Stable Peptide Merchant Accounts
The peptide industry has seen massive growth in recent years. The key reason behind this growth is the increasing demand for peptides in the medical research industry. Various subsector’s of the medical industry require a consistent supply of peptides. These sectors include pharmaceutical companies, medical research labs, and diagnostic centers. Unfortunately, for businesses involved in the sale of peptides, obtaining a merchant account is not an easy task. Banks and other acquiring institutions consider peptide businesses as high-risk merchants.
To facilitate the process of obtaining peptide merchant account approval, the QuadraPay team has drafted this extensive guide, which includes important details, tips, and tricks.
What Are Peptide Merchant Accounts?
A peptide merchant account is a payment processing solution specially designed for businesses that sell peptides and research chemicals. It allows peptide companies to accept payments through various methods, including ACH (Automated Clearing House), eChecks, and bank transfers, despite being categorized as high risk by traditional processors.
Peptide Businesses Are Considered High-Risk by Merchant Acquirers
payment processing companies are required to follow all the guidelines and recommendations from relevant governments, regulatory authorities, and payment schemes. Along with that, processors also have their internal risk guidelines, which clearly define their risk-taking capabilities and rules. In the case of companies in the research chemical field, these factors make it extremely hard for processing companies to onboard peptide merchants. Some of these factors are mentioned below:
The legal status of peptides and research chemicals can be complex and, in most cases, is subject to strict regulatory compliance and frequent modifications. While B2B payments for peptides can be easy, retail and e-commerce sales can be equally challenging. Industry regulations make it time-consuming and risky for underwriters to onboard retail peptide merchants.
Peptide merchant accounts are for the sale of research chemicals, and these products should never be used for human consumption. These items can be easily misused, leading to potential financial risk for processors and sellers.
Banks generally shy away from providing merchant accounts to businesses that sell peptides, pharmaceuticals, CBD, and paraphernalia. One of the reasons behind this point of view is reputational risk. By associating with merchants from such industries, banks believe they can incur long-term reputational damage.
Many mainstream acquirers in the USA lack in-depth knowledge of the peptide industry and thus are extra cautious when evaluating applications from peptide and research chemical sellers. A large number of processors prefer to avoid additional hassle and opt to onboard merchants from low-risk industries, playing it safe.
Peptide companies face serious challenges when searching for merchant processors. Most low-risk payment processors no longer offer peptide merchant accounts. Only a few specialized high-risk processors say yes. In the merchant processing industry, these acquirers are referred to as high-risk peptide merchant processors.
QuadraPay has established strategic partnerships with well-known acquiring institutions that are comfortable evaluating applications of hard-to-place merchants. We understand the unique needs of research chemicals merchants, and our partner providers offer effective peptide merchant services.
Benefits of Using Peptide Merchant Accounts
For any peptide business, it is important to have the right merchant account to ensure it can accept payments from customers easily. The right merchant account helps peptide businesses process transactions quickly and securely, boosting customer confidence in the business. Additionally, it helps in maintaining a professional image of the company.
With the right merchant account, peptide businesses can expand their customer base by offering a variety of payment methods, including gift cards, ACH and echeck. By accepting payments through multiple instruments, peptide companies can increase their sales and profitability. Moreover, by having a reliable peptide merchant account, businesses ensure compliance with various regulations, which is crucial for high-risk sectors like peptides and research chemicals.
Merchants can use various tools that come as add-ons to the merchant account. These tools include financial tracking and reporting, which help peptide businesses make informed decisions by evaluating daily sales and profits. With the right merchant account, peptide companies can also track consumer behavior and generate financial reports. The integration of the merchant account with various value-added services, including external fraud detection software and chargeback alert services, helps maintain the stability of the merchant account.
Choosing the Right Peptide Merchant Account Provider
It is important for merchants to consider some important factors when deciding on a merchant account provider for their peptide business.
One of the most important factors is the industry experience of the provider. For businesses, it is extremely important to work with a provider that has a good reputation. This provides peace of mind to the merchant as their funds will be with a secure organization.
The provider must also have extensive experience in onboarding merchants from high-risk industries. There is absolutely no benefit in approaching the low-risk provider if you’re selling peptides or research chemicals. In the rarest of cases, even if these low-cost providers approve the account, they may terminate it soon after. However, with a high-risk merchant processor, the account stays stable for a longer time.
Although there are very few payment solutions available for peptide businesses, it does not mean that merchants should be subject to exorbitant pricing. Merchants must ensure that they carefully compare the fees and terms offered with other available options. While doing the comparison, it is also important to ensure that merchants do not only concentrate on the rates but also on the facilities, features, and support.
Merchants from the peptide and research chemical industries use various content management systems and e-commerce platforms to build their websites. It is important for merchants to ensure that they work with a provider that offers easy integration with the content management system in use. Asking for a list of available integration modules is helpful.
KYC Documents for Peptide Merchant Accounts
To obtain a peptide merchant services account, the merchant must submit some documents. These documents are referred to as KYC (Know Your Customer) documents. Let us look at some of the most important documents.
- Filled merchant account application form: This form must be completed and signed by the merchant. It collects important details about the company structure, owners, expected volume, shareholding patterns, target nations, processing currencies, and marketing plan.
- Proof of business registration: This ensures that the entity selling peptides online is a legitimate company. This can be the certificate of incorporation or any other similar document.
