A Vape Shop’s Payment Processing Challenges

As a vape shop owner, you are well aware that the US government and banking institutions treat you differently than the restaurant down the block or department store around the corner. Vape shops are considered to be part of the tobacco industry. They are thereby governed by laws and regulations pertaining to tobacco and related industries, including how you can accept credit and debit cards. Due to the restrictions, most traditional merchant processors will reject your account.

Requiring “cash only” payments can depress sales since customers don’t always have cash on hand. While there are “quick approval” merchant processors such as PayPal and Square that are reliable and allow you to accept credit cards right away, they will eventually discover you are in a prohibited business listed in their small print. When that happens, they can shut down your account and freeze your funds.

That can result in feeling panicked, which can result in signing up with a high-risk processor that promised the moon, but in reality, increased their rates and chargeback fees while providing little support. In addition, they can charge a whopping cancelation fee for termination of your contract. So you shop around, choose and sign with another company, but the same thing happens again.

It’s time to avoid the smoke screens of high-risk processors that make promises but don’t deliver. To help make sure you find a suitable processor for you, look for the following when selecting a trusted, high- risk processor:

Specialization in the Vape industry

The vaping industry is in a constant state of change. Having a trusted merchant provider specializing in the Vape Industry who understands the challenges you face will make it easier for you to navigate these changes without interruption to your merchant account.

Service Features and Quality

Compare the offerings of different companies.

• Does the merchant processor offer a variety of feature-rich solutions with easy integrations?  Having that can streamline your bookkeeping while allowing you to accept payments online, over the phone, in-store, and on the go.
• If something goes wrong, what is their availability to provide assistance? Trustworthy companies offer features like 24/7 availability and more.

Rates and Fees

Does the processing company offer transparent rates or hide fees in the small print?
Do their rates increase with chargebacks or remain locked-in as long as you’re a client?
Do they have contracts with high cancellation fees?

Trustworthy companies are transparent and have rates and fees that work with you, not against you.

You may think that finding a merchant processing company with these credentials is about as easy as finding a ray of sunshine in a thunderstorm. But fold up your umbrella because the sun is about to part those clouds. There are a few merchant processors available that can meet your needs. They don’t think you should be treated as a high-risk merchant subject to high costs and poor service.

One such company is Unity Payments. Unity Payments is specifically designed to offer Vape businesses, such as yours, advantages that include no contracts, no cancellation fees, locked-in service rates, 24/7 tech support, loss prevention specialists, and the ability to accept major credit cards, including Visa® and MasterCard®. Unity Processing is backed by Nuvo Company, an established leader in the merchant processing industry with over 35 years of experience serving various businesses, enabling Unity Payments to absorb a higher amount of risk.

If your status as a Vape business is preventing you from securing credit card processing or if you would like a free audit of your existing processor to learn of the benefits you may enjoy by switching, call Unity Payments at (321) 972-9838 or sign-up online.