Pharmacy Merchant Accounts

Online pharmacies have become a booming business offering tremendous convenience and overall customer value. And, the value has never been greater, since in the midst of a pandemic online ordering serves the critical health needs of not only people with limited mobility, but also of all people who prefer to avoid crowded stores and checkout lines.

Despite the unquestionable commercial value, an online pharmacy merchant account is difficult to acquire — and without the ability to accept credit card purchases, any business will struggle. Unfortunately, merchant account issuers consider online pharmacies high risk businesses, despite being very highly regulated.

Performance Card Service (PCS) specializes in high risk payment processing solutions, including pharma credit card processing for many sub-verticals. With more than 20 years of experience, we have established solid relationships with merchant account issuers that have reliable platforms using robust technology for a pharmacy payment gateway that mitigates fraud risk and reduces transaction settlement time. In addition to being one of the leading merchant account providers for online pharmacies, we provide important additional payment services including eCheck and consulting to help guide you through payment processing challenges of all kinds.

Several issues discourage financial institutions from offering online pharma credit card purchasing. The first issue is the typically high rate of chargebacks due to customers being dissatisfied with the product. Fear of recalls and other quality/safety issues can also generate chargebacks that catapult online pharmacies well above the 2% or lower chargeback rate financial institutions desire. Beyond the adverse economic effects of chargebacks, financial institutions also avoid pharmacy merchant accounts because of branding issues. Online pharmacies are vulnerable to being named parties to lawsuits (often through no fault of their own), which would create image problems for the bank.

PCS has a card-not-present (CNP) solution for several sub-verticals in the online pharma industry, including:

• Erectile Dysfunction
• Hair Loss Treatment
• Birth Control
• Cold Sores
• Testosterone Support
• Bone Health
• Stress Relief
• Allergies
• Nightly Defense Skincare
• Dandruff

We will help you every step of the way, from gathering information for your merchant account application, reviewing offers and setting up your payment gateway for online pharmacy transactions, to providing ongoing troubleshooting and general assistance using and upgrading your system.

The application phase, unfortunately, is a rather complicated procedure, due to the high level of regulation. In addition to the usual steps to provide credit information, online pharmacies must demonstrate proper government credentialing, licensing in all necessary jurisdictions, website compliance, inventory sourcing documentation and a host of other particulars. PCS, having helped our pharma clients through this process numerous times, can reduce your stress by helping you put your application together properly.