We got to thinking recently about certain industries for which direct merchant account solutions are nearing or at extinction or those for which solutions are difficult to find considering the current climate.
The credit card brands have changed the face of merchant services, particularly online, from five years ago. There are a number of triggers (that resemble a payments alphabet soup of sorts): The GDPR, PSD2 and of course the card brands diminishing tolerance for chargebacks.
Currently, we’re barely able to keep up with inquiries for industries such as CBD, hemp and medical marijuana, along with nutraceuticals, research chemicals, online pharmaceuticals and tech support. At the moment, we can get all but medical marijuana done (but we are close to announcing a solution…stay tuned to this space).
Some high risk industries, however, are just not in demand anymore.
Telemarketing
Remember the days when the phone would ring in the middle of dinner, to the disgruntlement of our parents, only for a sales pitch to be waiting on the other end of the line?
What happens now when the telephone rings in the middle of dinner? At least in my house, we let it ring, because dinner is that ‘sacred’ family time, those few minutes per day when the whole family gathers. Besides, if it’s important enough, the caller will leave a message.
Telemarketing is an industry in which inquiries for a direct merchant account have steadily declined over the last 10 years, for numerous reasons:
- Frankly, consumers, after a day’s work, don’t want to be bothered with a sales pitch.
- Increased mobile phone use has led families to abandon their landlines. Less than 40 percent of U.S. families have a landline telephone anymore, a figure in rapid decline.
- We think the issue of privacy directly impacts the business of telemarketing, thus, consumers don’t want to hear about the offers of magazines, sunglasses or window replacements.
- The telemarketing businesses that still remain active are now, from what we’ve read and experienced, are in the business of using bots to contact consumers at their homes. The connections are then transferred to call centers overseas.
It’s a good segue into our next industry…
Call blocking
As we see less and less inquiries and interest in direct merchant account solutions for telemarketing merchants, the same can be said for the call blocking industry — for which we still received several calls each month as little as 3-5 years ago. Call blocking businesses are nearing extinction for many of the same reasons telemarketing centers have:
- The telemarketing industry, very much the reason for call blocking, is dying.
- Mobile phones (and even most home landlines) have built-in blocking features (The few telemarketing calls I receive on my mobile phone, mostly for dirt cheap vacation packages — I swiftly block those numbers).
Some industries are getting more difficult
While we’ve seen the aforementioned industries fall out of demand, there are other industries that have become difficult for which to find solutions — all because acquiring banks don’t want to take on the risk.
- Credit repair: It’s not the credit repair merchants who pose the risk, but their risk-laden clientele. Consumers who need the services of a credit repair merchant are those who are in financial trouble. We’ll go as far to say most banks opt to steer clear.
- Offshore tech support: Tech support is an industry in which fraud and chargebacks run rampant. Simply put, offshore tech support businesses are not as transparent as their domestic counterparts, where an acquiring bank is able to identify the key indicators it needs to.
- Collection agencies: Reputation and excessive interest rates have made collection agencies among the highest of high risk industries. We’ve all read accounts of abuse of agency representatives wrongly threatening debtors as well as consumers wrongly accused of owing money. We have solutions for collections merchants – not those merchants who purchase debt, however.
Always up for a conversation about direct merchant account solutions
For a free consultation about our direct merchant account solutions for high risk merchants, Instabill representatives are always available. We’ve provided solutions for hard-to-place merchants since 2001, and are always willing to listen.
Checkout our list of supported industries or simply call us at 1-800-530-2444 today.
