As an adult entertainer or seller of specialized products, you have the potential to be a mover and shaker in a vibrant industry that allows you to unleash your creativity while furnishing customers with the images and services they are demanding. 

Even so, this sector requires careful navigation and understanding to ensure that both you as an entrepreneur and the clients you serve have the best possible experience. 

For that to happen, you need to learn about the ecosystem as well as how a high risk merchant provider can be an essential asset for you and your clients, especially when it comes to protecting anonymity.

What are high-risk businesses?

If you are just starting out in the adult entertainment sector, you might not realize that your company will automatically be categorized as a so-called “high-risk business.” 

As such, the majority of conventional payment processing companies, including PayPal and Stripe, will refuse to partner with you in accepting customer payments.

You might be wondering why this is the case, especially considering that your products and services are 100 percent legal. The reality is that these companies want to operate with the lowest possible risk that the retailers they serve will default on their payments, all the while doing as little extra work as possible. 

Because the adult entertainment sector is highly regulated, subject to a higher-than-normal number of security risks and chargebacks and still carries with it a reputational taint, most of these providers choose to decline to partner with businesses like yours that have an elevated risk and require added oversight and regulatory compliance.

The solution: high-risk merchant account providers

Given the reluctance of conventional lenders to work with creators and businesses in your industry, you might be wondering what alternative options exist. Fortunately, high risk merchant account providers have entered the market in order to fill this significant vacuum. Collaborating with one of them can give you everything you need to do business successfully in this sector.

Before we discuss these features, let’s get the downsides of these providers out of the way. As you might imagine, these companies are in business to make a profit just like you are. 

In order to absorb the extra risk that comes along with your industry, they will charge you higher per-transaction fees, often require more scrutiny and extra paperwork during the application process and may also slap you with additional contractual obligations and monthly fees.

How a high-risk provider can help your adult entertainment business

There are several benefits this type of company can bring to your ecommerce site or physical adult entertainment store. For one thing, they will have built a strong network of relationships with payers and other financial institutions who are friendly to adult-oriented retailers. 

As a result, they will be instrumental in making your transactions secure while also giving you multiple payment options that you can furnish to your customers, i.e., credit and debit cards, digital wallet and even cryptocurrency.

They will also set you up with a payment gateway for adult businesses. This web application is specifically configured to facilitate your customers’ payments and promote optimal security in an industry that is highly susceptible to fraud, data breaches and chargebacks.

Speaking of chargebacks, these occur when customers contact their credit card company to request a refund of the payment that they made to your business without first getting in touch with you. 

These funds reversals can be time-consuming for you as a merchant to fight, and too many of them can even endanger your account or trigger the levying of additional fees. Your high-risk provider will furnish you with chargeback protection services that can help you to minimize them and effectively address those that you do encounter.

Additionally, your high-risk company understands the intricacies of your specific industry and has dedicated customer service capabilities that can assist you should problems or technical difficulties arise. 

These professionals can answer questions, troubleshoot and even provide prompt help in the event of a service outage or data breach. As a result, any interruption of service can be kept to a minimum, helping to assure that you are back up and running as quickly as possible.

The anonymity issue

Although your products and services are totally aboveboard, they are of a sensitive nature for many of your customers. 

As a full-service business striving to create the best experience possible for your patrons, you need to find ways to protect confidentiality and anonymity for yourself and the people you serve.

As a partner with special knowledge of your industry, your high-risk account provider is fully equipped to meet this need. To that end, they will help you to discreetly process payments, including during the billing process. 

These capabilities can accompany the nondescript packaging and anonymous shipping that you probably already provide.

When you furnish discreet billing, it means that your company name does not appear on the customer’s bank or credit card statement. Additionally, you can opt to accept money orders and cashier’s checks to give further anonymity. 

When customers can trust that this discretion will occur every time with all transactions, satisfaction rates will climb as chargebacks and complaints are reduced to a minimum.

If you want to succeed in the highly competitive and dynamic adult entertainment industry, you need to provide unique content or products while simultaneously furnishing an elevated level of customer service. 

Partnering with a reputable high-risk merchant account provider with specific experience in this sector will give you the relationships, security, customer service and discretion that are essential to foster your success. 

Take the time to select the right high-risk processor today, and you can look forward to a productive relationship and long-term success for years to come.