As in any industry, adult entertainment needs effective, reliable financial partners and payment processors to work with. Unfortunately, most commercial and business banks stay away from porn studios, adult businesses, and pleasure retailers because of the claims that these types of businesses are too high-risk.
These concerns apply to traditional payment providers and gateways such as PayPal and Stripe. Luckily, this growing need for financial services for adult sites has allowed certain platforms that specialize in adult to thrive.
In this blog post, Adult Site Broker will discuss payments with the high-risk payment processors in this industry, and we list some of our favorite providers that you can employ for secure payments.
What is a Payment Processor & Gateway?
This is a pretty basic question, with a not-so-basic answer. According to U.S. News & World Report, a payment processor is the term for the steps, processes, and vendors involved in processing a credit card payment or a virtual transaction.
There are multiple steps and players involved in a credit card transaction. Transactions involving credit cards and debit cards are processed through payment processing. To transfer money from a customer’s issuing bank to a merchant’s account, payment processing services and payment gateways are used.
Payment gateways securely connect information that is sent through the payment processor. So, imagine that you are out at a restaurant, and it’s time to pay your bill.
You just hand the server your credit or debit card, and the payment information is sent through the payment gateway, which communicates whether the payment was accepted or declined.
The processor, however, leads the transaction process by providing a seamless experience to collect card information from the customer’s bank and initiate the transfer of funds to the merchant’s commercial bank.
Fees are associated with processing payments through payment processors and gateways. Fees do vary, as you’d expect. The mainstream credit card processing fees range between 1.5% and 3.5%. High-risk merchants, such as those in the adult industry, generally pay much more.
Types of Payment Processors
When it comes to payment processing services in the adult entertainment industry, there are two types of processors: traditional and high-risk. Regular payment processors include Square, Stripe, Zettle, and Payment Depot.
The best-known payment processors in the mainstream aspect of the industry are Square and Stripe. For example, Square is best for small restaurants and food trucks that want quick, built-in processing and on-the-spot gateway access. Stripe is built more for e-commerce and retail.
High-risk payment processors work with merchants that are high-risk because they happen to sell age-restricted products and services, like cigarette products and alcohol. Other services include firearms, marijuana in some jurisdictions, and (of course) adult content and sex-based businesses.
Payment processors that work with high-risk industries like these also help prevent chargebacks and fully mitigate risks related to fraud, money laundering, and other illegal activities.
Who Are the Best Payment Processors for Adult Sites?
Payment processors for the adult entertainment industry are cutting-edge platforms that counter the institutional limitations of traditional fintech service providers. It’s not surprising that when you purchase premium adult content or subscribe to a membership site, you don’t see a standalone PayPal option at checkout.
That’s because PayPal, per its widespread use by financial institutions and its risk-averse business practices, doesn’t permit the purchase of sexual content.
Exceptions are the successful processing of payments covering pleasure products and online sex toy retailers, and one other exception we’ll discuss later. To address this overall, one of these high-risk payment processors offers PayPal as an option at checkout through its security and privacy protocols.
Even the credit card companies Visa and MasterCard are spooked by adult content because of public, political, and legal outrage. For instance, former New York Times opinion contributor Nicholas Kristof published his notorious “The Children of Pornhub” column, causing moral panic and public outrage over MindGeek’s content moderation policies.
As a reaction to Kristof’s column and the public outrage, Visa and MasterCard suspended payments for Pornhub and its network of sites. This action directly impacted Pornhub’s adult creators.
High-risk payment processors are crucial in this industry. As the focus of this blog post, each option we list below is what we, as a company, consider one of the best for payment processing services in the adult entertainment industry.
Epoch
Epoch is a well-known payment processor and provider of payment gateway services for high-risk industries, including adult entertainment. It is widely used across the industry and is deployed by some of the most valuable adult brands.
Services include card processing, ACH bank transfers, and a turnkey set of tools that enable payment processing for sites of all types worldwide.
As we already mentioned, Epoch is a notable player in this space because they enable PayPal services for sites that would otherwise not qualify. Fees vary depending on the services you use.
CCBill
CCBill is a well-known payment processor in the adult entertainment industry and other high-risk industries. This payment processor accepts payments from the United States, Canada, and most European nations. Overall, the business processes over $1 billion in transactions annually.
