High Risk Merchant Services
Accept Credit Cards
Need to accept credit cards but find yourself in the high risk category for merchant services? High risk merchant accounts help businesses collect credit cards through virtual terminals, credit card machines, and online payment gateways. Get high risk accounts through major banks for offshore, gambling, and other services so you can collect funds from credit card customers, ACH transfers, and even wire transfers.
Is your merchant account in a high risk status? You may automatically be considered a high risk merchant if you operate in a field where credit card fraud and identity theft are common. Merchants who deal in adult services, gambling, or pharmaceutical sales will often get chargebacks for legitimate and fraudulent sales. This is because legitimate customers may dispute a charge if a spouse sees the charge and the (usually male) partner will claim that the charge is not correct. On the other side of the coin, drug addicts and criminals will use stolen credit card numbers to buy pharmaceutical items as well as products that can be readily sold for cash. As a merchant, you will have to absorb the cost of lost merchandise or services as well as the chargeback fee and the additional credit card processing costs that come along with being in the high risk category. If you have not experienced a lot of chargebacks, and aren’t dealing in high risk industries, you may benefit from a review of your credit card merchant account. Naturally, the high margin nature of some services means that business owners can still make a profit with high risk merchant processing fees, but they need to factor in the anticipated costs and keep enough cash on hand to account for such fees.
Backup withholding has become a special topic for many offshore merchant accounts that process credit cards, even when they are doing so for mostly local customers in their own countries. For example, there is a 28% backup withholding for accounts that have not verified Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) data in the United States. The US Internal Revenue Service may also take a closer look at these accounts due to suspicions of money laundering and hidden assets. Even if all of your transactions process offshore, and you take money for transactions originating in the US, you are always better off declaring taxable income than dealing with asset forfeiture and customs regulations regarding the transfer of money. By being completely transparent, you can still do a brisk business and not have to worry about the various extradition laws of banana republics.
Notes and Special Information
Special note: Try to get the best rate by shopping around, and don't be afraid to check periodically to make sure you still aren't high risk later, because you may become attractive to processors with a low chargeback and retrieval ratio.