Vape / e-Cig / e-Juice

Why Vape / e-Cig / e-Juice businesses are considered High-Risk?

Selling vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice products online presents a unique set of challenges that make them high-risk merchants. Below are some of the reasons why:

Age Restrictions:

In many countries, it is illegal to sell these products to anyone under the age of 18 or 21.
Verifying a customer’s age online can be difficult, increasing the risk of fraudulent transactions and chargebacks.

Association with Tobacco:

Vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice products are associated with tobacco, which has a negative reputation due to its links to cancer and other health issues.
Some payment processors and banks are hesitant to work with merchants who sell these products due to the potential for negative publicity and legal issues.

Regulatory and Compliance Issues:

Vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice products are subject to complex regulations that can vary by country and region.
Merchants must be vigilant to ensure they are complying with all applicable laws and regulations, including age verification, product labeling, and marketing restrictions.

Conclusion:

Merchants who sell vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice products online must take steps to mitigate the risks associated with these products. This includes complying with all applicable laws and regulations, verifying the age of their customers, and working with payment processors and banks that are willing to support their business. By doing so, they can minimize chargeback fees and protect their reputation while continuing to meet the demand for these popular products.

Mitigation measures for Vape / e-Cig / e-Juice merchants to reduce risks when selling online

Age Verification: Merchants should implement strict age verification processes to ensure that they are not selling their products to minors. This can include using third-party age verification services or requiring customers to submit a copy of their government-issued ID.
Compliance with Regulations: Vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice products are subject to complex regulations that vary by country and region. Merchants must ensure that they are complying with all applicable laws and regulations, including product labeling, marketing restrictions, and age verification.
Secure Payment Processing: Merchants should work with payment processors and banks that are willing to support their business. This can include finding payment processors that specialize in high-risk industries or working with banks that have experience working with vape, e-Cig, and e-Juice product merchants.
Chargeback Prevention: Merchants should take steps to prevent chargebacks by providing accurate product descriptions, ensuring timely shipping and delivery, and offering excellent customer service. Merchants should also have clear return and refund policies in place and respond promptly to customer inquiries and concerns.
Brand Reputation: Merchants should be proactive in protecting their brand reputation by addressing customer complaints and concerns, offering high-quality products, and engaging in transparent business practices.

Being a high-risk merchant vs. a regular merchant

Higher payment processing fees
Lengthier application process
Higher chargeback fees
Cash reserve requirments:
- Capped reserve
- Rolling reserve
- Upfrom reserve
Volume caps
Additional technical requirements
Being on the TMF / MATCH list

Check out our knowledge hub to learn more about what processing fees, application process, chargebacks and cash reserve requirements or TMF / MATCH list mean.

Other risk factors?

There may be other risk factors as to why you as a Vape / e-Cig / e-Juice merchant are classified as a high-risk merchant, such as:

Accepting subscription-style payments
Being on the Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants, or MATCH list — a list managed by Mastercard that monitors merchant behavior, like chargeback history
High average transaction sizes
High sales volumes
Highly regulated industries
International sales
Large number of card-not-present transactions
Little to no business experience
Long fulfillment time frames
New or poor credit scores
Past fraud or illegal activity

As high-risk Vape / e-Cig / e-Juice merchant how to find a payment provider?

It takes effort for businesses to secure a payment processing partner when they are considered high-risk but it is definetly possible to find the right payment solution if you focus on:

Maintaining healthy cash levels. Most processors would like to see a healthy cash level in your business bank account.
Try to reduce chargebacks. There could be a number of factors behind the soaring number of chargebacks in your business. Whatever the reasons may be, you can always analyze them and try to reduce your chargebacks.
Be transparent. Disclose all materials and relevant information during the application process. Payment processors may ask you for very detailed information about your business and finances. Be open, honest, and transparent.
Keep your documents ready. This could mean having six months of bank statements and a few years of tax returns. That said, each processor has its own set of requirements so make sure to check them.
Follow the guidelines of your payment processor. When you apply for a high-risk payment solution, besides your business needs, the risk the payment solutions provider takes also matters. So, be flexible and see if there are things you can do to reduce your risk by discussing with them and following their recommendations.

Our Platform will find the right payment solution for your business

Our biggest differentiator?

We provide payment solutions for merchants with a 90% Succes Rate by Algoritmic matching and pre-KYC onboarding in each industry and region globally.