You can apply for a merchant account via our online application. It will take about 5 minutes to complete.
Step 1: Complete the online application.
Step 2: Send in the required additional documents.
Step 3: You’ll be emailed a full proposal for eSignature.
Step 4: Await underwriting approval.
US High Risk Merchant Account
If you are applying for a US merchant account , you will need to submit with your application or via email following documents:
VOIDED BUSINESS CHECK
Detailed Requirements:
The business check needs to have your company’s name printed on the check. No temporary or personal checks.
If you don’t have business bank checks, ask your business’s bank to provide you with a letter, on bank letterhead, with ALL of the following:
1. Name of Your Business
2. Business’ Bank Account Number
3. The statement: “This business’s account is in good standing”
4. The banker’s contact information
5. The banker’s signature
DRIVER'S LICENSE, PASSPORT, OR GOVERNMENT ID
Detailed Requirements:
ID must be for the listed owner of the business. This same owner will sign the merchant account application.
3 MONTHS PREVIOUS BUSINESS OR PERSONAL BANK STATEMENTS
Detailed Requirements:
Need to be downloaded or scanned copies of the full monthly statement, not merely screenshots. These are available through your old merchant account provider’s online login, or by calling your old e-Check/Credit card processor.
For new businesses, or if you haven’t accepted e-Check/Credit cards in the past, omit this requirement. If, however, your bank statements indicate you’ve accepted e-Check/Credit cards in the past, you cannot be approved without providing those documents.
3 MONTHS PREVIOUS e-Check/Credit card PROCESSING STATEMENTS, IF APPLICABLE
Detailed Requirements:
Need to be downloaded or scanned copies of the full monthly statement, not merely screenshots. These are available through your old merchant account provider’s online login, or by calling your old e-Check/Credit card processor.
For new businesses, or if you haven’t accepted e-Check/Credit cards in the past, omit this requirement. If, however, your bank statements indicate you’ve accepted e-Check/Credit cards in the past, you cannot be approved without providing those documents.
Offshore High Risk Merchant Account
In addition to the above, we will also require the following documents if you are applying for an Offshore Merchant Account:
BUSINESS LICENSE OR ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
Detailed Requirements:
Business registration & existence documents.
DOCUMENT SHOWING SHAREHOLDER PERCENTAGE
Detailed Requirements:
If your company’s formation documents do not list shareholder percentages, this requirement can be met via a signed and notarized affidavit.
UTILITY BILL
Detailed Requirements:
Utility bill of company & business owner needs to be submitted.
PROOF OF WEBSITE DOMAIN OWNERSHIP
Detailed Requirements:
Detail of domain purchase or any documents that proofs ownership of domain needs to be submitted
US high risk merchant accounts: You’ll be pre-approved within 24 hours, and generally fully complete underwriting in 2 to 4 days.
Offshore high risk merchant accounts: You’ll be pre-approved within 24 hours, and generally fully complete underwriting in 3 to 6 days.
US high risk merchant accounts: Once underwriting has approved your account, you’ll be able to accept payments within 24 hours.
Offshore high risk merchant accounts: Once underwriting has approved your account, you’ll be able to accept payments within 24 to 48 hours.
We accept low, mid and high risk businesses, both in the US and offshore. To be accepted, businesses must be legally operating and in good standing with their bank.
The category of high risk e-Check/Credit card processing includes any business in an industry with one or more of the following characteristics:
- irregular or very high-ticket sales,
-an industry with a history of high chargebacks,
- in an industry that reputationally large banks are unwilling to support,
- in a highly regulated industry, or
- owned by a person with a low credit score, recent bankruptcy, or who is on the MATCH list
- Adult
- Antique & Collectables
- Apparel Sales
- Auto Parts & Accessories
- Businesses with Bad Credit
- Beer, Wine & Liquor Sales
- Binary Options
- Bitcoin Merchants
- Computer Hardware
- Continuity, Free Trial, Membership
- Credit Repair
- Currency Exchange
- Debt Collection
- Debt Consolidation
- Downloadable Software
- E-commerce
- Ecig / Vaping / Tobacco
- Educational Software
- Electronics Business
- Electronic Cigarette
- Financial Aid Consulting
- Financial Services
-Fine & Cosmetic Jewelry
- Firearms & Ammo
- Furniture Sales
- Insurance Providers
- Magazine Subscriptions
- Mobile App Software
- Nutraceuticals
- Pawn Shops & Pawnbrokers
- Payday & Title Loans
- Remote PC Tech Support
- Pet Shops & Supply Stores
- Self Storage Business
- SEO / SEM / Web Design / Dev
Yes. We work with dozens of sponsor banks and some are more sensitive to credit scores than others. If you have a bad credit score, have recently declared bankruptcy, etc. we’ll simply establish your merchant account with a sponsor bank which accepts merchants with poor credit scores.
Yes. We work with both US and offshore startup businesses. When applying, simply provide the owner’s personal bank statements in lieu of business bank statements.
It depends. The discount rate is the percentage of each transaction that the acquiring bank and processor charge for the transaction to be processed. This is determined based on the industry type, the previous e-Check/Credit card processing history of the merchant, the credit rating of the business owner, and a host of other factors.
After completing the online application, you will be emailed a contract for your review which will list all pricing details. You can choose to sign and accept the offer, or reject it at that time.
It depends. The transaction fee is a flat fee charged on each transaction that the acquiring bank and processor charge for the transaction to be processed. This will vary based upon the industry, e-Check/Credit card processing history and a credit score of the business owner.
After completing the online application, you will be emailed a contract for your review which will list all pricing details. You can choose to sign and accept the offer, or reject it at that time.
It depends. The range is anywhere from 0% to 40%. It depends on your industry, your previous processing history, and your credit score. It is entirely determined by underwriting, once they’ve reviewed your account.
Once your merchant account’s rolling reserve has been decided, you’ll be presented with the rolling reserve, at which point you can elect to proceed with the merchant account or decline it. As to what a rolling reserve is, the rolling reserve is an escrow account that the acquiring bank creates to hold a portion of the funds that your company processes via the merchant account. These funds are typically held for 6 months, and then get released to you monthly thereafter. The processor and acquiring bank use rolling reserves to ensure that they are financially covered in the event that there are fraudulent transactions or unpaid chargebacks through your account.
It depends. The time period between when you make a sale and when the money gets deposited into your business’ bank account is known as the “funding period” and each acquiring bank sets their own funding period. For US merchant accounts, it’s typically 24-72 hours. For Offshore merchant accounts it’s typically weekly.
The chargeback threshold is the percentage (either in dollars or in the number of sales) that may be ‘charged back’ by your customers before your merchant account becomes in jeopardy of being closed. For a low risk merchant account, that might be 1%, whereas for a high risk merchant account that is generally 2 to 3% for US merchant accounts, and 3 to 10% for offshore merchant accounts.
The chargeback threshold applicable to your merchant account is set by the sponsor bank and therefore will depend on which sponsor bank you work through. We will discuss your individual threshold prior to completing the application process.
Chargeback Armor is Blueberry’ proprietary integrated chargeback prevention system. It consists of a gateway integrated fraud filter, a customer billing support hotline, chargeback alerts, and integrated chargeback fighting / representment. To learn more visit Chargeback Armor.
Yes. With Chargeback Armor enabled on your high risk merchant account, you will be provided automatically with chargeback representment services.
