Getting a high risk payment gateway in Turkey for IPTV business is possible. However, it definitely requires careful preparation and the right choice of payment processing partners. IPTV is automatically considered a high-risk business because of concerns around copyright compliance, high chargeback ratio, and regulatory scrutiny. This is the key reason why local payment service providers and mainstream processors won’t even evaluate the merchant account application from IPTV vendors.
Instead, the most common route is to work with a specialist high-risk acquirer or an offshore payment service provider that already supports IPTV. Keep in mind that these payment processors will also follow the compliance guidelines and may not be able to support unlicensed providers. However, if you are in the licensed IPTV/OTT business, then you can certainly try such options. Examples of IPTV/OTT solutions include platforms like Netflix, Lionsgate Play, and various others.
There are certain payment service providers that offer services to high-risk businesses in Turkey, and many of them support licensed IPTV businesses. Most of the time, Turkish merchants rely on European, Balkan, or offshore acquiring banks since the local underwriting might be restrictive. Before approaching any provider, there are certain critical steps that you must take. This includes ensuring that your documents are ready. The most common document that a payment processor will need for an IPTV merchant account will include the business registration document, proof of address of directors, photo ID, and a fully compliant website with clear terms and conditions, privacy policy, and refund policy. Your website must also have a shopping cart.
As you know that IPTV is a sensitive sector, you will also need to provide evidences of content right and licensing agreement. These you can procure from the stream providers. Without this, most of the payment service providers will not even consider your application. If your historical billing statement, if you have historical billing statement or subscriber data, you should include those in the merchant account application package to strengthen your chances of approval.
You should check if the international acquirers can offer you some local Turkish payment rails that can be layered in as an alternative payment method. Some of the most popular ones include Direct Bank Transfer, EFT, Papara, and others. These are popular in Turkey and most of the times payment processors offer such alternative payment methods together with a merchant account. While these options might not fully replace the need of a high-risk merchant account, at least you will have payment instruments through which you can accept transactions.
Payment processors that support IPTV businesses, they take elevated risk and that is why you should expect tougher commercial terms. This usually means that you will be paying higher processing fees and you will be accepting rolling reserve which can be which can range from 10 to 30 percent and this reserve amount can be held with the payment processor for three to six months.
Sometimes the processor may also offer you slower payouts. To improve the chances of your account approval and to negotiate better terms and condition, you must display strong fraud and chargeback controls in place.
One major point that you must keep in mind is that crypto is not a viable substitute solution for businesses in Turkey. So you should avoid it.
Next, we would like to say that the best way to move forward to confirm that your IPTV is is fully licensed. For this, you must assemble all compliance and business documents and reach out to three to five high-risk payment processors with professional application. You should also add a short pitch outlining your business model, volume, licensing, risk control measures.
All of this will position you as a serious merchant rather than a risky IPTV startup. At the same time, you should also consider adding local Turkish alternative payment methods that will work as a complementary option and it will diversify your payment mix. At last, you must engage with local Turkish lawyer as well as well as tax advisors that can help you to ensure that you navigate regulatory requirements and cross-border payments in the right way.