- Bank account statement: This shows the financial strength of the merchant and the average funds held each quarter. These basic insights help underwriters assess the merchant’s risk profile.
- Bank letter or voided check: This can be provided to confirm the bank account details. The letter must display the account number and routing number along with the name and address of the bank. A voided check is an easy option as it contains the necessary details.
- For e-commerce-based sales of peptides, merchants must show ownership of the domain name. This can be a WHOIS report that shows the merchant’s name or a valid domain registration proof.
- Utility bill: This is needed to confirm the physical location of the company and directors’ home addresses.
- Peptide companies must provide images of their stock. These images can be taken from different angles to give a clear view of the stock.
The underwriting team may ask for additional documents on a case-by-case basis.
Along with the aforementioned requirements, merchants must ensure that all products and business operations comply with relevant laws and regulations. The website must clearly have disclaimers about the intended research-only usage of the products.
Sharing all the documents and ensuring that the website fully complies with the requirements of the processor will improve the chances of merchant account approval.
FAQ: Research Chemical Merchant Services
Q: What Are Some Good Chargeback Prevention Strategies for Peptide Merchants?
A: After receiving approval for a merchant account, the peptide business owner must take every step to keep chargebacks and return ratios within the processor’s prescribed limits. There are various ways to help reduce the chargeback rate. For example, keeping a simple and recognizable billing descriptor can help reduce friendly chargebacks. You can format the descriptor as a combination of your peptide company name and its support phone number. Alternatively, you may use a short form of your company name along with the 1-800 number of your support team. This way, if a customer cannot recognize the charge on their statement, they can call the number displayed on the billing descriptor.
Another simple but highly effective initiative is to clearly communicate the refund policy to customers. This can be done by writing the refund policy in simple English and prominently displaying it in the website’s footer section. Additionally, you may send the refund policy link in the order confirmation email.
Apart from this, you can utilize chargeback alerts and notification services. These services send alerts when a customer raises a dispute at the card issuer’s end.
Q: What Is the Future of Peptide Merchant Accounts?
A: The peptide industry is growing, and payment institutions are striving to support this industry while ensuring full compliance. In the future, we can expect improved risk assessment models from payment processors to monitor merchant accounts better. The utilization of blockchain technology may enhance security. As more payment processors begin supporting merchants in the peptide and research chemical industries, transaction fees may decrease due to competition. Overall, the future looks strong.
Q: What Is the Settlement Timeframe for Peptide Merchant Services?
A: Credit card processors generally make payments on a T+1 or T+2 basis. However, in cases where the risk is high, payments may be made weekly or every four days. A slight delay of 1–2 days in settlements helps processors accumulate buffer funds, which can be used to cover excessive chargebacks and refunds. Additionally, processors may propose a 5–10% rolling reserve.
Q: What Should I Keep in Mind While Applying for Peptide Merchant Services?
A: Throughout the application process, maintain full transparency about your business. This industry requires merchants to obtain a mandatory LegitScript certificate and annual high-risk merchant registration. Certification offers various benefits, such as easier merchant account approval, lower rates, better settlement terms, and higher monthly sales volume limits. It also allows you to advertise on platforms like Facebook and TikTok.
Q: Is Processing History Essential for a Peptide Credit Card Processing Account?
A: Processing history is required for merchants requesting over $50,000 in monthly processing. The history should include at least the last three months of card transactions, showing similar volume (i.e., $50,000 or more) and details of returns, chargebacks, rates, and fees. If a merchant does not provide history, the monthly approved volume may be capped at USD 25,000.
Q: Are There Any Special Suggestions for Peptide Websites to Help Get an Account Approved?
A: Merchants should understand that most peptide payment processors cater exclusively to research peptide companies, not those selling products for human use. Websites must strictly avoid any images, text, audio, video, or other media suggesting human use of the products. Athletic imagery, such as athletes, gym trainers, people exercising, or fitness models, is strictly prohibited. Each product must display a label stating: “For research purposes only, not for human consumption.” Websites should not include testimonials, reviews, or endorsements implying human results. Marketing outside the website, including on social media, must focus solely on research and laboratory use. For compliance purposes, peptide websites must include verifiable age verification tools to restrict sales to minors.
Q: Can I Accept B2C Payments Using a Peptide Merchant Account?
A: Credit card solutions are typically available for B2B merchants. However, alternative options such as eChecks and ACH may be available for B2C peptide merchants.
Q: Is a Setup Fee Required for a Peptide Merchant Services Account?
A: Sometimes, high-risk peptide merchants may need to pay a setup fee, which is generally deducted from the first payout. Setup fees for peptide merchant accounts range from $250 to $1,000, depending on the processing company and sponsor bank. High-risk registration charges are extra and are charged annually.
Q: What Are the Top Alternative Payment Methods Used in the Peptide Industry?
A: In the peptide industry, many merchants use alternative payment methods such as ACH, eCheck, cryptocurrencies, bank transfers, and gift vouchers. Most of these payment methods can be easily accepted on websites and over the phone.
Start the conversation with QuadraPay today. Our team’s main goal is to assist you in finding the best peptide merchant account solutions. Fill out the short form on our website, and one of our merchant services experts will contact you.
References
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/peptide-therapeutics-market
https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/peptide-therapeutics-market
