Built for the verticals other PSPs avoid.
Cardflo accepts high-risk and mainstream merchants alike. Find your category below, or talk to us if you don't see it.
High-risk
High-risk merchants
Businesses rejected by Stripe
Businesses rejected by PayPal
Businesses rejected by mainstream PSPs
Businesses needing backup processing
Businesses with high chargebacks
Businesses with high fraud monitoring needs
Businesses with recurring decline issues
Businesses scaling internationally
Businesses needing multiple acquirers
Businesses needing APMs
Businesses needing local payment methods
Businesses needing open banking
Businesses needing payment recovery
Businesses needing better approval rates
Ecommerce
Ecommerce businesses
Enterprise e-commerce
Shopify merchants
WooCommerce merchants
Magento merchants
Shopware merchants
Fashion e-commerce
Sneaker e-commerce
Luxury goods
Watches and jewellery
Electronics e-commerce
Beauty e-commerce
Skincare brands
Cosmetics brands
Dropshipping
High-ticket dropshipping
Automotive e-commerce
Car parts e-commerce
Import and export e-commerce
Cross-border e-commerce
Online marketplaces
Subscriptions
Subscription businesses
Recurring billing businesses
Membership sites
Continuity billing businesses
Trial offer businesses
Subscription boxes
Meal plan subscriptions
Beauty subscriptions
Fitness subscriptions
Content subscription businesses
Newsletters and paid communities
Paid forums
Digital memberships
Software subscriptions
App subscriptions
Digital
Adult
Gaming
Travel
Health
Health and wellness e-commerce
Nutra payments
Nutraceuticals
Supplements
Fitness products
Online coaching
Telemedicine
Digital health
Private clinics
Online pharmacies
Regulated pharmacy businesses
Medical cannabis pharmacies
German medical cannabis pharmacies
Alternative wellness businesses
CBD merchants
Cannabis businesses
Pharmaceuticals
Education
Finance
Financial services
Lead generation businesses
Financial lead generation
Insurance lead generation
Loan lead generation
Debt lead generation
Claims lead generation
Credit reporting
Credit repair businesses
Finance companies
Forex payments
Crypto businesses
Web3 businesses
Debt management businesses
Claims management businesses
Insurance businesses
Warranty businesses
Car warranty businesses
Vehicle finance lead generation
Services
Acquirers do not price businesses, they price categories. The MCC on your account, the refund pattern of your vertical and the delivery gap between payment and fulfilment decide who will underwrite you, what reserve they ask for and what you pay per transaction. These pages set out how each sector is actually assessed: the underwriting questions that come up, the dispute reason codes that dominate, and the routing and acceptance choices that move approval rates in that specific vertical.
How acquirers read your sector
Delivery gap
The time between taking payment and delivering the service is the single biggest driver of perceived risk. Same-day retail is straightforward; travel booked eight months ahead, annual memberships and pre-orders all create future liability the acquirer may have to cover, which shows up as a rolling reserve rather than a decline.
Refund and dispute pattern
Fashion runs high refunds with low disputes; digital goods run the reverse. Underwriters look at the ratio between the two, because a low refund rate paired with rising chargebacks suggests customers cannot reach you, and that is the pattern that triggers monitoring programmes.
Regulatory surface
Gambling, financial services, nutraceuticals, adult and CBD each carry licensing, advertising and jurisdictional rules that the acquirer inherits by association. Getting the documentation in order before applying is usually the difference between a two-week approval and a decline.
Ticket size and frequency
A high-frequency, low-ticket business is priced on per-transaction fees and fraud velocity. A low-frequency, high-ticket business is priced on interchange percentage and dispute exposure. The same headline rate can be a good deal for one and a poor one for the other.
Channel mix
Card-not-present traffic carries higher interchange and higher fraud liability than card-present, and the mix varies enormously by sector. Where a vertical is moving online quickly, the payment setup usually needs revisiting well before the merchant thinks it does.
Geography of the customer base
Selling into several countries from a single acquirer means paying cross-border assessments on a growing share of traffic. Most sectors reach a point where a domestic acquirer in the second or third largest market pays for itself within a quarter.
Common questions
My business spans two of these categories. Which one applies?
Is a high-risk classification permanent?
Do I need a different acquirer for every market I sell into?
What should I have ready before applying in a regulated sector?
Ready to improve your payments setup?
Tell us about your business. We'll match you with the right acquiring partners and the right route, typically inside a week.