We think the results of a recent study will lend favorably to the e-cigarette industry and merchants who need e-cigarette payment processing.
There’s been a conflict over the last 10 years regarding the long term effects of e-cigarette use. It’s generated many legitimate points and questions such as:
- Is vaping healthier than traditional smoking?
- Are e-cigarettes a gateway to traditional cigarettes?
- Or, are e-cigarettes a proven way to ween traditional smokers off tobacco?
There is more and more evidence supporting the latter, including a recent study at the University of California-San Diego. It is the third study we’ve seen in recent years that suggests e-cigarettes are effective in helping traditional smokers quit tobacco.
What the UC San Diego Survey Found
As detailed in a recent article on ConsumerAffairs.com by Mark Huffman, researchers at UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center have been conducting smoking surveys since 2001 and never saw a significant increase in the rate of traditional smokers quitting per year.
Until the end of 2015, that is.
The surveyed quit-rate of those who smoked traditional cigarettes remained constant at about 4.5 percent each year. From 2014-15, however, the rate increased to 5.6 percent — that’s about 350,000 smokers — and researchers believe e-cigs are playing a role. More than half of the surveyed smokers who quit over the previous year indicated they used e-cigarettes.
Moreover, 8.2 percent of smokers who also used e-cigs were able to quit opposed to the less than 5 percent of those who didn’t vape who were able to stop smoking.
We did our own survey
About three years ago, we put an inquiry out on a popular e-cigarette chat forum asking folks:
- Whether they thought e-cigs were healthier
- If e-cig users had more energy since switching from traditional cigarettes, and
- If they felt e-cigarettes were healthier
We received 23 responses. All 23, most who have converted to e-cigs from regular cigarettes, believed overwhelmingly that e-cigarettes were the healthier alternative, many offering examples. Among them included:
- “I can breathe so much better than I could when I smoked…My sense of smell is now godlike…I don’t spend the first 5 minutes of every morning slumped over the bathroom sink hacking up flem (sic). Everything tastes more flavorful.”
- “My sense of smell and taste is much better, my lung capacity has dramatically increased, my smokers cough has finally gone and i dont (sic) get colds anymore.”
- “I had some concerning issues with my lungs. That has completely cleared up. I had stopped exercising because of the wheezing, light-headedness, and pain in my chest. All that also gone, working out again and lost 30 lbs.”
How to get e-cigarette payment processing
Instabill has long provided e-cigarette payment processing solutions to merchants (we were selected one of the best providers by CardPaymentOptions in 2015). However, e-cigarettes are considered among the highest of the high risk industries by Visa and MasterCard for two reasons:
- The addictive nature of nicotine.
- The unknown long-term health risks of e-liquid
Thus, both Visa and MasterCard impose a $500 registration fee to be paid each year.
Instabill offers both domestic and offshore merchant accounts for e-cig merchants, currently with solutions which only allow merchants to sell e-cig products within the country in which the business is registered.
Having been in the merchant services industry since 2001, we know the best e-cigarette payment processing solutions and acquiring banks for e-cigarette merchants. We also offer industry-competitive fees – none of which we charge until we get you an approval.
Speak directly with one of our merchant account managers at 1-800-530-2444.
