When it comes to achieving success in the adult toy business, one of the most important factors is your ability to convert visitors into customers. And what’s the key element that drives conversions? Having the right adult toys merchant account.
However, due to the high-risk nature of the adult toy business, there is a lack of support from traditional payment gateways.
As a result, adult toys merchant accounts are now becoming the preferred option for many sex toy businesses, offering a more reliable and secure payment solution.
In this article, we will provide a comprehensive overview of adult toys merchant accounts, outlining the various services they offer and highlighting the top gateway options that can help you quickly and easily sell sex toys online.
Why You Should Need an Adult Toys Merchant Account?
An adult toys merchant account is a specialized type of merchant account designed for businesses that sell adult-oriented products, including adult toys and related items.
Here are some reasons why businesses in this industry might need an adult toys merchant account:
1. High-risk nature of the industry
The adult industry is often considered high-risk by traditional financial institutions. This is due to factors such as potential legal issues, chargebacks, and the controversial nature of adult content.
As a result, businesses in this industry may find it challenging to secure a standard merchant account.
2. Compliance with regulations
The adult industry is subject to various laws and regulations, and businesses must adhere to them to avoid legal issues.
An adult toys merchant account may come with features designed to help businesses stay compliant with relevant regulations, such as age verification and content restrictions.
3. Payment gateway integration
Adult toys merchant accounts often come with integrated payment gateways that are compatible with adult industry products. These payment gateways are designed to handle transactions related to adult content more effectively.
4. Reduced risk of account termination
Traditional payment processors may be more likely to terminate the accounts of businesses in the adult industry due to their high-risk nature.
Adult toys merchant accounts, being specifically tailored for the sex toy market, may be more understanding of the unique challenges and risks associated with adult product sales.
5. Privacy and discretion
Customers purchasing adult products often value privacy and discretion. A specialized merchant account for adult toys may provide features to help businesses maintain customer confidentiality and handle transactions discreetly.
What to Look For When Choosing an Adult Toys Merchant Service?
Selecting an adult toys merchant service that fits your needs can be a daunting task, as it involves careful consideration of several factors.
To make an informed decision, it is important to pay attention to the following key aspects:
1. Simple integrations
As a sex toy business owner, one of the crucial steps in setting up your online adult toy website is to have a reliable merchant account with a payment processor that can seamlessly synchronize with your site.
Moreover, the merchant service you integrate with your accounting software should simplify the process of data entry, minimizing the chances of errors and saving you valuable time and money.
2. Multiple card and international processing
To ensure a smooth payment experience for your customers, you should have an adult toys merchant account that accepts a variety of cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and others.
Even if your business is not currently selling internationally, it’s still essential to select an adult toy merchant that can process international card payments, such as Mastercard’s Maestro.
By doing so, you’ll be able to offer a seamless payment experience for your customers, no matter where they are in the world.
3. State-of-the-art encryption and security
When it comes to running a successful sex toy business, ensuring the security of your customers’ data and financial information is of utmost importance. The consequences of a data breach can be catastrophic for both your company and your customers.
Therefore, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate the security measures of any adult toys merchant account you are considering.
While searching for the right merchant account for your sex toy business, it’s essential to ensure that they offer encrypted and secure payment processing. This means that the information exchanged during the transaction is protected and unreadable to any third party who may attempt to intercept or steal it.
4. Low fees
When you’re choosing an adult toy merchant account, it’s important to be mindful of your finances. While providing excellent customer service is crucial, you must also prioritize your own financial well-being.
One aspect to consider is the cost of using an adult payment processor. With each sale you make, your payment processor will likely charge you a fee. To avoid losing a significant amount of your profits, it’s essential to choose a merchant account that charges low fees.
To make an informed decision, you should estimate the number of sales you will make and calculate the estimated costs. This will help you choose an adult toy merchant that’s suitable for your business needs and budget.
5. Customer support
In the event of an issue, getting timely assistance is crucial. So, you must prioritize an adult toy merchant with the best customer support.
Fortunately, there are numerous merchants who offer various support channels, such as round-the-clock service personnel or AI-based chat systems. It is essential to have a clear understanding of the support options available with each merchant to ensure the smooth running of your adult toy business.
What Services do Adult Toy Merchant Accounts Provide?
In today’s digital age, accepting payments online has become a crucial element for the success of the adult toy business. And you must provide customers with a range of secure payment options to drive online growth.
So, before you pick your adult toy merchant account, it’s imperative to understand the benefits of partnering with them.
Payment processing
One of your top priorities as an online sex toy store owner is ensuring that customer payments are processed smoothly and securely.
Working with an adult toys merchant account that provides you with an essential tool can help you achieve this goal. It allows you to process payments with confidence and ease, ensuring that your customer’s payment information is kept safe and secure throughout the transaction.
Encrypted payments
Ensuring the security of your adult eCommerce transactions is crucial. Thankfully, most adult toys merchant accounts now offer encrypted processing, which provides a safe and secure environment for both you and your customers during transactions.
When looking for an adult toy merchant account that fits your business needs, it’s essential to choose a provider that handles encrypted payments to guarantee the highest level of security.
