Adult Merchant Account

If you’re having trouble getting merchant services for your adult business, our team at PaymentCloud is here to help with:

Streamlined processing
Secure transactions
Expert account management

Immediate fund availability
Varied payment methods
User-friendly payment choices

At PaymentCloud, we specialize in adult merchant services tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses in this industry.

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How to Secure Adult Payment Processing

Unlike traditional payment service providers, our PaymentCloud team directly supports adult businesses. A dedicated account manager will help you choose the payment solutions best suited to your business's needs. We'll be with you at every stage of the set-up process to ensure your business builds a payment platform convenient for your staff and customers. Likewise, we can help you integrate our payment solutions with your existing software, such as CRMs, accounting programs, and more. You don't need any technical experience to benefit from a partnership with PaymentCloud!

Once you apply, you’ll be redirected to a short online application. We'll ask questions about your business, its size, your payment needs, and more. After we receive your information, we'll overview your application details, and one of our adult payment processing team members will contact your business.

Types of Adult Businesses We Support

Toys and Novelties
Lubricants and Lotions
Sex Education Courses
Online Dating

Streaming Services
Adult Video Games
Phone Sex Operators
Adult Photography

Fetish Items
Adult Content Creators
Lingerie
Much more!

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Why is the Adult Industry Considered High-Risk?

The adult industry is considered high-risk for payment processors due to legal and regulatory challenges, reputational and brand risk, and the potential for chargebacks and fraud. The industry’s controversial nature can lead to increased scrutiny and potential legal issues, making it riskier for financial institutions.

Legal compliance and regulatory risk

Due to the nature of content displayed on adult sites, processors need to have a thorough underwriting and due diligence process in addition to ongoing monitoring of digital and physical content. Merchants must also comply with age verification requirements, obscenity laws, and evolving legislation requirements. Merchant processors could be subject to penalties, hefty fines, and even criminal charges for merchant violations.

Reputational and brand risk

Many processors and sponsor banks have an issue with adult content in general and adjust their credit policy to prohibit the sale of goods and services for the entire industry at large. This is generally more common for larger sponsor banks who are under more regulatory scrutiny.

Associating with adult content websites can harm a payment processor’s reputation, risking business loss and a damaged public image by alienating partners, stakeholders, or future clients.

Chargeback risk

Adult products and services tend to see more chargebacks due to a handful of different reasons. Adult merchants have shifted to use discreet billing descriptors at the request of the cardholders for additional privacy. This comes with a cost to the merchant as many cardholders end up disputing the charge because they do not recognize it. Alternatively, many adult content sites have a recurring billing component which increases their risk of chargebacks.

How You Can Accept Payments for Your Adult Business

The adult industry encompasses a range of business types. Depending on how your business operates, it's critical to have a full suite of payment options available for your clients. At PaymentCloud, we provide omnichannel adult payment solutions.

Let's explore all the payment methods available at PaymentCloud:

Online

Online adult businesses require digital payment tools for credit card transactions. At PaymentCloud, we offer adult payment gateways designed to securely accept credit card transactions from customers around the world. We make it simple to offer a range of payment options to your customers, including standard payments, subscription payments, and donation options!

Retail

Adult businesses with retail locations require convenient and secure credit card payment options for their customers. At PaymentCloud, we offer a range of in-person payment tools, including POS software and card readers. Our payment solutions are designed for adult businesses of any size, from pop-up stores to large retail operations.

Over the Phone

Over-the-phone payments make it simple for customers and clients to make adult purchases without visiting a physical location. Our virtual terminals enable your business to accept credit card payments over the phone easily. Not only does this improve convenience for your customers, but it also ensures you have privacy-focused payment options for clients seeking discretion.

Adult Credit Card Processing Fees

Average credit card processing fees range between 1.5% and 3.5%. Merchants pay a different amount depending on the card brand, the type of transaction, and a host of other factors. However, a lesser-known element in payment processing pricing is the merchant's industry. Adult businesses pay higher-than-average credit card processing fees due to the high-risk nature of their sector. Unfortunately, many adult businesses must also pay a fee (like $950 to Visa) to register as in a high-risk industry.

