In the world of e-commerce, everyone is wacky for WooCommerce. First launched in 2011, WooCommerce has become the de facto e-commerce plug-in for WordPress sites. If your store has an Internet presence, chances are you’ve at least thought about integrating with WooCommerce.
While WooCommerce makes it easy to add e-commerce to your WordPress pages, there are a few complications for high-risk business owners. If you blindly pick a payment extension through WooCommerce, you get into serious trouble. People in high-risk business categories that want to use WooCommerce’s services must fully understand what this platform offers.
On its own, WooCommerce isn’t necessarily “dangerous” for merchants involved in high-risk industries. What’s most concerning are the payment extensions WooCommerce integrates with. A few of the more prominent payment service providers (PSPs) on WooCommerce’s platform include Square, Stripe, and PayPal.
People involved in high-risk businesses may already know these three PSPs are notorious for freezing accounts they suspect of quasi-illicit activity. There are countless stories of high-risk merchants who lost their e-commerce payment portals without a warning or thorough explanation from these popular payment providers.
Since companies like Stripe and PayPal are third-party providers, they can choose who they allow on their platforms. If your business doesn’t meet its “low-risk” criteria, it’s easy for these companies to kick you off. Plus, these PSPs are known to constantly tweak their terms & services, which could mean your business “becomes” high-risk without you knowing it.
Unfortunately, there’s no universally-accepted definition of a “high-risk business.” Every payment provider has a different risk tolerance, and companies may use different metrics to evaluate a company’s “safety profile.”
However, a few categories almost always fall in the “high-risk” bracket. These include the sale of drugs, firearms, and adult entertainment. Even legal substances like CBD, delta-8 THC, and hemp face scrutiny from high-risk merchant providers.
But it’s not just the products a business sells that could put them in a high-risk category. Often, PSPs monitor a business’ transaction history for any abnormalities. Companies that do a lot of business in foreign countries or have tons of chargebacks will look extra suspicious. Even if there are reasonable explanations for these issues, popular PSPs will often assume the worst.
Thankfully, WooCommerce offers ways for high-risk merchants to continue doing business online. Since WooCommerce is so big, it has dozens of partnerships with various payment networks. If you filter out mainstream companies like PayPal and Stripe, you should notice a few “premium” names more willing to take on additional risks. These include companies like NMI or Authorize.net.
While high-risk merchants will find these extra options helpful, it’s not the best idea to set up an account without fully understanding your payment extension’s terms. Even if you’re not sure your business qualifies as “high-risk,” it’s far safer to speak with payment professionals who’ve worked in high-risk industries.
Only an experienced company like Shark Processing can clearly explain the safest e-commerce payment options for your online business. After a consultation, you should better understand whether WooCommerce is the right option for your payment needs. High-risk payment experts like Shark Processing will also walk you through the steps of using WooCommerce without the fear of payment freezes.
Recent estimates suggest about ⅓ of all websites on the Internet use WordPress. So, if your business has an online presence, there’s a good chance it runs on WordPress. Since WooCommerce is the top payment plug-in on WordPress, it makes sense that all kinds of businesses would want to use this service to provide safe and seamless transactions.
Unfortunately, getting started on WooCommerce isn’t as smooth for high-risk merchants. Sure, it won’t take long to set up a WooCommerce portal, but your chances of hitting a roadblock down the line are very high.
High-risk merchants need to review how to use WooCommerce without triggering account closures. Please talk with a professional high-risk payment team like Shark Processing if you’re not sure about using WooCommerce. Even if you don’t decide to use Shark Processing’s services, our team will help set you on the right path to use WooCommerce properly.
Please visit this link for more details on how Shark Processing can help you add WooCommerce to your website.
