We’re on a roll here lately at Instabill: We won’t divulge any numbers, but the month of February is proving to be one of our best months in years in getting fast merchant account approvals for high risk merchants — in fact, within three and four days.
Thus, we have a simple question for the masses: How long does it take your merchant account provider to find a solution for your e-commerce business? Weeks? Even months?
In late 2018, we reconnected with a colleague, formerly of a large acquiring bank, to whom we had sent a stellar amount of merchant applications. For the better part of a year, we unfortunately lost touch, but have since reconnected with him as he now represents another large acquirer that embraces high risk industries.
It’s been our theme the past 3-5 years: Succeeding at high risk merchant services and getting fast merchant account approvals is about partnering with not only the right acquirers, but even competing PSPs and ISOs.
We’re always trying to grow our partner network — and it is paying off.
Merchant account approvals: How we do it
We realize it may be unorthodox or very 1990s, but when we receive leads through our CRM, we follow up with a telephone call. Same for inquiries by telephone — we actually answer and open the dialogue. We need to know a few things to see if our relationship can move forward, such as:
- Where your business is registered: There are some countries and regions where we do not have a solution.
- Preferred processing currency: We have conversion solutions for most currencies, contingent on our acquiring banking partners.
- Average transaction amount: The danger with high transaction amounts, such as those in the travel industry, means high individual chargeback amounts.
- E-commerce, subscription and/or mail order/telephone order: These payment platforms are good for some industries and not for others.
- Processing history: Does the merchant have good credit and processing history or is there MATCH list or TMF history (we have solutions for the latter)?
- Monthly volume: A high risk business with high volume tends to make banks leery, and the merchant may incur volume caps.
Merchants seeking fast merchant account approvals should prepare their answers for each of these factors.
Be transparent with us — chances are we’ll have a solution for you
Instabill prides itself on the breadth of our partnership network and ability to find merchant account solutions. Every e-commerce merchant prefers credit card processing. It is undoubtedly the most popular solutions we offer, but certainly not the only solution:
- High risk gift card solution: This solution is made for high risk merchants that may have imperfect credit history or even landed on Visa or MasterCard’s Terminated Merchant File. A merchant places the widget of our partner on their online store checkout page, which the customer clicks when making a purchase. The customer is then directed to purchase a gift card — Amazon, AppleStore, Target or Walmart will suffice — for the necessary cost, then plugs the gift card credentials (number and PIN), and the purchase is complete. Merchants can receive their payout (within 48 hours) via ACH or digital currency. Our gift card solution is also ideal for consumers who wish to make anonymous online payments.
- ECheck processing: Not just ideal for high risk merchants, but every merchant. Check solutions have come a long way, and can sustain an e-commerce merchant who is unable to get a merchant account or while they search for their next credit card processing solution.
- ACH: Like echecks, the simplicity of ACH has also made leaps and bounds by migrating to same day issue and settlement. ACH is ideal for merchants in businesses that offer recurring billing and subscription, multilevel marketing, credit repair and debt consolidation.
The industries for which we’ve gotten fast merchant account approvals
Periodically, we blog (brag?) about the vast array of high risk industries for which we’re able to find merchant processing — fantasy sports consulting, online coffee delivery, digital marketing and deep sea fishing tours, each for which we found solutions last month alone. We blog about these industries to show off our depth of resources, the partnerships in place enabling us to find merchant account solutions for a variety of business types.
Instabill merchant account managers prefer to speak one-on-one about your business’s needs and goals. Live conversations are the first step to fast merchant account approvals. Have that conversation today at 1-800-530-2444.
