Are you looking for Best Payment Processors For High Risk Small Businesses? Don’t search anywhere else!
Once you’ve been classified as “high-risk” finding the payment processor is not an easy task. It is even harder for High Risk Small Businesses.
Luckily for us there are some decent payment processors which are not afraid to work even with small with high-risk businesses.

So, grab a cup of coffee (or whatever is your thing) and let’s take the next ten minutes to explore some honest and experienced payment processors suitable for High Risk Small Businesses.
This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional costs to you.
Read also: Let’s Get High Risk Merchant Account With Instant Approval
Please note, the high risk specialists, mentioned here, will usually be able to get you a deal that might not be the best compared to low-risk industries standard, but is above the industry average.
Table of Contents
What are High Risk Payment Processors?
For merchants which operates in high risk industries, there are undoubtedly more regulations to follow and it is often difficult for high risk merchants obtain approval from usual credit card processors.
High-risk payment processors are payment processing companies that has no problems to deal with businesses considered to be high risk for regular payment processors and banks. It means these payment processors accepts liability for increased risk. Usually it comes with higher involvement in fraud management.
Usually high risk payment processors deal with all kind of businesses, not only with those from high risk industries.
What are high risk industries?
A high-risk industries are industries that may be considered high-risk to banks or other financial institutions due types of products sold or services offered.
Any business with a tendency to high chargeback volume, operating in an industry that makes it vulnerable to financial failure, or other potentially questionable circumstances (such as Adult entertainment companies, CBD vendors or offshore businesses) can be classified as high risk. Examples of high-risk industries include:
- eCommerce with Future Deliverables
- Industries with Reputational Risk
- Businesses Dealing with High Priced Products or Services
- Dropshiping, although dropshipping cannot be seen as business, but rather a way to do business
- Businesses located in high risk countries.
Read also: High-Risk Industries for Payment Processing: complete list 2020
What are possible solutions for high risk payment processing?
The same as it is for any other online business, there are only several options when it comes to payment processing:
The easiest one – good ol´ cash on delivery (COD)
Remember the days when this was the only option for small ecommerce enterprise? …..No, you probably don’t. That was long time ago. However, this still can be a valid option if you are selling physical goods. Most of the delivery companies offers the service when they collect money upon delivery. There are several advantages of COD. First of all – no cahrgebacks. Second, usually this service is cheaper than credit card processing fees, especially those, for high risk merchants.
Full merchant account
If you operate in high risk industries, you should try to get yourself a merchant account as soon as possible. It will give you more security against sudden terminations and also it will be cheaper in long run. Unfortunately, to get merchant account is not so easy if you just started. So, the way out is to start with Payment Service Provider, work couple of months, build up your reputation and then search for merchant account provider.
Third Payment service providers (PSPs)
If you just started and if you are selling digital gods, or if your monthly turnover is belove $5000, Payment service providers might be your only option. The disadvantages of this option are – usually high rolling reserve time (180 days or more), high fees, possibility that your account could be sudden frozen or even terminated if chargeback rates run to high.
Cryptocurrency Payment service providers
Good option even for established merchants. Gives you higher degree of privacy. No chargeback risks and much cheaper than credit card processing. The problem with this method is that crypto currencies are no so widely adapted yet. It means that not every customer will be familiar with this form of payment.
Read more: The Best Cryptocurrency Payment Gateways For Merchants In 2020
Average Fees for small high risk merchants
According to my own research, if your business falls into high risk category and if you are just starting up, you should expect something between 5% to 20% processing fee and minimum 180 days rolling reserve.
Almost all high risk specialists doesn’t disclose its processing rates or account fees. Usually those are negotiated separately case-by-case. So, Don’t be fooled by publicly displayed fees. Usually those are only teaser fees and only for merchants from low-risk industries.
By the way, if you are not familiar with terms and definitions used please read:
Payments 101 – Common online payment industry terms and definitions
High risk merchant account with instant approval
Is it Possible?
No! There is no such a thing as high risk merchant account with instant approval.
First of all, all legit high risk payment processors will investigate your business before accept it. Secondly, all legit payment service providers must comply with KYC (know-Your-Customer) regulations and anti-money laundering regulations to limit fraud.
Also, in payment processing busines there is bad, good, and ugly! If somebody says that they can onboard you instantly – this is either scam or click bite. Net is full of offers from face processors. If you fall in this trap, most likely you will end up with no money and valuable time lost.
Read also: Best WooCommerce payment processing solutions in 2020
Best Merchant Account Providers for High Risk Small Businesses
PaymentCloud

