I've been trying to get my company registered with the ECA. What do I need to do to make this happen, or how much money do we need to donate? lol
Merchant Accounts for Suppliers
- Thread starter LaceyUnderall
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If US domestic banks decide to close your merchant account, I can help.
My solutions are non-US, and I have been given the go-ahead to board eCigarette merchants if approached. The card associations are aware of the situation and have given me the OK.
These are non-traditional solutions which should be considered if you have problems with US accounts, as the terms and conditions are not typical of US banks.
Scott Peisner
scottpeisner@yahoo.com
My solutions are non-US, and I have been given the go-ahead to board eCigarette merchants if approached. The card associations are aware of the situation and have given me the OK.
These are non-traditional solutions which should be considered if you have problems with US accounts, as the terms and conditions are not typical of US banks.
Scott Peisner
scottpeisner@yahoo.com
For those of you who don't know- there are really only 2 main merchant processors in the US; Global (owned by HSBC) and First Data.
ALL of the merchant companies you will deal with report up to one of them ultimately. They are the big dogs that feed the rest of the industry- regardless of who you deal with, they know about ecigs and will classify you as high risk. There are some companies out there that are better than others. Many merchants will require you to put a deposit in escrow (sometimes $10k+) to act as protection for charge-backs. One thing you must be careful with, is look very closely at what the monthly billing amount you get APPROVED FOR (not what your rep. or processor tells you you're approved for, but what's actually in writing). This is what gets recorded with the big dogs and subsequently with the CC companies. When you go over your approved limit, even for a penny, they will often hold all of your funds for up to 60 days. I've seen many companies face some serious issues because of this and others even go out of business.
Be very careful when setting up new merchant accounts- they're always going to tell you what you WANT to hear, but after some time has passed doing transactions with them, you might run into problems. RUN away as fast as you can from any merchant company that says they've never heard of electronic cigarettes- because they all have. I'd also AVOID foreign or offshore merchant accounts at all costs too- as those can cause you some serious problems (tax and legal) if you're not careful and new to the game. A personal recommendation is merchant-now.com. They process for a great deal of the larger vendors in the ecig business and have some of the best rates around for the service you get. There's no referrals or kickbacks here, simply good people who will treat you right and wont throw you any curve balls. Ask for Marc or Josh.
PayPal's stance on ecigs is still banned- and I don't foresee them letting up anytime in the near future. DO NOT under any circumstances process ecig transactions through PayPal, let alone tell them that you're processing ecig transactions. You have your money frozen sooner or later regardless of how careful you think you are. Although I have no confirmation, I've heard similar things about Google checkout.
Point in short- ecigs are a HIGH RISK business to the two top merchant companies who run everything in this country and to the credit card companies. Do your due diligence and make sure you're careful. Not trying to scare people, but there are a lot of things that can come wrong when merchant processing for ecigs right now and I'd hate to see more suppliers get held up by this. Hope this helped!
ALL of the merchant companies you will deal with report up to one of them ultimately. They are the big dogs that feed the rest of the industry- regardless of who you deal with, they know about ecigs and will classify you as high risk. There are some companies out there that are better than others. Many merchants will require you to put a deposit in escrow (sometimes $10k+) to act as protection for charge-backs. One thing you must be careful with, is look very closely at what the monthly billing amount you get APPROVED FOR (not what your rep. or processor tells you you're approved for, but what's actually in writing). This is what gets recorded with the big dogs and subsequently with the CC companies. When you go over your approved limit, even for a penny, they will often hold all of your funds for up to 60 days. I've seen many companies face some serious issues because of this and others even go out of business.
Be very careful when setting up new merchant accounts- they're always going to tell you what you WANT to hear, but after some time has passed doing transactions with them, you might run into problems. RUN away as fast as you can from any merchant company that says they've never heard of electronic cigarettes- because they all have. I'd also AVOID foreign or offshore merchant accounts at all costs too- as those can cause you some serious problems (tax and legal) if you're not careful and new to the game. A personal recommendation is merchant-now.com. They process for a great deal of the larger vendors in the ecig business and have some of the best rates around for the service you get. There's no referrals or kickbacks here, simply good people who will treat you right and wont throw you any curve balls. Ask for Marc or Josh.
PayPal's stance on ecigs is still banned- and I don't foresee them letting up anytime in the near future. DO NOT under any circumstances process ecig transactions through PayPal, let alone tell them that you're processing ecig transactions. You have your money frozen sooner or later regardless of how careful you think you are. Although I have no confirmation, I've heard similar things about Google checkout.
Point in short- ecigs are a HIGH RISK business to the two top merchant companies who run everything in this country and to the credit card companies. Do your due diligence and make sure you're careful. Not trying to scare people, but there are a lot of things that can come wrong when merchant processing for ecigs right now and I'd hate to see more suppliers get held up by this. Hope this helped!
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