortunately they didn't accept us, could someone recommend anything else?

 

[djohn]

not yet, seems nowadays is very difficult to find a tobacco processor, CtoPay does provide payment solutions (we are processing with them for 5-6 years already), not sure if they offer solution for new merchants

 

[JohnLocke]

thank you Admin, will try them and share my experience here

Your welcome. Always a pleasure to help.

 

[JohnLocke]

We have been in touch with CTOPay for long time ago, huge setup fees and actually seemed not to be a stable and good solution, but you may be welcome to correct me with additional information about them.

 

[djohn]

huge setup fees is not a problem if you provide good volumes, actually they are quite stable comparing with other processors (for this type of business), there are sometime short delays with our payouts but we do receive our money to the end, I also heard that they are partial scammers.... we've been processing with them for several years and it's ok

 

[djohn]

we are veterans in this business, company incorporated in BVI, monthly volumes 50-70K