While some e-commerce apps will run payments for you, WooCommerce does not do this automatically. Although it recently began offering WooPayments in 2020, many businesses have to use their own high-risk payment gateway with WooCommerce. Once you pick a merchant account provider, you can use a plug-in or app on the back-end to process your payments.
For the best results, you need a WooCommerce high-risk merchant account that works with your industry vertical. To learn more about what to look for and how to ensure easy, reliable payment processing at your business, read on.
TL;DR
- While WooCommerce doesn’t process payments directly, WooPayments is an easy plug-in that can be used to run transactions.
- However, WooPayments doesn’t accept high-risk merchant accounts.
- A high-risk payment gateway is like a digital point-of-sale (POS) system that processes customer transactions.
- Sometimes, businesses have a high fraud or chargeback rate. Both of these issues are leading reasons why accounts become labeled as high risk.
- Companies that are in adult entertainment, cannabis, vaping, alcohol, online gambling, and similar industries are considered high-risk by most payment processors.
- If a merchant is considered high risk, they will likely face higher fees, stricter underwriting, rolling reserve requirements, and delayed payouts.
- To determine the best payment gateway for your needs, look at its fee structure, WooCommerce integration possibilities, reserve requirements, payout schedules, and international support.
- Because fraud and chargebacks are major challenges for high-risk merchants, it’s essential to find a payment gateway that helps you prevent and mitigate these problems.
What Is a High-Risk Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is like a digital version of a point-of-sale system in a store. When a customer decides to make a purchase, it is processed using a payment gateway. Data from the customer’s card is encrypted and sent to the acquiring bank. If funds are available, the transaction is approved and can be processed by the merchant.
Secure payment gateways are designed with specialized encryption to protect data. However, even with the best technology, there are still risks involved. For example, rental cars, online gaming, and subscription services are known for having high chargeback rates.
Because of fraudulent transactions, high chargeback rates, and other risks, some payment processors don’t want to work with certain industries. High-risk payment gateways exist so that riskier industries can process their payments. In exchange for dealing with increased risks, these industries often require rolling reserves, higher fees, or similar measures.
Does WooCommerce Have a Payment Gateway?
WooCommerce offers its own payment gateway, which is known as WooPayments. Started in 2020, WooPayments is an official extension that can be easily plugged into WooCommerce. It allows payments to be processed in 38 countries and 135 currencies.
While there are many advantages to using WooPayments, there is a distinct drawback businesses need to be aware of. There is no high-risk payment gateway on WooCommerce. If you have a high-risk merchant account, you need to integrate a different payment gateway into WooCommerce to process transactions.
When someone signs up for an account with WooPayments, the processor performs a risk classification. Your industry, chargeback rate, incidence of fraud, and other factors can worsen your risk profile and classification. Even if you are initially approved for an account, your merchant account may be frozen or terminated if WooCommerce decides that it is too risky.
How To Choose the Best Payment Gateway for WooCommerce High-Risk Stores
If you are searching for a WooCommerce high-risk merchant account, your best option is to look for a high-risk merchant account provider. WooCommerce doesn’t offer payment support for high-risk merchants, so you should research high-risk providers that also provide convenient integrations with WooCommerce. Additionally, you should find out what type of fraud and chargeback prevention tools they use.
There are a few main types of payment gateways you can use in conjunction with WooCommerce.
Payment Aggregators
A payment aggregator is a company like PayPal, Stripe, or Square. These aggregators combine all of the merchants into one group, essentially averaging out the risk involved. Because of how aggregators work, they can’t afford to have high-risk merchant accounts bring the overall average risk down.
As a result, choosing to work with a payment aggregator can result in a higher likelihood of account freezes, suspensions, and terminations. While these payment processors typically charge lower fees, they are not a good option if you operate a high-risk business.
Dedicated Merchant Accounts
Dedicated payment gateways are set up with a single account number for your business. Because each merchant’s risk profile is carefully evaluated on its own, setting up a dedicated payment gateway can require more time than aggregator accounts take. However, they can be tailored to your company’s unique risk profile and needs, making them an ideal option for WooCommerce high-risk merchant accounts.
High-Risk Gateway Platforms
These high-risk gateway platforms connect to multiple banks and processors, so your transactions can be routed differently based on load-balancing needs and other factors. While they are more complicated to set up, they offer superior fraud prevention and help you avoid unexpected processing shutdowns.
