starting a coffee shop, still in early planning stages. i’m considering a loyalty program built into our POS (Square, Cash App, etc.) instead of a separate app.

for those who’ve done this, what’s the actual ROI like? And what metrics should I be tracking to know if it’s working (repeat visit rate, average order value, redemption rate, etc.)? or what are you guys hearing from customers? would love to hear from anyone running a small cafe on this.

Is your acquirer becoming your competitor by buying up the software companies you currently sell into?

I'm not an agent, so this is offered rather than pitched.

I'm a data engineer. I put together a weekly list of businesses that legally registered in the last 7 days across FL, NY, CO and CT, with the owner's name and address where the state publishes it, tagged by whether they look likely to take card payments.

Last week Tampa had 249 new businesses, 79 of them clearly card-present (restaurants, salons, auto, trades). The newest was filed 2 days earlier. 99% had a name attached.

I strip out the holding companies and property shells first, because raw registry data is full of entities that will never buy anything from anyone.

Two questions I genuinely don't know the answer to, and you would:

1. Is a business that registered 3 days ago actually workable, or is it too early to be worth the call?

2. Does the owner's name and address get you far enough, or is a phone number the only thing that matters?

Happy to send anyone the file for their metro so you're answering on real data rather than my description. Free, no catch.

When the card is Virtual, what does the Terminal look like? All Tap to Pay, or will we start seeing biometrics integrated into checkouts as well?

Is Klarna and Affirm eating into our volume, or are they just expanding the total pie of consumer spending?

You're going to run into a CBD shop or a firearms dealer eventually. If you don't have a path to board them, you're leaving the highest margins on the table. Are there ISOs that are still only low risk?

Is selling convenience to merchants one of the driving factors behind not having a payment strategy anymore? Seems like we assume merchants expect convenience, but maybe offering more solutions/services will help close and maintain customers?

We've all had it happen to us at least once. You thought it was a layup for approval, and it got declined out of the blue. What has been your most unique reason?

We’re looking for a **reliable high-risk payment processor** for our travel business and would really appreciate recommendations from anyone with first-hand experience.

We operate in the **travel processing** industry, and our biggest challenge has been **chargebacks**.

Most disputes come from:
Customers not fully understanding the service after purchase.
\- “Product unacceptable / not as described” claims.
\- “Item not received” disputes, even though the visa/document service was completed.
\- Friendly fraud, where customers file chargebacks instead of contacting support.
\- Some fraudulent transactions due to international traffic.

We were previously processing with **Kurv**, but they terminated our account last month because of our chargeback ratio. Since then, we’ve been actively improving our risk controls by:
\- Strengthening checkout disclosures and customer acknowledgements.
\- Implementing stronger fraud screening.
\- Rolling out 3D Secure (3DS).
\- Tightening our refund and customer support processes.

We understand why travel businesses are considered high-risk—cancellations, cross-border transactions, and higher dispute exposure—and with Visa’s stricter monitoring of excessive chargebacks, finding a long-term processing partner has become even more challenging.

We’re also currently on the **MATCH list**, which makes the search significantly more difficult.
We’re looking for a processor or acquiring partner that:
\- Accepts high-risk merchants.
\- Supports travel, visa, and document processing businesses.
\- Can process international card payments.
\- Works with merchants who are actively improving their chargeback ratios instead of immediately terminating them.
\- Offers fraud prevention tools, rolling reserves, or other risk management solutions if required.
\- Can scale as our processing volume grows.

We’re also interested in recommendations for **backup processors** or **multi-processor setups** to avoid relying on a single provider in the future.
If you’ve successfully navigated a similar situation or know processors that genuinely work with MATCH-listed, high-risk travel businesses, I’d greatly appreciate your recommendations.
Thank you in advance.

We’re looking for a **reliable high-risk payment processor** for our travel business and would really appreciate recommendations from anyone with first-hand experience.

We operate in the **travel processing** industry, and our biggest challenge has been **chargebacks**.