Easy-to-use software
You know the importance of providing a seamless customer experience, similarly, your experience with adult toys merchant accounts should be hassle-free and efficient.
It is imperative that the software used for this purpose is user-friendly and allows you to easily track payments, issue refunds, and generate comprehensive reports from a single dashboard.
This will not only save you time and effort but also ensure a smooth and streamlined operation of your business.
A streamlined payment experience
In order to achieve success online, it is crucial to ensure that the processes and experiences are seamlessly simple for both yourself and your customers.
It is essential to have a payment experience that is streamlined, as this will not only help increase your efficiency but also foster a positive brand affinity among your customers.
What Types of Fees are Associated with Adult Toy Merchant Accounts?
It’s crucial to keep in mind that choosing an adult toys merchant comes with fees that you’ll need to factor into your decision-making process. These fees can include:
Setup Fees
When setting up an adult toy payment gateway, merchants may require a one-time setup fee at the outset.
The amount of this fee can vary depending on different factors like the bank account associated with the business, the sales volume expected, and the type of checkout software or hardware used. These variables all play a part in determining the final setup fee charged by the merchant.
Maintenance Fees
You should also be aware of potential ongoing fees for maintenance services. Some adult toy merchants may charge you a flat, consistent monthly fee for these services, which are separate from transaction fees.
It is possible that these maintenance services may involve the use of software tools, which could result in additional fees. Therefore, it is important to carefully review the terms and conditions of any service you use to ensure you are aware of all associated costs.
Transaction Fees
Completing a payment online involves a complex chain of actors seeking to get their share, from credit card processing companies to adult payment processors. As a result, transaction fees can be a significant expense when setting up an adult toys merchant account.
Adult toy merchants have different strategies to deal with these transaction fees, which include:
Flat rate fees: This is a straightforward approach where the merchant pays a fixed rate for any transaction, regardless of the purchase amount or type of transaction.
Tiered fees: This approach involves different fees for each transaction, depending on its category and perceived risk. These categories are usually grouped into three tiers: qualified, non-qualified, and mid-qualified transactions.
Interchange plus fees: This is the most transparent way of calculating transaction fees, as it includes all the costs involved in processing a payment and any associated fees.
Now that you have a clear understanding of adult toys merchant accounts and how to choose one for your sex toy business, let’s look into some of the best adult toy merchants out there.
Top Trustworthy Adult Toy Merchant Accounts
Here are a few of our top recommendations for adult toys merchant accounts that can help you streamline your online payments and grow your business.
1. Verotel
Verotel offers a diverse range of payment solutions designed to cater to the unique needs of businesses operating in high-risk industries such as adult toys.
The platform supports all major global credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, JCB, Diners, and Discover, providing businesses with a flexible and convenient way to accept payments online.
Verotel is also NAT54 compatible, ensuring seamless integration with existing infrastructure, and offers Multi-Currency support for its premium plan, enabling businesses to expand their customer base and accept payments in multiple currencies.
2. NMI
NMI Payment Gateway System is a modular platform that offers flexibility and features for businesses to accept payments, manage transactions, and drive revenue.
It provides a range of solutions, including standard payment acceptance, advanced payment solutions, and support for various payment processors and devices
NMI’s payment gateway is known for its protective payment system that immediately validates card transactions, making it suitable for high-risk merchants who need help collecting credit card payments
3. PayCly
PayCly provides ready-to-use plug-ins to make payment processing easy and seamless for adult toy businesses. They also offer credit card processing, which allows you to accept credit and debit card payments seamlessly.
In addition, they provide invoicing solutions to streamline the invoice process and enhance the speed at which vendor invoices are processed
4. Instabill
Instabill is a merchant service provider specializing in offering high-risk merchant accounts for adult e-commerce, POS, and mobile businesses.
Instabill is recognized as one of the industry’s leading high-risk merchant account providers, catering not only to e-commerce businesses but also to MOTO (mail order/telephone order) and retail businesses.
5. Seamless Chex
Seamless Chex is a full-service payment processing company that offers a range of solutions for adult toy businesses, including credit card, ACH, and eCheck processing.
They provide easy-to-use software that allows businesses to send and receive payments faster, verify and accept checks online, and reduce chargebacks.
In addition, Seamless Chex offers features such as next-day funding, online reporting, and zero-cost processing to help retail sex toy businesses succeed.
Final Few Words
Whether you are a small sex toy business owner or a larger retailer, payments are a core component of your success. To ensure smooth and efficient payment processing, it is important to steer clear of poorly implemented solutions.
Instead, invest in an adult toy merchant service provider that can cater to your present requirements while also accommodating your future business goals.
If you are planning to start an online adult toy store and are worried about the payment gateway, then you can use a readymade adult eCommerce script like xMarketplace by Adent.io.
This script comes with an in-built payment gateway such as Verotel and NMI, which means you don’t have to worry about integrating a payment gateway separately.
All you need to do is purchase the script, create an account on either of the payment gateways and add your details on the admin panel. Once done, you can add your products and start selling sex toys online without any hassle.
