Finding the right service to help a high risk merchant to function securely and effectively in the modern age will ensure that your business has a solid foundation to build success from. Certain high risk businesses often struggle to find investment, lending facilities, and even to access payment processing hardware and software that enables them to accept card payments.
With the right high risk merchant services, not only can you accept card payments, but international payments too. With expert support to add layers of security, protect against fraud, and provide a solid framework to accept payments from all over the world, you can have confidence that your business has the chance to shine.
Advantages of accepting international payments
There are a few big benefits to be had by accepting international payments for your business:
- Boost your sales – it makes sense that should you sell your goods and services beyond your borders that you are potentially selling to a much wider range of customers. This will help you to significantly increase your sales and revenue potential.
- Reduce cart abandonment – it happens quite regularly to businesses that only sell in one country that a user will be on a website, choose some items they wish to purchase and then abandon the cart once they realise there are foreign transaction fees that increase the costs.
- Offer clear multi-currency options – if you have the option to pay in different currencies, make sure that this is clear to the customer. Provide an option to switch between currencies, helping your brand to boost its credibility with the customer and make it clear that they matter.
How to accept international payments
The possibilities are endless for even the smallest of businesses in the modern age. Why restrict yourself to only selling to customers in your local area? By accepting international payments and payments in different currencies, suddenly the world is your oyster. Selling to customers outside of your own country opens up a potential giant marketplace for you. If done well, you’ll boost your sales and revenue significantly.
Of course, if you are deemed a high-risk business, then you need to work with high risk merchant account services that match your needs and ambitions and will provide you with the payment gateways you need to accept payments from the world over.
Use an online payment gateway
For some businesses the need to provide international payment options means they look for an online payment gateway that suits their needs. PayPal, Stripe, Google Pay and Shopify are all valid examples of easy to use online payment gateways that allow companies to accept and make international payments.
Open a multi-currency account
A foreign currency account is an option for some businesses. It allows you to send and receive funds in a variety of currencies. In some cases, you might not need to convert funds you receive, saving money on exchange rates that can cost dearly with some international payments.
Build in tight security protocols
This is where it pays to involve a high risk merchant account service. All transactions must be as secure as possible when dealing with international payments, especially with companies dealing with an industry where there is a high percentage of chargebacks. A high risk merchant account service understands these issues when first working with your company. Whereas some traditional services might give a high risk business a miss, in these cases you’ll have access to payment gateways that have tight security controls and are quick to detect fraud and any other problems that you may face as a business accepting international payments.
Think about other costs
Of course, accepting international payments will broaden the horizons of your business, but you should also consider the costs. This includes shipping costs and tax requirements within different countries that you are selling to. You’ll need to consider your returns policies, and translation of precise terms and conditions when selling to customers in a foreign country. All of these should be built into your approach and how you decide to accept card payments, including potentially higher prices for foreign purchases.
Even for those businesses that are deemed high risk by traditional banks and lenders there is a real hope for a solid future when accessing a high risk merchant account service in the UK. With access to these services, you’ll suddenly open up a whole new prospective marketplace for your business. Think about the payment processing software and technology that a high risk merchant account affords you, and how this could provide you with the means to accept international payments. A small business should dream big, why not?
