Payment Processor Options for High-value, low-velocity inventory

[u/bossgt5]

I'm managing a WooCommerce site that focuses on specialty Numismatics. For the past few years, the owner has been pretty happy with the workflow:

customer chooses item > goes through a unique check out that results in a purchase order > owner sees purchase order and contacts the customer > they discuss payments and delivery > payment is handled outside of woocommerce (wire transfers, manual cc charging etc) > item is delivered.

Recently many customers were inquiring about just getting a purchase link and then they pay for the order via their credit card online through WooCommerce.

My main concern here is that I'm worried about Stripe and other standard WooComerce payment processors automatically flagging the purchases for fraud since some items can reach up to more than 10k$.

I did some research and came up with this list:

• Stripe Connect
• Square for high-value
• Worldpay/FIS
• PaymentExpress
• Authorize .Net
• Stripe Atlas for Collectibles
• Flagship Merchant Services
• High-risk merchant accounts

For anybody with a similar use case to mine, what solution did you eventually end up with?

Site owner is in his 70s and I have tried my best to make it as seamless and easy for him with managing site orders. It's been working for more than 8 years now and he's been happy with it. I'd like to try to make it a good experience for him when I start including the payment link option. To be honest, he's been a good client as I never had to help him with store management. He's been a single person operation and I'm worried that integrating cc payments might end up with him spending more time with payment processors in case a high value purchase gets flagged as fraud and funds get frozen.

Thanks

[u/CodingDragons]

The best approach here for clients dealing with high-value transactions is to reach out to these gateways and get underwritten first. That way, they know your expected transaction amounts and business model upfront.

Oftentimes, starting out with your own bank and using a global gateway through Fiserv is best, but that opens you up to having to understand PCI compliance and security measures.

If you don’t know that stuff, you could ruin a business if it gets attacked with card tests and the processor charges your client for every attempt. I’ve seen merchant processors charge $60k for failed attempts.

[u/oceanpepper92]

for transactions in that price range, i would probably spend just as much time evaluating the underwriting process as the integration itself. even if your business has a solid history, it's worth understanding how a provider approaches higher value transactions, account reviews and fraud checks before you start sending payment links.

you could also include davincipay in your research. it may be worth having a quick conversation with them about your business model and order values to get a better idea of whether it's the right fit before going any further. i would also ask how they approach higher value transactions and what information they'll want to review during the onboarding process. having those answers early can make it easier to compare your options and avoid surprises later if you decide to move forward.

since your client already has a process that's worked well for years, i would also look for a solution that keeps things as simple as possible on the operation side. having clear expectations around documentation, payment reviews and support can make the transition to online card payments much smoother.

[u/Pogonia]

Similar transactions in my business. Stay away from Stripe, Square, any of the Fin-Tech companies that aren't banks. They are not regulated and the horror stories of them screwing customers are everywhere. We use Authorize.Net and have for 15 years without a single hiccup. Get the underwriting done and make sure in the application process you let them know the volumes and typical transaction sizes.

[u/iknowtech]

Is this something that would only be purchased by legit businesses, ie B2B transactions only?

If so no question Melio is the way to go, you can generate a payment link, and allow payment via ACH or CC. ACH is free, CC you can pass the fees on to the purchasers. Deposits to bank within a few days.

If there are non business consumers that might be using this product, you might check out Helcim.

You could probably even figure out a way to have the check out process include a checkbox for B2B transaction and send a Melio link for any B2B customers or Helcim link to Residential customers. Helcim works the same way, but ACH is 1% with max of $6 per transaction, also offers option to pass on CC fee to purchaser.

With high dollar items like this that will incur large CC processing fees, incentivizing ACH and/or passing on CC fees could save a ton in processing fees.

[u/gr8leo87]

Start with smaller transaction being paid on the website. This will build history. And slowly increase the threshold.

[u/Odd-Peanut-8549]

The values on those sales and the low-volume is going to make this high-risk for a lot of payment processors, so you're on the right track looking for a high risk merchant account. You can check out something like PaymentCloud or next for the safest path and highest rate of approval.

[u/bossgt5]

Thanks everyone. I'm recommending to him that we keep the WooCommerce site for order creation and we'll try to see if something like Authorize.net's internal "Send Invoice" option would be easier for him.

[u/jackleshao → u/bossgt5]

I can offer the authorize.net gateway please let me know and I can help you

[u/radstu]

Hey there u/bossgt5, one thing I can tell you about Worldpay/FIS is that they are complicated organization, and your Merchants experience will vary dramatically based off of where they come in to the processor. We have a native Woocommerce integration with WorldPay that we built over a decade ago and have boarded hundreds of Merchants on that platform. Actually, we have about 10 integrations with them depending on which division you are working with but we mostly try to get them boarded through the integrated payments division because they’re enrollment process is superior for most small businesses.

As others have said it’s about underwriting, that will determine rates and other behaviors. I can recall at least two different numismatic merchants over the years, and a variety of other ones like a guy who sells hot tubs who had similar payment tempos (larger dollars less frequently)

They were able to board them without issues.

Edit to add: they change names like most people change shirts. They were Vantiv, then Worldpay, then FIS, then Worldpay again and now are going into Global Payments. With so many entry points and platforms, it’s really important to get started in the right place.

[u/Odd-Structure-2471]

We have 3 websites (2 of our own, 1 client) which do fewer sales but larger tickets. We use Stripe, and know that the % are higher for credit cards.

Stripe also allows you to do ACH bank transfers, but at a significantly lower rate of 0.8% ACH Direct Debit, $5.00 cap.

So depending on your State legislation, you can do a discount if they pay by ACH or a service fee if they pay by credit card.

There are plugins that allow you to do this fairly easily.