Best Shopify high risk payment processor [Updated]

Over the years of providing subscription service for stores on Shopify, we have observed that sometimes, merchants experience catastrophic issues with their payment processors. It often happens that merchants start their business with one payment processor, without checking the list of products they are allowed to sell through this payment processor. Then,  as their business grows, the payment processor blocks their access to their systems. This means that all subscriptions they worked to gather over the years can’t get renewed anymore. As you can imagine, this can cause significant stress to the merchant, not to mention the loss of revenue. This kind of issue usually happens to merchants who sell so-called “high risk” products.  

Currently most payment processors consider the following products as “high risk” products and industries:CBD (cannabidiol) products, gambling services, pharmaceuticals or drug products, digital downloads, tobacco related accessories, dropshipping, weight loss products, etc. Merchants selling these products or working in these industries can often run into issues when it comes to online payments, because the mentioned products and industries often fall into special categories with laws and regulations in some states and countries.

To protect themselves, many payment processors chose to avoid or ban these kinds of merchants from using their service to avoid any legal trouble. In this article, we will explore how to effectively sell products such as these in Shopify and we will even show how to sell these products as subscription products in Shopify.

Common issues

Here's some screenshots from merchants we found on the popular online forums:

Now, if you are just getting started with your business, getting denied by the payment processor can lead to a mild headache at most. But imagine building an entire business on a subscription model, receiving thousands of subscription orders every month, tens of thousands of revenue just for it to be taken away, because the payment processor blocked your account and now your subscriptions cannot renew. Total nightmare.

Some of these issues can be resolved simply by contacting the payment provider and explaining your situation, showing that your business is compliant with all laws and regulations, while some cannot be resolved at all.

Luckily, this is a payment processor you can use on Shopify to tackle these problems.

Bankful

Introducing Bankful - a reliable and efficient payment processor targeting high-risk merchants.

Bankful is a cutting-edge payment processor designed to offer secure and swift payment solutions. Unlike many other processors, Bankful is more open to merchants selling high risk products, making it an ideal choice for merchants in those industries.

We will go over the pros and cons of using Bankful, how to set it up and how to sell subscriptions with Bankful.

Pros & Cons

Bankful is a fairly new, but fully-fledged out payment processor with low transaction fees. It does have a few drawbacks for some merchants though, so let’s take a look at the pros and cons.

Pros:

• Easy set up
• Fast and friendly support team
• Accepts any type of products/merchants
• Multi-currency conversions
• Low transaction fees & secure payments
• Offers subscription options (even for high risk products!)

Cons:

• Not available for all merchants, countries (yet)
• Account needs to go through an approval process

How to set up Bankful

Create Account

Before anything else, you will first need a Bankful account, which will allow you to accept payment through their platform. Below, you can find a step-by-step guide on doing so.

1. Go to this link and click, “Get started”.

2. Fill in the required info on screen.

3. Enter your: Name, Email, Password, Phone number and click continue.

4. Done! You've successfully created a Bankful account.

Add Bankful to Shopify

Finally, we can add Bankful to our Shopify store. To do that, you  will need an account with them (see above steps).

To set up Bankful in your Shopify shop, follow the steps below:

1. Firstly, go to the Shopify app store, and login in with your store.
2. Next, use the search bar to find “Bankful native”, install it into your store.
3. Login with your Bankful account
4. Activate Bankful and you are done!

A more in-depth guide can be found here: https://support.bankful.com/shopify-native

Your customers can now use Bankful for one-time purchases in your shop and for auto-charging subscription purchases in your shop after you configure the Seal Subscriptions app.

How Seal Subscriptions collaborates with Bankful

Seal Subscriptions and Bankful recently formed a strategic collaboration. We aim to support merchants, especially those dealing with high-risk products like CBD (cannabidiol), in managing their subscription services on Shopify. 

Key aspects of the collaboration

1. Seamless integration:

Seal Subscription integrates effortlessly with Shopify. This allows merchants to set up and manage subscriptions without extensive technical knowledge. The integration ensures a smooth user experience for both merchants and consumers. 

2. Streamlined payment processing:

Bankful specializes in high-risk payment processing, which is crucial for industries like CBD, adult content, gambling services, drugs and pharmaceuticals. The integration with Seal Subscriptions enables secure and efficient payment processing for auto-charging subscriptions. This reduces the likelihood of transaction failures and enhances the overall customer experience.

3. Flexible subscription plans:

Seal Subscriptions offers various options for creating flexible subscription plans. Merchants can easily customize billing cycles, offer loyalty discounts, set custom shipping profiles and more. This flexibility caters to the diverse needs of customers, ensuring they receive their products as per their preferences. 

4. Enhanced customer loyalty and revenue stability:

Subscription services foster a recurring relationship between merchants and customers, enhancing loyalty and ensuring a steady revenue stream. This is particularly beneficial for products that customers use regularly, such as CBD products. 

5. Direct customer support line:

As mentioned above, Seal Subscriptions and Bankful are close partners. This means that if you run into any issues with any of these services, they can directly cross-talk and find the root of the issue quickly! Example: Your shop is ineligible for subscriptions. With other payment gateways, it would generally be almost impossible to get in contact with them. If an issue like this happens when using Bankful and Seal Subscriptions, you can directly contact us and we can check directly with Bankful, what could be causing this.

By leveraging the strengths of both platforms, Bankful and Seal Subscriptions provide a robust solution for merchants to manage their subscription services effectively, ensuring secure transactions and satisfied customers.

Customer support experience

There are certain error codes which can cause quite a headache if they happen when a subscription should get renewed.

For example, if you get the “Account is restricted” error code, you would have to file a ticket through your payment processor’s contact form, wait for a response, go back and forth with their support team, etc just to hopefully resolve this issue… 

There's also no timeline for this. With Seal Subscriptions and Bankful, your issues can be quickly resolved, usually in less than 24 hours. As mentioned before, Seal Subscriptions and Bankful have a direct communication line between them, so there's no need to contact one party and then another and wait days/weeks for a resolution. Simply contact one of these parties and we will efficiently figure out what is going there.

Common error codes

There are certain error codes which can cause quite a headache when they pop-up on your screen. For example, if you get the 'Account is restricted' error code, you'd need to file a ticket through their contact form, wait for a response, go back and forth with Shopify support team, etc. There's also no timeline for this. With Seal Subscriptions x Bankful, your issues can be quickly resolved, usually >24h. As mentioned before, Seal Subscriptions and Bankful have a direct support line, so there's no need to go back and forth and wait days/weeks for a resolution.

Here are some common error messages, that are easily fixed with our combined forces:

And here are some other common error codes, with which Shopify can help with:

Conclusion

In conclusion, navigating the complexities of selling high-risk products on Shopify requires careful consideration and strategic planning. Utilizing a specialized payment processor like Bankful can significantly streamline this process, ensuring compliance with Shopify’s policies while providing a reliable solution for auto-charging subscriptions.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at: info@sealsubscriptions.com 

Our team will help you get started on your subscription journey!