The online Gun business is one that is not understood by many, including acquiring banks. It’s this element of not being understood that this type of business finds itself being categorized as a high risk business venture. A merchant account for firearms is exactly what firearms businesses need to be able to accept payments via credit cards. With the acquisition of a merchant account, a firearms dealer would find their business competing favorably with others.
Despite the fact that gun dealerships are viewed as high risk, the identification process and paperwork involved in these types of transactions turn purchasing guns into a more secure business transaction. Gun dealerships experience minimal amounts of credit card chargebacks, due to the extensive verification process carried out before completing a transaction.
For a firearm merchant account to be approved, the bank would ordinarily consider the credit history, the absence of disputable business activities and the dealer’s ability to make payments. As with other merchant account applications, firearm merchant accounts can be applied online and take as little as a couple of hours to process.
Some of the requirements a firearms dealer is likely to be asked during the application of a firearms merchant account include:
- Copy of a Federal Firearms License (FFL)
- Business license
- Dealer’s website
The Federal Firearms License (FFL) is an important requirement when applying for a firearm merchant account. Merchant account providers have been known to physically send a representative to a dealer’s location to help with the confirmation of the dealer’s location.
Gun dealers face challenges in accessing merchant services from providers, simply because of the negative publicity and high value fraud associated with this industry. The arms and ammunitions industry has in the recent past been the receipt of bad publicity. It’s this negative publicity that has led to some banks shying away from offering their merchant services to gun dealers. High value fraud of guns with firearms costing a substantial amount of money to purchase, the risk a dealer faces if there is a chargeback to a purchase would be costly. Hence the subsequent grouping of firearms in the same category as precious metals or any other item that could be sold for cash anywhere.
A firearm merchant account comes with two different types of payment processing services; these are real time and manual payment processing. Real time payment processing is a web based solution that processes the credit card at the point of placing an order while generating email notifications on order acceptance and transfer of funds. Whereas the manual payment processing option entails the delivery of a credit card number via telephone, an online order form or fax processes an order when the payment processing company is contacted. According to industry experts, the manual payment processing offers merchants and their acquiring banks a more secure environment to transact from.
Despite the hurdles associated with acquiring a firearm merchant account and the un-wiliness of some merchant providers to work with gun dealerships. Prospective gun dealerships are advised to take their search for reliable merchant account providers online. The internet makes it possible for gun dealership to access credit card processing services tailored for their firearm business. EMerchantBroker is familiar with the challenges associated with obtaining a firearm merchant account and it’s because of this understanding that the company has established reliable and dependable links with firearms merchant account providers. Our services benefits applicants of firearm merchant accounts who are paired with provider’s best suited for their needs.