When you operate in a high-risk industry, locating a payment gateway can be daunting. Because certain industries are more likely to experience fraud and chargebacks, payment gateways are less likely to approve these businesses. Even when a gateway is willing to work with high-risk businesses, they’ll often charge significantly higher fees or require rolling reserves.
To help you simplify your search for a high-risk payment gateway, we’ve compiled a list of 10 of the top high-risk gateways available today. We’ve also included information about their features and target audience, so you can get a better understanding of which gateway works for your company’s needs.
To learn more about the best high-risk merchant gateways, read on.
TL;DR
- High-risk payment gateways are intended for companies that have higher rates of fraud and chargebacks. Because of the increased risks, many traditional gateways won’t work with companies from high-risk industries.
- CBD, travel, gambling, hospitality, and crypto are just a few of the industries that are considered high risk.
- A good high-risk gateway will offer flexible underwriting, chargeback prevention tools, and 3D Secure (3DS) authentication.
- To prevent downtime, many merchants rely on multiple gateways. Because of this, a good provider will offer integrations so that you can centralize data from multiple gateways.
- Each provider specializes in different industries and offers a unique blend of features.
What Is a High-Risk Payment Gateway?
A high-risk payment gateway is designed to meet the needs of a high-risk merchant. Typically, these merchants have higher levels of fraud and chargebacks. Because this increases costs and risk for the gateway, many traditional gateways won’t work with high-risk merchants.
With a payment gateway for high-risk merchants, you can find flexible underwriting and a higher tolerance for chargeback rates. To prevent chargebacks, these gateways often incorporate velocity checks, AVS verification, CVV checks, customized fraud prevention tools, and 3DS authentication into the platform.
Many high-risk merchants use more than one gateway so that they can stay operational if there is an unexpected account shutdown or downtime. To manage different gateways and payment processing setups, these companies need high-risk merchant gateways that offer load balancing, intelligent transaction routing, and flexible integrations.
What Industries Are Considered High Risk?
High-risk businesses can exist online or offline. The main commonality is that these merchants create added risks for the gateway provider, which is why there are often increased reserve requirements, stricter underwriting, and higher fees involved.
Some of the most common high-risk industries include:
- CBD
- Gambling
- Tobacco
- Subscription-based companies
- Hospitality, such as hotels and short-term rentals
- Travel businesses
- Car rentals
- Ticketing and events
- Travel packages
- Software
- Nutraceuticals
- Adult entertainment
- Crypto
Top 10 High-Risk Payment Gateway Providers
If you’re looking for the best high-risk payment gateway, the following list includes some of the best payment gateway providers. The top six on the list are known for focusing primarily on high-risk merchants, while the next three are high-risk gateways for specific situations. Meanwhile, Finix is not an exclusively high-risk gateway, but it does serve high-risk merchants.
| Best for | Main Strengths | |
| PaymentCloud | PaymentCloud caters to companies that want an all-in-one partner and reliable services. | They serve a broad range of high-risk industries and are known for their flexible gateway integrations. From hands-on onboarding to close working relationships with banks, PaymentCloud helps companies access the payment services they need. |
| PayCompass | PayCompass understands what high-risk businesses need. It provides full-service, scalable payment solutions for a range of different industries. | At PayCompass, merchants can receive guidance on specialized, high-risk industries. PayCompass offers advanced fraud and chargeback management services. Currently, this integrated gateway and merchant account solution offers support in more than 170 countries. |
| Durango Merchant Services | This provider focuses on high-risk merchants that struggle to find other options. They are also exceptionally good at working with international businesses. | Durango provides support for offshore businesses and multiple currencies. They are also known for their transparent pricing structure. |
| Soar Payments | Soar Payments works with regulated, high-risk industries. | They offer fast approvals and excellent fraud tools. Because they focus predominantly on high-risk businesses, the underwriting process is much simpler. |
| Zen Payments | This provider excels at offering gateway support for high-risk e-commerce and subscription businesses. | With more than 15 years of experience in high-risk payment services, Zen Payments offers the type of billing support, gateway options, and tailored account services companies need. |
| Easy Pay Direct | Easy Pay Direct is an effective option for online businesses that want routing flexibility. | They offer more than 500 integrations as well as support for recurring billing and load balancing. |
| eMerchantBroker (EMB) | EMB is known for approving extremely high-risk businesses. | This provider has high approval rates, especially for industries that are known for being extremely high risk. |
| PayKings | PayKings is an effective option for startups and companies that are trying to scale quickly. | In addition to fast approval rates, they are known for working with more than 50 different high-risk verticals. Plus, the flexible gateway integrations are ideal if you want to integrate the gateway into your other finance software. |
| Bankful | Bankful is good for e-commerce merchants, especially companies that need help preventing chargebacks. | They have a range of integrations and dispute tools. Plus, they have a transparent underwriting process. |
| Payment Nerds | This company is effective for small businesses that don’t need a lot of customization. | Payment Nerds offers access to different gateway partners and provides scalable solutions. |
| Finix | Finix is great for enterprise-level merchants and SaaS companies. | They have an API-first approach and provide full-stack payment solutions. |
At PayCompass, we understand what high-risk merchants need from their payment gateway and merchant account. From subscription-based businesses to travel organizations, we help merchants access the best payment solutions as they scale.
How PayCompass Supports High-Risk Businesses
At PayCompass, we understand what merchants are looking for from the best high-risk payment gateways. We can help companies get approved and access the operational support they need through specialized underwriting and tailored tools.
High-risk merchants are unique, so you need more than just a one-size-fits-all approach. PayCompass works alongside merchants to create customized merchant accounts. From chargeback management to fraud prevention, we can help you protect your company’s bottom line. Plus, our team works with multiple acquiring banks, so you can diversify your payment systems and prevent downtime.
Through our secure, flexible gateway, merchants can access easy integrations with invoicing systems and other e-commerce platforms. We work to make the underwriting and onboarding process as easy as possible. Our team handles the regulatory and compliance side of things, so you can focus on running your business.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to payment processing, high-risk businesses face unique challenges. For many of these organizations, finding a payment gateway can be hard. Many traditional gateways don’t want to take on the financial risks involved with a high-risk merchant account. Even when merchants find a gateway that will work with them, they still have to worry about downtime and unexpected account shutdowns.
By finding the right high-risk payment gateway, you can save on fees and ensure a consistent revenue stream. Depending on the industry and your unique requirements, the ideal provider for your needs can vary. Our list of the top 10 payment gateways can help you narrow down the types of features and benefits you want from a provider.
At PayCompass, we understand what it takes to operate a payment gateway for high-risk businesses. We can help you organize your documents for fast approvals and onboarding. Plus, our advanced chargeback and fraud prevention help you detect and stop fraudulent transactions before they impact your operations. If a chargeback does occur, our dispute management processes can help you respond to disputes using stored data.
Learn more about payment gateways for high-risk merchants by contacting PayCompass today.
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