Payment Processing for Gentleman’s Clubs

Performance Card Service (PCS) has provided merchant account services and other payment options to gentleman’s clubs for more than two decades. Because we understand the difficulties of your high risk business and have developed strong relationships with our financial institution partners, we help you keep your clientele satisfied on the payment side of your business.

No matter how you refer to them, gentleman’s clubs, strip clubs and exotic cabarets are here to stay. These businesses have existed in the United States in some form for hundreds of years, so why are these very lucrative businesses considered high risk? Credit card processors and banks often do not want to support these merchants due to their higher risk or reputational issues.

We know that owning an adult club is often a very successful business. The industry collects over $8 billion in revenue each year in the U.S. and has continued to show massive growth over the past several decades. However, it’s not all roses for the owners of these establishments.

As the industry grows with more and more gentleman’s clubs, we are seeing more merchants looking for secure and effective payment processing. These business owners need to partner with a professional merchant service provider that understands their businesses and has worked with gentleman’s clubs in the past.

Some details to be aware of when seeking a suitable provider are excellent merchant support, reasonable terms, robust chargeback protection and the proper processing equipment to put your establishment on the right path.

The number one feature a gentleman’s club owner requires is often chargeback protection. Since customers have a higher tendency to dispute a charge incurred during an intoxicated evening, merchants need to be sure they protect themselves and their businesses.

Fraud is also rampant in strip club payment processing, so merchants need to be sure they are collecting signatures, copies of identification and even photos of the customer. This may seem extreme, but when a customer attempts a chargeback of $2,000 from the night before, a merchant needs to have the ammo to fight this dispute.

Since credit cards have become the main form of payment nationwide, strip club owners need to be ready to accept credit cards for everything from food, drinks, VIP room access and even dances. Many clubs allow a customer to utilize the cash advance feature on his credit card to secure club-branded money in exchange for the transaction. This money can only be spent in the club, but it can also be charged back just like any other transaction. For this reason, merchants need to be very careful with how they accept this form of payment.

ATMs are also very popular in gentleman’s clubs, but if customers don’t have the money in their checking accounts, they will turn to their credit card for payment.