Payment Cloud. Payment Cloud specializes in placing high-risk businesses relying on a network of third-party processors and acquiring banks to get you approved for an account. While it can’t place every merchant, the company has a higher success rate than many of its competitors. Best of all, Payment Cloud does the extra work required to accept a high risk account without charging you any application or account setup fees.
Pros:
- good for e-commerce businesses,
- good for high-risk businesses,
- no account setup fee,
- no monthly minimum for low-risk businesses,
- excellent customer support,
- few public complaints.
Cons:
- no publicly disclosed pricing,
- website needs improvement
eMerchantBroker

eMerchantBroker or EMB is one of the oldest high risk merchant account providers out there. They have been operating since 2011 and specialize in providing services to high risk merchants of all kind. EMB has a fame to work with all merchants that may have been turned down by other processors.
Pros:
- Everything is handled in-house.
- Provides a proprietary dashboard and tools for tracking and account management.
- Seamless integrations with thousands of third-party applications.
- Generally favorable reviews from clients and consumers.
- Good customer support.
Cons:
Little information disclosed about their contract length or terms
Soar Payments

SOAR Payments specializes in serving the high-risk community, but it also has very competitive pricing and terms that are attractive to non-high-risk companies as well.
This merchant account provider is mostly focused on e-commerce services. It no longer publishes pricing information on its website. But for high-risk accounts, this is fairly standard practice. So, it’s nothing to be alarmed about.
Pros:
- ideal for high-risk merchants,
- automated custom price quoting,
- automated application process,
- fast underwriting,
- no application fees.
Cons:
- only works with US based businesses.
Overall, Soar payments offers very competitive terms for high-risk merchants.
Epoch.com

Epoch might be considered as a pioneer of payment solutions for online merchants. The company has been around since 1996. They elbowed their place in this list due the fact that this is one of the most favored merchant account provider among merchants from Adult entertainment business.
Pros:
- all-inclusive merchant integration
- ideal for all kind of Adult websites,
- firearm friendly,
- automated application process,
- good customer service
Cons:
- Their fees might be higher than industries avarage
Ccbill.com

CCbill is eCommerce enterprises only merchant account provider. This international all-inclusive merchant account provider works with high risk merchants from 45 countries, including the United States, Canada, and most European nations. It is also known as one of the leading payment solutions provider for adult entertainment industries.
Pros:
- Good for Adult industry
- Foreseeable flat-rate pricing
- No early termination fee
- Free gateway
- Multi-currency options
- Good for international merchants
Cons:
- High fees
- Rolling reserve required
- Minimum contract required
Best Payment Service Providers For High Risk Small Businesses
Cardinity

Cardinity is a licensed payment service provider for European businesses and sole proprietors. The company is ready to work with all kind of merchants, also those from high risk industries. No matter, if you are doing droppshipping, selling CBD products or creating your own porn empire, Cardinity has solution for you.
Pros:
- Easy boarding process
- Works with all kinds of high risk industries
- Competitive fees
Cons:
- Sometimes too aggressive fraud prevention policies
SecurionPay

SecurionPay is Swiss payment solution provider with great appetite for risks. Company is a excellent solution for new high risk businesses that require online payments or paid subscriptions. Their platform is designed to facilitate payments among a varied range of industries, such as e-commerce, online dating, online gaming, and ticket purchasing, to name a few.
Pros:
- Fast customer interface
- Detailed payment tracking
- Flexible, customizable software
- Relatively low processing fees for High-risk merchants
Cons:
- Merchant approval process takes some time
Chronopay

