Any business that wants to accept debit and credit card payments needs to apply for a merchant account, which allows you to process transactions through a payment gateway, point-of-sale system, or credit card terminal. To process payments for an adult webcam business, you will need a merchant account and payment gateway.
Though businesses in the adult industry are popular and profitable, many traditional merchant account providers refuse to do business with them. If a merchant wants to get approved for an adult webcam merchant account, it will need to apply with an alternative lender.
Take Steps to Make Your Business More Attractive
Despite higher chargeback ratios and dispute rates, alternative lenders are willing to take on high risk merchants that banks won’t. Here are some ways to prepare your business:
- Build and/or Clean Up Your Credit: If you don’t have a business credit score, start building one by opening a business line of credit or getting a business credit card. Don’t miss any payments, and pay them off early, if possible. Also, check your credit history for any mistakes, and have them rectified. Also, if you have a good personal credit history, bring it up to the merchant service provider. It may help.
- Be Honest: Terminated accounts and bankruptcies are public records, so there is no good reason to not be upfront about them. These situations don’t automatically disqualify your business, so come up with good explanations for them.
- Save Some Money: To protect themselves, many high-risk merchant account providers ask adult-related businesses to set up a rolling reserve account, which is a separate account where a specified amount of funds are held to cover chargeback fees or refunds that a merchant fails to pay. This is just one of the prices you have to pay to do business in this industry.
- Negotiate, But Be Willing to Pay More: High risk merchants pay higher fees and rates. Also, expect to adhere to other restrictions, such as monthly transaction volume caps, that other lower risk businesses don’t get.
- Be Open to Alternative Billing: Adult merchants see a number of friendly fraud chargebacks. This is when customers receive products or services, then, they decide they don’t want to pay for them, so they initiate chargebacks. In this particular industry, this occurs after a partner or spouse sees a charge on a credit card statement and wants to hide the fact that he/she spent money to view an adult webcam show. By charging customers one-time annual fees, you can nip some of this friendly fraud in the bud. The idea is that it is less difficult to hide one charge, instead of many.
- Be Prepared to Share Documents: Before you apply, gather all important business documents, such as credit processing histories, valid state-issued identification, like a passport or driver’s license, a few months of bank statements, and contact information for all owners/stakeholders. Also, make sure that your website is secure and functional. Merchant service providers will want to see this information once you submit an application.
The Final Say
By using these strategies, you are likely to get approved faster for an adult webcam merchant account. The quicker your business gets approved, the faster you can begin growing your enterprise and building your credit.
Though there are fewer merchant account providers that want to work with adult webcam merchants, there are enough alternative lenders who are ready to work for you.
eMerchantBroker.com (EMB) is merchant account provider that specializes in working with high-risk businesses. EMB works with many high risk adult entertainment vendors, including dating sites, escort services, and adult novelties. As long as your chargeback rate is lower than 2%, EMB can help you get the proper credit card processing account for your business.
Apply today to experience an easy, streamlined application process.