Marijuana Merchant Account
An Overview
Marijuana Merchant Account
Why We Proudly Offer Solutions for Pet Product Businesses (Even When Many Processors Don’t)
To accept credit card payments for marijuana, a business must have a cannabis merchant account. For many years, the legality of cannabis / marijuana sales has varied among US federal, state and local authorities, making banks and credit card processors unable to offer the simple retail or eCommerce payment processing for marijuana that they offer for other industries.
That situation, however, appears poised to change as the Biden administration supports Chuck Schumer’s legislation, which has indicated an imminent intent to federally legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational and medical use, which will allow credit card processors to offer marijuana merchant accounts to legally operating businesses.
Once that regulation changes, Soar Payments, as a high risk merchant account provider, will offer through its partner network merchant services to businesses that legally sell cannabis or marijuana, in addition to those which offer related cannabis goods and services. Accepted businesses includes legally operating and licensed retail dispensaries, eCommerce marijuana stores, and mobile delivery services.
At this point, Soar Payments allows businesses to submit an application for a marijuana merchant account in anticipation of an upcoming federal law change. Until such a change actually happens, Soar Payments is not able to process credit card transactions for cannabis merchant accounts as currently processing credit card payments for marijuana is not permitted at the federal level. However, through our partners we do have debit card solutions available, any application will submitted will be offered the debit card solution and will receive notification when credit card processing for marijuana and cannabis business is allowed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are common customer questions specific to cannabis payments.
-
What types of cannabis industry businesses do you accept?
Soar Payments accepts a broad range of legally operating and licensed marijuana businesses. This includes retail, delivery and online marijuana sales.
Soar Payments does not offer payment solutions for businesses which are not licensed and legally operating under the applicable US federal, state and local laws which govern that business.
-
Do you offer an eCommerce merchant account for marijuana sales?
Yes. As a high risk merchant account provider, Soar Payments is able to offer eCommerce cannabis payments for legally operating and licensed cannabis businesses.
-
What types of marijuana merchant accounts do you offer?
We offer credit card processing, debit card processing, eCheck and ACH payment solutions. For the unique case of marijuana payment processing, we await guidance from the federal government and our bank and payment processing partners as to what payment types can be legally offered.
-
Is Soar Payments compatible with my CRM software suite or eCommerce platform?
Soar Payments cannabis merchant accounts, either directly or via a payment gateway, are compatible and can be integrated with most other software and CRM platforms.
This includes CRM and software platforms frequently used by marijuana eCommerce stores such as Zoho CRM, Salesforce, WooCommerce and ClickFunnels.
Soar Payment’s marijuana merchant accounts can be integrated with most other software, CRM or eCommerce platforms which are compatible with Authorize.net, NMI, or USAePay payment gateways. If you have any compatibility questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!
-
Why is my cannabis business considered “high risk” by banks and credit card processors?
Most credit card processors consider cannabis or marijuana businesses high risk because of the following reasons:
- Cannabis was a schedule 2 controlled substance at the federal level up until very recently and is still illegal in many localities.
With marijuana sales and possession recently illegal at the federal level and in some states and localities still illegal, FDIC insured banks and credit card processors which operate nationally are caught in an uncertain regulatory situation, and therefore, many banks and payment processors find the risk and uncertainty too great to process credit card payments. - The additional underwriting burden is too much for some banks and credit card processors.
Given the patchwork legal status of marijuana sales in the United States, and the risk of businesses attempting to process marijuana sales with credit cards in violation of federal, state or local laws, the underwriting process for offering a marijuana merchant account to a business is more involved. Many banks and credit card processors simply don’t want to take on that additional burden.
- Cannabis was a schedule 2 controlled substance at the federal level up until very recently and is still illegal in many localities.
Want more information? Click here to read our extended list of our FAQ.
Our friendly Customer Support Team is standing by to approve your application
Questions? (888) 225-9405
Types of Marijuana Merchant Accounts
Soar Payments offers a full-array of merchant accounts to online, brick-n-mortar, and other businesses in the pet product industry. These include:
Retail Payments
A retail merchant account for pet products enables businesses to accept face-to-face debit and credit card payments via a traditional credit card machine or point of sale system.
Ideally suited to a storefront or retail setting with reliable internet access, retail apparel credit card processing accounts typically have the lowest chargeback and fraud risk and as a result are afforded the lowest credit card processing pricing.
Mobile Payments
A mobile merchant account for pet products enables your business to accept face-to-face credit and debit card payments via a swiper (included with each account) that plugs into your mobile phone or iPad.
Appropriate for businesses that frequently conduct face-to-face sales outside of a storefront, mobile accounts are priced similarly to retail, due to their lower chargeback risk.
Virtual Terminal Payments
Also called a payment gateway merchant account, a virtual terminal enables businesses to accept payments over the phone, via mail, or typed into a computer (without needing outside equipment). They also have invoicing solutions which allow the merchant to email an invoice to the customer, which they can pay online.
A pet product payment gateway account is ideal for businesses that accept payments over the phone, or via mail order. Virtual terminal payments are particularly vulnerable to fraud, therefore Soar Payments offers integrated chargeback protection.
eCommerce Payments
An eCommerce apparel merchant account allows you to accept credit card payments via your website’s online shopping cart.
Our eCommerce credit card processing accounts integrate seamlessly with most major payment gateways and shopping cart software, making setup simple. Online apparel sales payments are vulnerable to fraud and chargebacks, consequently, we offer pre-integrated fraud protection technology.
The latest happenings in the worlds of payments and fintech impact all kinds of businesses and industries. If you want to offer your customers the best experience around payments, or just want to learn about financial services that could help your business... PayPod: The Payments And Fintech Podcast has you covered!
Each episode, you’ll hear an interview directly with a leader from the payments and fintech industries. We talk with fintech entrepreneurs, security experts, mobile developers, eCommerce pros, and more…
From credit card processing to bitcoin… from retail POS systems to cutting edge digital payments tech… merchant accounts and mobile checkout… we cover it all!
Our podcast explores the fast-changing world of payments and fintech through interviews with thought leaders around the world. From credit card processing to bitcoin, and digital banks to finance software… we cover it all!