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The 10 Best Aggregated Merchant Account

Normally, high risk merchants do have the option to secure their own direct merchant account and payment gateway. This will be placed under their own name and their own business details.

However, there will be instances where, due to their specific industry, certain banks and card schemes will not allow this. The reasons are that the merchant is prone to either high-levels of financial risk, liability, or the banks simply do not want to be associated with this type of industry for reputational reasons.

To resolve this challenge, merchant service providers have created aggregated merchant accounts. It is a third party processing service that allows you to process your payments without having a merchant service account of your own. Specifically, the acquiring bank allows you to use their merchant account under their own terms and service.

Aggregate Merchant Accounts group several merchants together under one billing descriptor. This solution is a common and legitimate practice for “very” high risk businesses.

Take a look at these 10 Aggregated Merchant Service Providers to determine which will serve your business best.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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Connected.co

Situated in beautiful Santa Monica, California, Connected.co’s CEO, JW Epply is an accredited Certified Payments Professional (CPP) from the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA).

Known for developing the first payment gateway on the Internet, Connected.co services all high risk industries. Their motto is, “If it’s legal, we can get it approved!”

The Pros

Connected.co’s features include a state of the art electronic application process, creating a hassle-free experience. The application is also cloud-based, digitally capturing the merchants information and submitting it to their vast network of high risk banks both domestically and internationally. They also provide payment gateways, chargeback prevention, ACH processing, and payment service providers.

The Cons

There is no contract information available to the public at this time, but it’s to be expected that their pricing is largely attributed to business type, location and processing history. Also, the company does not provide a specific and dedicated customer support number, which is not something a merchant can do without.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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ccNetPay.com

Maintaining offices in London and Slovenia, ccNetPay’s primary portfolio consists of mostly European merchants.

The Pros

There are no service and sign-up fees, no transaction limits, no safety deposits, plus clients get a dedicated support staff for the life of the account.
Some of the supported features within the merchant account include: Server2Server API integration, Batch Processing, CVV, AVS, and 3D Secure, Real time reporting and management, Global Card Processing, Recurring Billing, Virtual Terminal, and over 150 supported currencies. A full range of built-in tools include fraud prevention tools and a virtual terminal for phone or mail orders.

The Cons

Although it was difficult to find any negative reviews, something to keep in mind is that there is a high risk registration fee charged by its acquiring banks.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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GSPay (Global & Secure Pay)

Headquartered in Gainsborough, North Lincolnshire in England, GSPay has specialized in the high-risk industry for six years.

The Pros

Advantages for high risk offshore merchant account clients include complete application programming interface, approval available in less than a week, easy setup, no initial deposits, no monthly fees, no application fees, no volume restrictions, multiple currencies support, transaction fraud scrubbing, and payouts are weekly.

The Cons

At this time, GSPay does not offer check processing solutions. This could be a problem as alternative payment solutions are always key to draw more customers. Also, they only take US dollars and Euros. This greatly limits the client base and inhibits expansion.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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EMA

With offices in both Riga, Latvia, and Milan, Italy, EMA is made up of a team of bankers with backgrounds in both IT and credit card processing that specialise in helping merchants find the best payment solution and facilitating the integration process.

The Pros

EMA makes specific suggestions so merchants interested in opening a pharmacy merchant account can do so successfully. Be aware that American Express transactions should not be accepted. Finally, although 70% of all deposits are made through eWallets, the larger investments are made with bank cards.

The Cons

They only offer an email contact form, and a phone number, but no live chat feature. Chat features are quick and convenient way for merchants to get their most important questions answered. Valuable time is wasted in simply using online contact forms and email.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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Web Merchant

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, UK, Web Merchant is platinum accredited partners with major UK, European, and Worldwide banks.

The Pros

Some of their benefits include powerful risk management tools, adapted payment solutions. Sophisticated anti-fraud systems, multiple payment methods, PCI DSS specialism, transaction optimisation, 24/7 support, comprehensive anti-fraud solutions, payment solutions adapted to your needs.

They also offer both a merchant account and payment gateway, a free virtual terminal, 3D Secure, comprehensive reporting tools, over 100 supported trading currencies, and settlement currencies in either GBP, USD, or EUR.

The Cons

Web Merchant partners with a vast number of acquirers and banks and therefore makes it virtually impossible to know what offerings, fees, and services from the start. It is critical to know this information and not get hit with unexpected fees, courtesy of the acquiring bank. Also, due to the exorbitant costs of running a high risk merchant account, this industry is required the minimum processing of £10,000 per month.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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Radiant Pay

London-based Radiant Pay is an agency offering payment solutions to merchants across all “legal” industries. It is a leading payment solution provider in the UK, European, and Asian countries.

The Pros

Some of the advantages offered include quick approvals, partnership with banks around the world, round the clock support, affordable pricing plans, quick payouts, minimal transaction charges, no deductions from revenues, uncapped transaction volumes, multi-currency processing, low taxes, risk management solutions, and personalised consultations.

The Cons

Some complaints about the company have to do with sales agents imposing highly undesirable contract terms. It is best to read the fine print thoroughly before signing anything with this company.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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Instabill

Located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Instabill was founded in 2001 by CEO Jason Field to help high risk merchants secure credit card payment solutions, including aggregated merchant accounts.

The Pros

Aggregated merchant account benefits include the following: easy person to person transfers, no debit/credit card or PIN use, a convenient storage solution on your PC or smartphone, traceable transactions to deter fraud.

The Cons

Due to Instabill’s focus on high risk accounts, it may feature tiered pricing, early termination fees, and PCI Compliance fees. Most complaints against Instabill are about the company’s fraud prevention policies. Merchants report cancellation of their merchant accounts or withholding funds.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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eMerchantBroker

Based in Los Angeles, California, eMerchantBroker offers high risk processing solutions. They do offer offshore aggregated merchant accounts.

The Pros

EMB offers custom-made paid solutions, excellent customer service, approval rates between 24 and 48 hours, chargeback management tools, PCI-compliant payment gateways, as well as fraud filters.

The Cons

Very little information about the standard contract. This could only mean that the contract terms vary widely from merchant to merchant. There are early termination fees that are up to $295 for 1 year contracts and up to $595 for 3 year contracts.

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A good fit for:

Aggregated Merchant Account

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iPay Total

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in London, iPay Total is a payment processor that offers end-to-end high risk merchant solutions for aggregated merchant accounts.

The Pros

Some features offered on aggregated merchant accounts include: multi-bank processing (including offshore), secure payment gateway, chargeback alerts, chargeback disputes, ACH/Check 21 processing, repeat/recurring billing, fraud prevention and protection, and competitive processing rates (below 6%), as well as 24/7 support online or by phone.

The Cons

High risk merchant account contract terms are not disclosed to the public. iPay Total also claims to charge a set up fee of up to £4,500, an incredibly exorbitant and prohibitive amount, especially for small businesses starting out.

Provider of the Month

All legally operated, legitimate businesses should be given the opportunity to process payments. It is simply a matter of finding an expert and reputable merchant service provider that holds key partnerships with many domestic and offshore acquiring banks.
High risk merchants who are struggling to find a dedicated, custom merchant account are encouraged to find an aggregated solution. It is often the only route available for a high risk merchant to process transactions on their website.
High risk aggregated merchant accounts are also the perfect solution for merchants whose sales volume is much too low for a traditional merchant account. With an aggregate solution, the combined merchants’ sales more than make up the account’s total volume, thereby easing the burden of the low volume merchant.

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