How we evaluated
"Offshore" is often used pejoratively but it's just a legitimate acquiring structure with a different cost and timing profile. EU acquirers, Caribbean acquirers, and APAC acquirers all process card-not-present volume for verticals that US domestic acquirers either won't touch or can only touch at small scale.
The choice isn't moral, it's mechanical: domestic when the file qualifies, offshore when it doesn't, and sometimes both in parallel for redundancy and economics.
Acquiring structures compared
Cheaper (2.95%–4.95%), faster settlement (T+1 to T+2), lower reserve (5–10%), USD settlement, cleaner US bank integration. Right for CBD, nutra, subscription, debt collection, credit repair, vape, most card-not-present verticals under $1M/month.
Higher pricing (4.45%–6.95%), slower settlement (T+3 to T+7), higher reserve (10–15%), multi-currency settlement. Required for licensed iGaming, adult, high-volume continuity nutra, and merchants in countries where US domestic isn't viable.
Best of both for merchants doing $500K+/month. Domestic handles the majority of volume at lower cost; offshore handles overflow, international, and acts as redundancy if domestic MID hits a chargeback spike.
Our verdict
If your file qualifies for domestic, take domestic. Faster funding, lower reserve, cleaner reporting, simpler tax treatment. The pricing delta vs. offshore is real and the operational delta is bigger.
Go offshore when your vertical (licensed gambling, adult) or volume (continuity nutra above $500K/month) forces it — or when you're outside the US and domestic isn't an option in your country. Don't go offshore because someone told you it was "easier to approve" — that's a sales pitch, not a placement strategy.
For merchants above $500K/month: run both. Primary domestic + offshore backup is the standard configuration at scale.