Best Online Payment Gateways for High-Risk Merchants in Asia

The guide to top Asian payment gateways that are available for high-risk merchants.

Accepting online payments is essential to run any business these days. To accept payments online businesses need a reliable payment service provider. However, finding a good online payment gateway or a trustworthy payment service provider is difficult if you have a high-risk business.

In this article, let's understand the types of Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs) that are considered high-risk and check out the best online payment gateways in Asia that we’ve picked where traditional financial institutions and even big payment providers like Stripe or PayPal, are not able to support.

What is a high-risk merchant account?

It is a merchant account that is prone to more chargebacks, refunds and risks of fraud are considered to be a high-risk merchant. Other reasons such as the nature of their business, financial history, high chargeback ratios, business size, and location, may also be some of the contributing factors.

Types of high-risk merchants

Traditional financial institutions like banks do not like to work with high-risk businesses. They charge higher rates because of the higher possibility of chargebacks and consider undertaking a higher amount of risks in doing business with these sectors. Here are some examples:

• Online gaming

• Multilevel marketing

• Telemarketing

• Adult-oriented businesses

• Travel booking businesses

• Online gambling

• Auction businesses

• Nutraceutical businesses

• Online prediction markets

• Any subscription business

It is not easy for high-risk merchants to find information. Especially in Asia, because the payments landscape for the region is more fragmented, it is often difficult for merchants to find a payment gateway that doesn't stack high fees on them. Merchants in the Europe region on the other hand, can work with any payment gateway that has been granted a EU payments institution license.

That being said, there are options where high-risk merchants can receive customer payments safely and securely.

SecurionPay

SecurionPay is a popular payment solution for high risk industries. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Switzerland, SecurionPay provides credit card processing as well as custom payment features for supported high risk merchant accounts globally.

• Accepted payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB

• Geographical coverage: Visa & Mastercard coverage

• Supported no. of currencies: over 160 currencies

• Approval & onboarding lead time: subject to individual approval

• Chargeback liability: subject to bank

• Pricing:

  • Set up fee: From 500 Euros

  • Rolling Reserves: 5 to 10% of turnover for 6 months

  • Transaction fee: 4.9% + 0.35 Euros

XanPay

XanPay offers cross-border transactions to both low and high-risk businesses through local payment methods. Merchants can offer over 100+ payment methods in the region in a single integration. By offering lowest fees in the market with a fast KYC process, it is great for businesses to leverage XanPay as an alternative payment provider to offer more payment options for their customers.

• Accepted payment methods: 100+ local payment methods in Asia Pacific

• Geographical coverage: 15 countries across Asia Pacific

• Supported no. of currencies: 15

• Approval & onboarding lead time: 3 to 5 working days

• Chargeback liability: No chargeback liability

• Refund: Zero refund fees

• Pricing:

  • Set up fee: Free

  • Annual fee: Free

  • Currency conversion fee: Free

  • Transaction fee: 0.60% for local transactions and 1.99% for overseas transactions

ecommpay

ecommpay is a payment service provider and a direct bank card acquirer for mid to large-sized businesses in the low and high risk industries. Headquartered in London, Ecommpay processes credit cards, alternative payment methods and mass payouts, enabling eCommerce clients to receive and process payouts to customers globally.

• Accepted payment methods: Credit cards network - Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover + local e-wallets

• Geographical coverage: 230 countries globally

• Supported no. of currencies: over 150 currencies

• Approval & onboarding lead time: subject to individual approval

• Chargeback liability: subject to bank

• Pricing:

  • Set up fee: Depends on type of business

  • Annual fee: Depends on type of business

  • Currency conversion fee: Depends on type of business

  • Transaction fee: Depends on type of business

PayCly

High-risk merchants in Singapore can choose PayCly. Regulated in Singapore, PayCly supports global credit card processing and real-time subscriptions to suit industries like streaming and online gaming.

• Accepted payment methods: Credit cards network - Visa, Master, AMEX, JCB, Diners

• Geographical coverage: Singapore

• Supported no. of currencies: over 150

• Approval & onboarding lead time: subject to individual approval

• Chargeback liability: subject to bank

• Pricing:

  • Set up fee: Depends on type of business

  • Annual fee: Depends on type of business

  • Currency conversion fee: Depends on type of business

  • Transaction fee: Depends on type of business

BttPay

High-risk merchants in the region can also choose BttPay. Headquartered in London, Bttpay provides transparent pricing for credit and debit card processing.

• Accepted payment methods: Credit cards network - Visa, Mastercard

• Geographical coverage: 4

• Supported no. of currencies: over 100

• Approval & onboarding lead time: 48 hours

• Chargeback liability: subject to bank

• Pricing:

  • Set up fee: free

  • Annual fee: free

  • Currency conversion fee: Depends on type of business

  • Transaction fee: 2.8% + $2

Key takeaway

High risk industries have many factors to consider when selecting a payment gateway. Global payment companies like SecurionPay, EcommPay, PayCly and BttPay provides offshore merchant accounts to high risk merchants to accept credit cards. However, merchants need to note that while costs are one of the factors, chargeback and fraud liability also need to be considered. Having an additional gateway with alternative payment solutions is a good option for merchants to widen their market reach and ensuring a smooth payment process for their customers.

XanPay started with the mission of bringing locals closer to the merchants (yes including high-risk merchants!) to provide a unique payment solution. Find the best integration for your eCommerce and start expanding in Asia. Use XanPay's low fees to your advantage today!