--- title: "High-risk payments: when the label is wrong · Fungies" description: "Acquirers flag cross-border and subscription sellers high risk; as Merchant of Record that flag is ours, not yours. Gambling, adult and crypto excluded." image: "https://fungies.io/og-image.jpg" canonical: "https://fungies.io/high-risk-payments/" --- Features · High risk # Flagged high risk, or actually high risk? Two very different businesses search this phrase and only one of them belongs here. If you sell gambling, adult content, crypto, CBD, nutraceuticals, lending or MLM, we are prohibited from taking it and no part of this page changes that. If you sell ordinary software or digital goods and an acquirer still labelled you high risk — because you are cross-border, subscription-based, delivering instantly, or simply new — then the label is about structure, not about you, and the Merchant of Record model removes the thing being flagged. [Start free](https://app.fungies.io/register) [Book a demo](https://calendly.com/duke-vuh/fungies-io-demo-clone) No upfront costs. No credit card required. Already selling with Fungies [![Leadsin.io](/logos/clients/leadsin.png)](/customer-story/hosted-checkout-solution-for-leadsin-io-a-saas-business "Leadsin.io — read the story")[![RenderAI](/logos/clients/renderai.png) ](/customer-story/helping-renderai-reduce-their-ai-saas-payment-integration-from-days-to-just-a-couple-of-minutes "RenderAI — read the story")[![SuperScale](/logos/clients/superscale.png) ](/customer-story/nimblebits-revenue-boost-with-a-web-store-solution "SuperScale — read the story")[![NimbleBit](/logos/clients/nimblebit.png) ](/customer-story/nimblebits-revenue-boost-with-a-web-store-solution "NimbleBit — read the story")![DynamicNext](/logos/clients/dynamicnext.png)![Kepithor](/logos/clients/kepithor.png)![Imagina RPG](/logos/clients/imagina.png) [![FreeVocals](/logos/clients/freevocals.png)](/customer-story/freevocals-com-and-fungies-io-a-seamless-solution-for-digital-e-commerce "FreeVocals — read the story")![STATSCORE](/logos/clients/statscore.png)![SimFabric](/logos/clients/simfabric.png)![BotRix](/logos/clients/botrix.png)![Enhance AI](/logos/clients/enhance-ai.png)![The Humanize AI](/logos/clients/humanize-ai.png)![Kenerate AI](/logos/clients/kenerate.png) ![The Fungies orders view listing transactions with their status, amount, payment method and buyer country.](/_astro/orders.CpOsqO7l_eLCkj.webp?dpl=dpl_EJw5ge4UsaQGQ25RDSHgTGzqJ2Pi) Disputes on these orders arrive at us, because we are the seller of record on every one of them. ## Why ordinary digital sellers get the label anyway Instant, intangible delivery There is no parcel to recall and no signature to produce as evidence, so an acquirer prices in that a disputed sale is usually a lost one. That is true of every download and every licence key, which makes it a property of the category rather than a judgement about your business. Card-not-present, buyer anywhere A checkout open to 150+ countries is a wider fraud surface than one serving a single domestic market, and issuers in some of those countries decline more readily. Reach and risk scores move together, which is awkward when reach is the entire point. Recurring billing Subscriptions generate disputes long after the first charge, from buyers who forgot they subscribed. Underwriters treat future-dated liability as exposure they may have to cover, and price or reserve against it. No processing history A company incorporated last year with no volume behind it cannot be assessed on its record, so it is assessed on its category. New and digital reads as risky by default, whatever the product turns out to be. Chargeback ratios you did not cause Card testing — bots running stolen numbers against any checkout they can find — inflates the ratio that gets you reviewed. The attack is aimed at the card, not at you, but it lands on your account. A founder or a bank in the wrong place Some acquirers score the country of the entity or the payout account rather than the product. Perfectly ordinary software businesses get declined for where they were registered. ## What changes when we are the merchant 1. 01 ### The underwritten merchant becomes us You do not apply for a merchant account, so nothing about your entity, your age or your country goes to an underwriter. We hold the acquiring relationships and you own a connected sub-account beneath ours that receives your money. The ecommerce merchant account page covers that arrangement in detail. 2. 02 ### Disputes land on us, not on your ratio We are the seller of record on every transaction, so chargebacks come to us and are handled by us. There is no merchant account of yours accumulating a ratio, and no acquirer of yours deciding you have crossed a threshold. 3. 03 ### Screening runs before the charge settles Fraud checks sit in front of the payment rather than in a report you read afterwards, which is what stops card testing turning into a dispute pile. The fraud detection page explains how that screening treats goods that are gone the second they are paid for. 4. 04 ### You still get verified — properly Every workspace is checked before it can sell, because as Merchant of Record we carry the liability and the card networks require it of us. Approval is usually within a day. This is the honest trade: less scrutiny of your balance sheet, more of what you actually sell. ## Where the line is, and what sits on the wrong side of it 01 ### The prohibited categories are not negotiable Gambling and betting, including games of skill with prizes and sports forecasting. Adult content and services. Cryptocurrency, including mining, staking and secondary NFT sales. Cannabis and high-THC CBD. Nutraceuticals and pseudo-pharmaceuticals. Debt relief, credit repair, collections and payday lending. MLM and get-rich-quick schemes. Weapons and dangerous materials. Travel and tourism services. These are in the published policy, and verification is where they are caught. 02 ### Digital only, on both sides of the line We do not handle physical goods at all, whatever the category. If a buyer receives an object, or redeems something in person on a date, it is outside this platform regardless of how low-risk the business is otherwise. 03 ### If your vertical is prohibited, use a high-risk acquirer Specialist high-risk providers exist for exactly these categories. Expect to pay several times our rate, sign for a rolling reserve against future liabilities, and provide financials. That pricing reflects genuine exposure, and it is a market we are not going to pretend to serve. 