A payment processor labels a merchant account high-risk if they’ve determined your business account is at higher risk for chargebacks, fraud or a high volume of returns. There are many reasons this could be the case because you are a new merchant who hasn’t processed payments before or because your industry is considered high risk and has a high likelihood of fraud (e.g., controversial products), for example. High-risk merchant accounts pay higher processing fees to account for this risk.

Every provider is different and each case varies from each other but there are some common factors that leads to an account being considered a high risk. It includes:

When there is high volume of transactions: one of the reasons why merchants are categorized, high risk is the high average transactions rate. If a merchant processes over $20,000 in payments per month, or has an average transaction of $500 or more, they may be classified as high-risk.

If you accept international payments: if large payments or sale are made from countries that are considered high risk as in are listed to be on the higher side of fraud. The high risk is any country with the exception of U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia or the countries in Europe.

New merchant: sometimes if some merchant who has never processed a payment or only has a minimal history of processing transactions are considered high risk just because they don’t have a track record.

The industry you are associated with: sometimes even if the merchant has spotless track record but with the association with the industry that is considered to be on the higher side of fraud will be considered as high-risk account. For example, subscription-based companies are labelled high risk because many people sign up for a trial and forget to cancel their payments. When they look over their statements and see the forgotten charges, they often charge back the payment.

High risk account solutions provided by Premier One Payments.

When there is a problem there is a solution, similarly there are many companies that provide high risk merchant solutions for high-risk accounts. However, it is important to consider all factors thoroughly before picking any specific high-risk merchant services provider. Some of the things you must look for include good track record, customer reviews, etc. Premier One Payments is one of the best in the market with high class service through experienced professionals.