At PaymentCloud, it's our goal to provide affordable credit card processing options to adult businesses. Our unique understanding of the adult industry's risks ensures we offer our partners cost-effective payment solutions.

We help our clients avoid paying excessive fees—and we also help our clients navigate the registration requirements of payment stakeholders, such as Visa and Mastercard. Contact us today to discuss how our team can save your adult business money on all types of payment processing!

Adult Payment Processing Application Requirements

At PaymentCloud, we prioritize streamlining the adult payment processing application process to ensure your business begins accepting payments as soon as possible. Collecting the details below before applying for a merchant account will help speed up the approval process:

Government-issued photo identification

Signed merchant application

Voided check or bank letter

Three months of bank statements

Three months of processing statements

Information regarding your adult business (and its products or services)

Along with the above documents, you should also be ready with a website that is secured with an SSL certificate, uses HTTPS, and includes the following:

Your company's legal name and logo
Contact details (phone number or email)
Privacy Policy page
Terms & Conditions page
Footer with the company name
Return and Refund Policy page
Maintain 2257 compliance

Why Choose PaymentCloud?

There are many reasons to choose PaymentCloud to process your adult business's credit card transactions. Let's explore some of the benefits on offer from our payment solutions:

Adult payment gateway

Our adult payment gateways are tailor-made to help online adult businesses boost their profits. By offering secure payment gateways, we help you unlock payment options suitable to your specific products and services. Whether you want to offer subscriptions to generate recurring revenue or discounts to reward loyal customers, our adult payment gateways can help!

Chargeback protection

Chargebacks remain a significant risk to businesses operating in the adult industry. While chargebacks result in lost revenue for your adult business, the true costs can be much higher. Excessive chargebacks may end with lawsuits from card issuers and a complete loss of access to credit card payments. At PaymentCloud, we use advanced chargeback prevention tools to shield our clients from chargebacks and help them successfully contest "friendly fraud."

Fraud prevention tools

At PaymentCloud, fraud prevention is at the forefront of all our payment products. Our solutions use advanced fraud detection tools to spot suspicious transactions before payments are finalized. The adult industry is prone to a wide range of credit card scams—it's essential to partner with a payment processor ready to tackle threats from online fraudsters!

Adult Website Credit Card Processing Integrations

At PaymentCloud, we help our adult merchant account partner leverage the world's most advanced payment and business management technology. We understand third-party integrations help businesses take advantage of more features and functionality. Our in-house team can help you integrate your adult merchant account or payment gateway with a range of external tools. Our list of integration partners includes CRMs, accounting platforms, loyalty programs, external hardware providers, and more. Speak to us today about how to take your adult payment platform to the next level!

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the application process take?

Assuming all of your documents have been submitted and your website is compliant, it could take between 2 – 7 business days to get approved, depending on the complexity of the account.
How can I increase my chances of getting approved for adult payment processing?

Working with a high-risk merchant account provider is critical to increasing your chances of being approved for adult payment processing. Many traditional merchant service providers don’t partner with adult businesses; others have much higher application requirements for the adult industry. By partnering with a merchant account provider with adult industry experience, your business stands a better chance of approval.
Why can’t I use a traditional payment service provider for my adult business?

Adult businesses often can’t use traditional payment service providers (PSPs) because of industry stigma, legal restrictions, and high chargeback rates. Many mainstream payment processors have strict policies against adult content, making it difficult for these businesses to access essential financial services. Also, it’s not just traditional PSPs that won’t work with adult businesses—many merchant account providers also avoid the industry altogether.

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Here's What Our Merchants Say

With a proud average of 4.8 stars across all review sites, PaymentCloud excels in solutions and support. But don’t take our word for it! Here’s what our merchants have to say:

Marshall M.

The associates that I dealt with were extremely knowledgeable and helpful.