BRAM Violations: The $200,000 Fine Most High-Risk Merchants Don’t Know About Most merchants in high-risk categories know that chargebacks are expensive. Most know that chargeback rates above 1% trigger processor warnings....
High Risk Payment Processing: How to Accept Payments When Others Say No Getting classified as high-risk by a payment processor doesn’t mean you can’t accept cards, it means you need to find...
CBD Payment Processing: The Complete Guide for CBD Merchants CBD merchants have a payment processing problem that has improved significantly since 2019 but hasn’t fully resolved: most major card...
Cannabis Payment Processing: Solutions for Legal Cannabis Businesses Legal cannabis businesses operate in one of the most payment-constrained environments in commerce. Despite being fully legal in dozens of...
Firearms Payment Processing: Payment Solutions for Gun Dealers and FFLs Firearms businesses, gun dealers, FFLs, ammo retailers, parts and accessories sellers, face payment processing restrictions that can come without warning...
Nutraceutical Payment Processing: Accepting Payments for Supplements Supplement and nutraceutical businesses are automatically classified as high-risk by most payment processors, not because supplements are illegal, but because...
Kratom Payment Processing: How Kratom Vendors Can Accept Cards Kratom vendors face a specific combination of challenges: a product in a legal gray zone, payment processors that frequently terminate...
Delta 8 Payment Processing: Navigating the Legal and Financial Landscape Delta 8 THC sits in one of the more complex positions in the hemp and cannabis space: federally legal under...
Peptide Payment Processing: Payment Solutions for Peptide Retailers Peptide retailers occupy a specific corner of the high-risk payment landscape: the products themselves are often legal research chemicals, but...
What Is a High Risk Merchant Account? A Clear Guide for Business Owners A high-risk merchant account is not a second-tier product, it’s a merchant account designed for businesses that standard acquiring banks...
Credit Card Surcharge Rules: A State-by-State Guide for Merchants Credit card surcharging — passing the cost of card processing directly to customers who pay by card, is legal in...
LegitScript Certification: What It Costs, How Long It Takes, and Why You Need It LegitScript certification is a third-party verification program that confirms a business meets legal and regulatory standards in sensitive product categories,...
BRAM Violations Explained: What They Are and How to Avoid a $200K Fine A BRAM violation is a finding under Mastercard’s Brand Risk and Acquirer Monitoring program, a compliance program that holds payment...
Mastercard BRAM Program: A Complete Guide for High-Risk Merchants The Mastercard Brand Risk and Acquirer Monitoring (BRAM) program is one of the most consequential compliance obligations for merchants in...
Payment Processor Account Freeze: What to Do When Your Funds Are Held Having your payment processor freeze your account or hold your funds is one of the most stressful situations a merchant...
Supplement Merchant Compliance: Avoiding Claims That Kill Your Processing Account Supplement merchants operate in one of the most heavily scrutinized categories in payment processing. The same website content that drives...
MCC Codes Explained: How Your Merchant Category Code Affects Your Business Your Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit number assigned by your payment processor that classifies the type of business...
Wine and Alcohol Ecommerce Payments: Age Verification and Compliance Direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine and alcohol ecommerce is one of the more complex regulated commerce categories, intersecting state-by-state shipping laws, age...
Firearms Ecommerce Compliance: Payment Processing for Online Gun Retailers Firearms ecommerce operates under federal and state regulations that directly affect how merchants must configure their stores and what payment...
Health and Wellness Ecommerce Payments: From Supplements to Fitness Health and wellness ecommerce is a broad and growing category that spans fitness equipment, clean beauty, organic food and supplements,...
PayPal Holding Funds: Why It Happens and Why WooCommerce Merchants Move On Few things disrupt a WooCommerce business like a PayPal account hold. One day you’re processing normally; the next, funds are...