Cryptocurrency Payment Gateways
In more recent years, cryptocurrency payment gateways have risen in popularity. While this method has almost no chargebacks and minimal underwriting, many customers have not adopted cryptocurrency as a payment method. Additionally, the volatility of cryptocurrency means today’s payments may rapidly lose value as the markets change.
Which Industries Are Considered High-Risk by WooCommerce?
If you are researching high-risk payment gateways for WooCommerce, there are a few important factors to consider. Typically, you are more likely to need a high-risk merchant account if you are in a vertical that has more chargebacks, fraudulent transactions, or regulatory complexity. Before giving you a merchant account, payment processors consider any factors that could increase the costs of running your e-commerce transactions.
At WooCommerce, there are a few industries that are specifically classified as high-risk verticals.
- Bail bonds
- Adult or mature content
- Nutraceuticals and supplements
- Cannabis
- Alcohol
- Gaming and betting
- Vapes and e-cigarettes
- Firearms
- Ticketing agencies
- Travel
- Loans and money services
- Airlines
Top Payment Gateways That Work With WooCommerce
If you’re looking for a high-risk payment gateway for WooCommerce, there are a few popular payment processors that can help. For the best results, try to partner with a payment gateway that has experience in your industry. Additionally, carefully review the contract for hidden fees and contractual requirements.
| Payment Processor | Description | Why It Is a Good Option for WooCommerce |
| PayCompass | PayCompass offers secure gateway support, multi-currency solutions, and fraud prevention tools for high-risk merchant accounts | Because of their experience with high-risk companies, PayCompass can provide a superior level of support for companies that need help. |
| PaymentCloud | This high-risk account provider can be used with WooCommerce to process payments. | Thanks to its underwriting capabilities, PaymentCloud can accept many high-risk applications. |
| ZenPayments | ZenPayments has spent more than 15 years working with high-risk accounts. | This provider has options and services explicitly designed to support WooCommerce, making payment processing easier for companies. |
| National Processing | While National Processing tends to have a broader scope and clientele, they do have offerings available for high-risk businesses. | National Processing excels at providing a reliable infrastructure and support. |
| QuadraPay | QuadraPay markets a range of WooCommerce-specific tools. | Thanks to its experience with high-risk businesses and WooCommerce, QuadraPay makes payment integrations a breeze. |
| PayKings | PayKings offers support for high-risk and low-risk businesses. | If you need a fallback plan, PayKings can help with easy integrations and support for high-risk accounts. |
Things To Look for in a WooCommerce Payment Gateway
Companies that operate in high-risk industries need a payment gateway that offers a high level of security, reliability, and fraud prevention. As you look for the best WooCommerce payment gateway for your business, keep the following factors in mind.
- Fee Structure: If you’re getting a high-risk payment gateway, you can generally expect to pay higher fees. Make sure you’re aware of all the fees up front.
- WooCommerce APIs and Integrations: No matter what payment gateway you use, it will need to be set up so that it can use WooCommerce checkout.
- Industry-Specific Support: Before signing a merchant processing agreement (MPA), make sure the payment gateway is available for your industry and country.
- Fraud Prevention Tools: Many high-risk businesses receive that designation because of fraudulent transactions. Because of this, you should look for a payment gateway that has advanced fraud and chargeback prevention tools.
- International Options: If you are selling to people in other countries or use different currencies, you need a payment gateway that supports these options.
- Payout Speed and Rolling Reserves: To manage risk, some providers require rolling reserves or delay payments. Before you sign up with a specific provider, you should make sure that you know when payments will occur and if there are reserve requirements.
Final Thoughts
While businesses can easily use WooCommerce to sell products and services online, you can’t access a high-risk payment gateway through WooCommerce. If you run a high-risk business, you’ll need to find an alternative option. Fortunately, there are many different payment gateway providers available that work with WooCommerce.
When looking for a WooCommerce high-risk merchant account, pay attention to fees, fraud prevention tools, payout speeds, currency options, and other important factors. More importantly, you need a third-party provider that has the right integrations to work with WooCommerce.
If you are struggling with your WooCommerce high-risk merchant account, we can help. Reach out to our team of payment processing experts today to learn more about high-risk merchant accounts.
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