A payment gateway is a critical tool that facilitates the ability for a merchant to process credit card payments for their e-Commerce business. It securely captures sensitive credit card data from the customer and where it is then transferred to the acquirer or merchant account. This can result in an approval or disapproval decision which is then forwarded back to the customer.
Choosing the right payment gateway can be daunting, especially if you happen to be a high risk merchant.
Square, A Traditional Merchant Account Provider
Based in San Francisco, Square offers both merchant services and mobile payments. They accept chip cards, magstripe, and NFC phone payments.
Square is considered a traditional merchant account provider. As such, it does not process payments for high risk merchants. Some of the high risk businesses they will not serve include: gambling, adult entertainment, bankruptcy attorneys, or survey station merchants.
They use risk evaluation to determine whether or not a certain transaction is at risk for fraud (either moderate or high). The evaluation is carried out by Square’s proprietary machine learning models.
Approve First, Review Later
Since there is no underwriting or risk analysis, Square’s application process can be very basic. The trouble comes when a merchant processes payments that sound off Square’s internal alarms if there is risk detected. Consequently, Square will shut down an account, until a further review is carried out.
So what options exist for high risk merchants to process their payments?
Bankful Integrates Seamlessly With Square
Bankful is a Payment Service Provider (PSP) that has its own proprietary payment gateway that integrates seamlessly with e-Commerce giant Square.
Bankful has supported thousands of merchants to tackle the complex challenges that most traditional payment service providers can’t or would rather not. Among its comprehensive suite of features, they offer:
- Multi-currency processing
- Intelligent payment routing to multiple acquirers
- Recurring payments
- Fraud prevention services
- 3DS functionality
- Custom payment applications
There are two payment tier plans to choose from. The first one is the Pro Plan. There is no monthly fee. Other fees include:
- .10¢ per transaction revenue
- 0.6% fee on All Bankful Volume
- $50 minimum
They also have the Enterprise Plan. Their offerings are as follows:
- Full customization of the payment page
- A dedicated account representative
- Access to developers
- Access to designers
You would need to contact the sales department for more information on their website.
When it comes to custom applications, Bankful allows merchants to customize the payments process on major e-Commerce platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Square (Weebly), and many more.
How Can I Get Started?
With approvals within 24 to 48 hours, no application, annual, or set up fees, things couldn’t be more straightforward.
Simply click the “Sign Up” button at the top of Bankful’s website. You will be asked a few questions related to your business. Once that information has been entered, a qualified representative will be in touch with you. The merchant is under no obligation to sign up or pay for this consultation.
Don’t Get Shut Out
Although many of the big players such as PayPal and Square have very stringent rules about not servicing high risk merchants, you don’t have to feel shut out of processing privileges. With Bankful’s proprietary gateway, you can be sure that this integration with Square will open your e-Commerce business to more possibilities.