Who this is for
- Shopify store owners declined by Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Shopify Payments
- Existing Shopify merchants in CBD, vape, nutra, adult, firearms, or gambling verticals
- Shopify subscription / continuity-billing businesses with elevated chargebacks
- Merchants migrating from a frozen aggregator to a real high-risk MID without re-platforming
- Six-figure-monthly Shopify stores needing a backup gateway for routing redundancy
Why Shopify merchants get declined elsewhere
Shopify has two layers that matter here. The first is Shopify Payments — the built-in processor powered by Stripe — which has a long prohibited-business list covering CBD, kratom, vape, firearms, ammunition, adult, gambling, multi-level marketing, debt collection, and most continuity / negative-option offers. If your store falls in any of those, Shopify Payments will eventually shut you down even if signup succeeded.
The second layer is Shopify's approved third-party gateway list. Shopify charges an additional 0.5%–2.0% transaction fee when you use a gateway off this list (depending on your Shopify plan), but stores on the approved list pay only the lower 0.5%–1.0% fee. This matters: a CBD store doing $100K/month on the wrong (unapproved) gateway is bleeding $1,500–$2,000/month in unnecessary Shopify fees on top of processing.
We place dedicated high-risk MIDs through gateways on Shopify's approved list, so the platform fee stays at the lower rate, the integration is certified (no custom code, no theme edits), and your acquiring bank actually wants your vertical. Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay continue to function for compliant SKUs through Shopify Payments if you want a hybrid setup.
What you get with our Shopify integration
Direct acquirer relationship — not a shared aggregator account that disappears on the first chargeback spike.
Drop-in gateway integration certified for Shopify. No custom dev required.
Customers checkout once; subsequent purchases and rebills run from a stored token.
Verifi RDR and Ethoca alerts wired into the store admin so disputes are killed before they post.
Velocity rules, BIN blocking, and 3D Secure where the issuer supports it.
MIT-compliant rebills with auto card updater to keep subscriptions alive.
Authorize and settle in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY + 60 more for international stores.
A human on speed dial who knows your store, your MCC, and your batch history.
Underwriting documents you'll need
- Last 3 months of business bank statements
- Last 3 months of prior processing statements (if applicable)
- Shopify store URL (must be live with refund, terms, privacy, contact, SSL)
- Government-issued ID for all 25%+ owners
- Voided business check or bank letter
- Articles of incorporation or LLC formation docs
- EIN letter (IRS Form CP-575)
Approval timeline
- 1Soft pre-qualification (same day)
We confirm acquirer fit and quote a real rate band before any document collection.
- 2Document collection (1–2 days)
We chase the items and review your Shopify storefront for the compliance basics underwriters check.
- 3Underwriting (1–5 days)
Acquirer reviews and prices your file. We negotiate reserve and rate on your behalf.
- 4Shopify plugin live (same day after approval)
Plugin/app installed, API keys configured, test transaction processed. First batch typically T+1 funding.
Side-by-side vs. HighRiskPay, CCBill, PayCompass & PayDiverse
How our placement model stacks up against the four most-cited high-risk processors. Based on public pricing pages, third-party reviews, and merchant reports as of 2026. We update this table quarterly.
| Feature | Us | HighRiskPay | CCBill | PayCompass | PayDiverse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct acquiring-bank network (12+ banks) | 5–6 | Primarily their own | Limited | 8–10 | |
| Domestic + offshore (EU/UK/APAC/Caribbean) | Domestic-heavy | Limited offshore | |||
| Soft pre-qualification (no credit pull) | |||||
| Published rate ranges (no bait pricing) | Vague | Custom only | Vague | Vague | |
| Chargeback alerts included (Verifi + Ethoca) | Add-on | Add-on | |||
| Multi-MID cascade / routing redundancy | |||||
| MATCH/TMF rehabilitation placement | |||||
| Gateway flexibility (NMI, Auth.Net, USAePay, custom) | Their own only | ||||
| Dedicated human account manager | Ticket queue | Enterprise only | Ticket queue | ||
| Approval timeline (standard files) | 24–72 hrs | 48–72 hrs | 5–10 days | 3–5 days | 2–5 days |
Comparison drawn from publicly available data. Competitor names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Where a competitor's offering varies by plan, we represent the most commonly reported merchant experience.