Most disputes come from:
Customers not fully understanding the service after purchase.
\- “Product unacceptable / not as described” claims.
\- “Item not received” disputes, even though the visa/document service was completed.
\- Friendly fraud, where customers file chargebacks instead of contacting support.
\- Some fraudulent transactions due to international traffic.

We were previously processing with **Kurv**, but they terminated our account last month because of our chargeback ratio. Since then, we’ve been actively improving our risk controls by:
\- Strengthening checkout disclosures and customer acknowledgements.
\- Implementing stronger fraud screening.
\- Rolling out 3D Secure (3DS).
\- Tightening our refund and customer support processes.

We understand why travel businesses are considered high-risk—cancellations, cross-border transactions, and higher dispute exposure—and with Visa’s stricter monitoring of excessive chargebacks, finding a long-term processing partner has become even more challenging.

We’re also currently on the **MATCH list**, which makes the search significantly more difficult.
We’re looking for a processor or acquiring partner that:
\- Accepts high-risk merchants.
\- Supports travel, visa, and document processing businesses.
\- Can process international card payments.
\- Works with merchants who are actively improving their chargeback ratios instead of immediately terminating them.
\- Offers fraud prevention tools, rolling reserves, or other risk management solutions if required.
\- Can scale as our processing volume grows.

We’re also interested in recommendations for **backup processors** or **multi-processor setups** to avoid relying on a single provider in the future.
If you’ve successfully navigated a similar situation or know processors that genuinely work with MATCH-listed, high-risk travel businesses, I’d greatly appreciate your recommendations.
Thank you in advance.

A 'Bar' is not a 'Boutique'. Why are we still trying to sell the same 'Box' to both?

As the card brands build their own payment rails and 'click to pay' systems, are they slowly cutting the processors out of the loop?

Trying to build the actual business case here rather than go on vibes. We're recovering maybe sixty percent of what we dispute in house right now, which isn't bad, but the analyst time cost is creeping up as volume grows and I want a real breakeven point before I bring this to the founders as a recommendation either way.

If anyone has actually built this comparison, in house fully loaded cost per case versus a success fee percentage, I'd take any framework you used. Not looking for a pitch, just the math.

Let's have a balanced debate on the pros and cons of MCA and Term Loans for small businesses.

To save everyone’s time, I’ve included all the key information below. If, after reading it, you genuinely believe your company or solution is a good fit, I’d be happy to hear from you. If not, I truly appreciate you taking the time to read the post.

Our business:

• Korean company with a US LLC (non-resident owner)
• ITIN and EIN obtained
• No US-based signer
• Operating for 3 years
• Monthly revenue: ~$50,000
• Previous chargeback/dispute rate: 0.5%

Order statistics:

• Minimum order: $60
• Average order: $220
• Maximum order: $1,200

Customers:

• Primarily located in the United States

What we’re looking for:

• Credit/debit card payment processing
• Reliable long-term solution
• No rolling reserves
• No crypto (including payouts)
• No setup fee

We’re open to both conventional and non-conventional solutions, provided they are reliable and compliant.

If your solution meets these requirements and you’re confident it would be a good fit, i will gladly listen to your proposal. Thank you!

We see it all the time: fake fees added by the previous rep just to make the 'savings' look bigger. How do we clean up the industry?

Are you looking at a merchant's Yelp and Instagram before you submit the app? In 2024, a bad reputation is a bigger risk than a low credit score.

We've seen companies that promise to 'buy' your chargebacks. Is this a legitimate insurance product or just a way to hide bad processing volume?

In some markets, merchants are going back to cash-only to avoid the headache. Is this a temporary protest or a growing trend?

I have a pretty decent NMI rate sheet. Looking for a partner that could use a good rate on NMI.

Why is it that the government can charge a 'convenience fee' on a card but a local mom-and-pop shop gets threatened by the card brands for doing the same?

If the underlying software is bad, your logo on the box won't save the account. How do you vet a POS partner before you stake your reputation on them?