The Ultimate Guide for Adult Industry Merchants: Finding High-Risk Payment Solutions
The adult entertainment industry is no stranger to challenges, such as taboo content, legal age restrictions, and reputational risks.
If you’re seeking merchant accounts and payment solutions tailored for your adult business, look no further. At High Risk Payments, we specialize in adult merchant accounts and are committed to helping you process transactions smoothly and securely while avoiding shutdowns due to high-risk classifications.
Why Choose High Risk Payment Processors?
An adult merchant account functions like a bank account for your adult business. Once customers purchase items or subscriptions, a payment gateway processes the transactional information via your merchant account.
Examples of adult industry merchant accounts include:
- Live cam merchant accounts
- Pornography merchant accounts
- Adult dating merchant accounts
- Gentleman/Stripclub merchant accounts
- Adult toys and novelty merchant accounts
- Fetish merchant accounts
- Lingerie/clothing merchant accounts
Why Are Adult Merchants Considered High-Risk?
Adult merchants face unique challenges, including reputational risks, rampant fraud, and increased chargebacks. Reputational risks stem from the taboo nature of adult content, which can harm a bank or processor’s reputation. As a result, banks like Chase and Wells Fargo do not provide adult merchant accounts. Reputational risks also contribute to higher processing fees for adult merchants.
Fraud is prevalent in the adult entertainment industry, with true fraud involving stolen credit cards and friendly fraud arising from customers filing chargebacks on legitimate transactions. To combat fraud, work with a payment service provider that understands the adult entertainment industry, such as High Risk Payments, which offers chargeback mitigation and dispute management services via our partner product, CB-ALERT.
Chargebacks are rampant in the adult industry, often for different reasons than in other sectors.
A reliable adult merchant account provider, like High Risk Payments, can significantly aid in chargeback prevention by offering comprehensive tools and services to protect your business.
Here’s a checklist for adult merchants looking to start processing payments:
- Trustworthy adult industry experience spanning over two decades
- Waived application, setup fees, and annual fees
- Risk mitigation tools such as Order Insight by Verifi 3-D Secure 2.1
- As little as same-day approvals
- Sophisticated BIN checking fraud screens
- Low rates as low as a blended 4.95%
- Maximization of approval ratios based on the target customer base
At High Risk Payments, we can get your adult business processing payments in as little as 24 hours and handle the entire setup process.
Finding the Best Adult Merchant Account:
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Research and compare rates among payment processors that specialize in the adult industry.
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Speak with others in the adult industry and ask for recommendations.
Being High-Risk and Its Impact on Your Adult Merchant Account:
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Adult merchants may need to maintain reserve accounts to cover potential chargebacks.
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Reserves are generally held for the life of the merchant account and released after the chargeback liability period expires (usually 180 days).
Industries We Serve
Our Process
Submit Your Completed MPA
Send us your completed and signed merchant application along with any necessary supporting documents.
Get Your Approval
Boarding and approvals take 3-5 business days depending on the account and needed documentation.
Integrated Payments
Once approved, we’ll provide you with hardware or payment gateway options for your high risk merchant account.