High-risk payments across several industries are the primary source of funds for CCBill, with a hefty focus on adult payments. Adult content and business processing fees range from about 10.8% to 14.5%.
There are several features and models for using CCBill, including subscription and membership protocols and one-time web payments. CCBill offers highly competitive rates and solutions that allow adult businesses, producers, indie adult content creators, and performers to accept payments from the major credit and debit card networks.
OrbitalPay
OrbitalPay is another option for high-risk payment processing for adult entertainment. They offer services for businesses in product sales and retail, membership sites, live camming sites, VOD, and direct services from adult entertainers and studios.
OrbitalPay offers high-risk adult merchant accounts that enable businesses that provide adult services to offer fully integrated, responsive credit card payment processing.
Regardless of the services, OrbitalPay’s adult merchant accounts can accommodate just about any need. Fees do vary, but they are not publicly posted. Contact OrbitalPay for more information about fees.
MobiusPay
MobiusPay is yet another option for high-risk payment processing. It deals with much of its business in the adult entertainment industry, but with a direct revenue stream from emerging industries like cannabis, CBD, and drug paraphernalia such as pipes.
The product and service offerings provided by MobiusPay cater to a wide range of high-risk payment types, including chargeback risks. The tools developed and sold by MobiusPay also include credit card processing services for high-risk clients, allowing adult industry businesses to accept payments from major credit and debit card networks worldwide. And, fees do vary.
Payze
Payze is a high-risk payment processing service provider serving a range of industries, including adult entertainment. Featured on the Adult Site Broker Talk podcast, the Payze platform offers a variety of protocols and software tools that allow high-risk businesses to operate. This includes scalability functions to integrate the Payze ecosystem entirely to a membership site or paysite.
As with catering to locals, international customers will be easy to accommodate through Payze. Just like other providers on this list, Payze will help you reach more consumers and collect your revenues faster and more efficiently through their trusted banking and payment partnerships.
NETbilling
NETbilling is another provider of high-risk payment processing services for some adult industry firms. The NETbilling offerings include adult transaction processing and payment gateway services.
All of these services are provided through the NETbilling software and can be scaled to support credit card payments from the world’s leading credit and debit card networks. For example, NETbilling provides comprehensive credit card and online check processing, along with chargeback protection, for membership sites, VOD providers, and live camming websites. All of the platforms on this list, including NETbilling, provide reporting and analytics to track sales trends.
Webbilling
Webbilling is a high-risk payment-processing provider serving the European market primarily. Based in the Netherlands and doing services under WB Technical Services B.V., Webbilling is a viable payment solution for European Union, Eastern European, and Central European countries.
Services provided by Webbilling cater not only to adult entertainment companies but also to e-commerce firms and a variety of other high-risk services that require protection against chargebacks.
Membership sites and subscriptions that cater to adult services, especially, use Webbilling as a payment partner to connect consumers to merchants and enable credit card sales, but their specialty is non-traditional payment methods that other processors don’t support.
Verotel and Bitsafe
Verotel by Bitsafe and Bitsafe are both options for payment processing and payment delivery for all adult professionals. This payment processor and gateway serves adult-industry affiliates and studios.
Membership sites, paysites, competitive rates and volumes, daily revenue payouts, and chargeback protection are provided by the Verotel by Bitsafe platforms. Bitsafe also provides a secure, discreet cross-border payment delivery platform and debit card services for adult models. Together, the financial services provided by Verotel and Bitsafe offer a full-stack payment solution.
Verotel provides mainstream credit and debit card services and is scalable with appropriate pricing. The fees do vary but Verotel is definitely a very reliable payment platform, moving forward.
eMerchantPay
eMerchantPay is yet another provider of high-risk payment processing services. There are roughly sixty offerings available to adult industry businesses and performers, with many more on the way.
One aspect that sets eMerchantPay apart from its competitors is the company’s approach to fraud prevention and chargeback mitigation. This approach allows fees and asking prices to remain low, creating more opportunities to convert and develop new revenue-generating strategies.
The eMerchantPay approach also enables businesses of all sizes in the adult industry to accept credit and debit cards through the world’s credit and debit card networks. eMerchantPay fees do vary.
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We at Adult Site Broker hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or if you want to buy & sell your porn site.