This is global payment processor suitable for merchants from high risk industries. ChronoPay is one of the leading Payment Service Providers on the European market. Originally founded in Russia, company currently operates from its headquarters in Amsterdam. ChronoPay might be your single point of contact for all your online payment needs.
Pros:
- Minimal documentation is required
- Integrates with the most popular CMS
- 24/7/365 customer support
Cons:
- Personal data processing in Russia
Payssion

Payssion is Hong Kong based online payment provider. It is one-stop solution for global payment processing with hundreds of local payment methods across countries around the world. Due company’s liberal acceptance policies, Payssion is recommended for startups from high risk industries, although not all high risk industries are accepted.
Pros:
- Fast and straight forward onboarding
- Global Coverage
- Top notch customer support
- Overall favorable comments on TrustPilot
Cons:
- Do not accept businesses from Adult entertainment industries
G2A PAY

G2A PAY is another global payment gateway from Hong Kong. It offers over 200+ global and local payment methods in more than 80 currencies.
The company is an expert in payments for digital business, however, according to information available on their webpage, they accept some businesses which are usually labeled as high risk. For example web hosting services or adult entertainment.
Pros:
- Easy to use payment platform
- Large selection of payment methods including cryptocurrencies
- Cryptocurrency Processing
Cons:
- Bad customer service
- Long funds withdraw time
Payfinder

Payfinder is high risk payment processor from Israel. The company offers secure payment technology to both small business and enterprise customers. They offer relative fast onboarding and competitive pricing plans.
Pros:
- No monthly minimums
- Fully PCI compliant
- Hosted payment page
Cons:
- Expensive fees to transfer money
- Poor customer support
- Basic reporting
- Limited pricing disclosed online
Verotel

Verotel is an online credit card payment processing specialist with good reputation among merchants from high risk industries. According to company’s webpage, since 1998 Verotel supports 50,000 high risk merchants. The platform is compatible with companies of any size.
Verotel is one of only a few options available for high-risk merchants in the adult content, nutraceuticals, and weapons industries who serves to overseas customers.
Pros:
- No long-term contracts
- Supports Multi-Currency processing
- No history needed
- Regular weekly payouts
Cons:
- Higher-than-average rates
- Overall negative trend in customer reviews
Purepay.eu

This is one more international payment processor suitable for high risk merchants from Europe and North America. It is excellent solution for startups working in gabling industries as well as for CBD merchants.
Purepay is one of the few payment processing companies only with positive customer reviews on TrustPilot.
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Seamless third-party integrations
- Responsive customer support team
- Advanced fraud detection technology
Cons:
- None
Payop

PayOp is a relatively new payment provider with headquarters in Singapore. They came under our radar because last year PayOp gained “Rising star 2019” and “Premium Usability 2019” trophies from FinancesOnline. Company offers payment processing services for all kind of businesses including startups and high-risk merchants.
They claim to have flat and transparent fee system, although on their website is displayed teaser price from 2.4% plus 0.2 USD fixed fee for credit cards. PayOp also has lot of local and alternative payment options tailored for each region.
Although PayOp accepts merchants from high risk industries, they do not accept businesses that work in the semi-legal or completely illegal niches (weapon, medicine, replicas of popular brands, etc.).
Pros:
- Easy setup
- Supports all major credit cards and popular European payment methods.
- Cutting-edge fraud prevention methods
Cons:
- Overall negative users reviews about customer support
Ctopay.hk

This online payment processor from Hong Kong. The company positions itself as one-stop solution for high risk merchants. No mater if you are in adult entertainment business, gambling or file sharing business, Ctopay have you covered.
Pros:
- Easy onboarding
- Minimal documentation needed
- Several payment methods
Cons:
- Overall negative trend in customer reviews
Read also:10 Most Reliable Payment Processors for Porn Sites And Adult Oriented Businesses
Bottom Line
Finding a reasonable payment processing solution for your eCommerce venture is one of the key points of successful business. It is even more challenging if you are looking for high risk payment processors.
Read also: Best Payment Service Providers in Europe
Navigating the process of choosing a credit card processor as a high-risk business is critical, because there are few options for high-risk merchant services. Choosing a provider that is easy to work with and that you can trust to charge fair rates is preeminent.
Are you high risk merchant? Which payment processor do you use? Is it something not from this list? Let me know!