04 ### Ask before you build, not after Some models sit near an edge rather than over it — a platform distributing third-party creators' content is the common one, and it needs an individual review. A straight answer now costs an email. Finding out at verification costs you a launch. ## What sellers say once they have switched [★★★★★ 4.8/5 from 10 reviews on G2 →](https://www.g2.com/products/fungies-io/reviews) [Vadim Finayev Head of Growth, Leadsin.io “We work with quite a few merchants of record, but none comes close to the support and speed of implementation of Fungies. If you want a payment partner that actually gives you the feeling they want to work with you — rather than leaving you on read for three days or randomly restricting your account — you are in the right place.” Read the story →](/customer-story/hosted-checkout-solution-for-leadsin-io-a-saas-business) [David Elliott Creative Director, Freevocals.com “I researched the options and Fungies was the best fit for functionality and customisation within a store builder you can connect to your own domain. Taking a small percentage of sales, instead of charging a subscription for every environment and plugin, is refreshing.” Read the story →](/customer-story/freevocals-com-and-fungies-io-a-seamless-solution-for-digital-e-commerce) [Elnura Abdimanap Kyzy Founder, TextToVideo.bot “The platform is user-friendly, integrates easily with APIs and webhooks, and simplifies managing digital products and subscriptions. We were up and running quickly and support has been responsive throughout. Fungies is clearly tailored to the needs of SaaS businesses.” Read the story →](/customer-story/how-fungies-enabled-texttovideo-bot-to-integrate-payments-in-minutes) [Francisco Magnone Rienzi Founder, Renderai.app “Fungies has been a great partner — fast setup, competitive pricing, and real humans providing quick answers. They are constantly rolling out new features, and I am excited to see what is next.” Read the story →](/customer-story/helping-renderai-reduce-their-ai-saas-payment-integration-from-days-to-just-a-couple-of-minutes) ## The questions people actually arrive with ### Stripe or PayPal closed my account. Can I sell here? ### Do you offer a high-risk merchant account? ### Will a rolling reserve be held against my payouts? ### What happens to my chargeback rate? ### My chargebacks come from card testing, not real buyers. Does that help? ### Is AI-generated or adult-adjacent content allowed? ### What does it cost, given the risk you are taking on? Taking payments ## How money reaches you, and what happens on the way. - [Credit Card Processing →](/credit-card-processing) - [Payment Gateway →](/global-payment-gateway) - [Hosted Payment Gateway →](/hosted-payment-gateway) - [SaaS Payment Gateway →](/saas-payments) - [B2B Credit Card Processing →](/b2b-credit-card-processing) - [Cross Border Payment →](/cross-border-payment) - [Multi-Channel Payment Solutions →](/multi-channel-payment-solutions) - [Fraud Detection →](/ai-fraud-detection) ## Find out in a day, not after a launch If your product is software or digital goods and the label came from how you sell rather than what you sell, verification will tell you quickly. If it is on the prohibited list, we would rather you knew that now. [Start free](https://app.fungies.io/register) [Book a demo](https://calendly.com/duke-vuh/fungies-io-demo-clone) No upfront costs. No credit card required. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://fungies.io/#organization","name":"Fungies","legalName":"Fungies Inc.","url":"https://fungies.io/","description":"Merchant of Record for SaaS, games, and digital products. Fungies handles global payments, VAT and sales tax, and checkout. 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Fungies handles global payments, VAT and sales tax, and checkout. Free to start, commission only.","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@id":"https://fungies.io/#organization"}},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://fungies.io/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"High-risk payments: when the label is wrong","item":"https://fungies.io/high-risk-payments"}]},{"@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Stripe or PayPal closed my account. Can I sell here?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It depends entirely on why. If you were closed for selling something in the prohibited list, no — we are bound by the same card network rules that got you closed, and verification will reach the same conclusion. If you were closed for a structural reason, such as cross-border digital sales, an unexpected volume spike or card testing driving your ratio up, then that reason largely disappears here, because the account being assessed is ours rather than yours."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Do you offer a high-risk merchant account?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, and not a low-risk one either. We do not issue merchant accounts of any kind. We hold the master account, we are the legal seller on your transactions, and you connect your own payout account as a sub-merchant beneath ours to receive the money."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Will a rolling reserve be held against my payouts?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"There is no reserve in the high-risk acquiring sense. Payout schedule and speed can vary with industry risk and country, and the first payout is typically 7 to 14 days after your first payment before settling into your chosen cadence. A negative balance, from refunds for example, may be debited from your bank account."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What happens to my chargeback rate?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"You do not have one in the sense that matters, because you do not hold the merchant account that would carry it. Disputes are ours to receive and to fight. We still watch the pattern on your products, and a business generating disputes at a rate the networks would act on is a conversation rather than something we ignore."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"My chargebacks come from card testing, not real buyers. Does that help?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It is exactly the case screening is meant to catch, and catching it before the charge settles is the difference between a blocked attempt and a dispute. It is also the clearest example of a ratio that says nothing about the business it was recorded against."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is AI-generated or adult-adjacent content allowed?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"AI tools and AI-generated assets are fine as products. Explicit content is not, and the policy names AI-generated pornography specifically. If your product can generate material that would fall inside that, tell us during verification rather than after — the answer may still be yes with the right controls."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What does it cost, given the risk you are taking on?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The same as everyone pays: 5% + 50¢ per successful transaction, covering processing, tax calculation and filing, fraud screening and chargebacks. Negotiable at higher sales volume. There is no risk-based surcharge, because we decline the categories that would need one rather than pricing for them."}}]}]} ```