Cannabidiol (CBD) has exploded onto the tobacco and vape scene, with 60% of Americans reporting that they’ve tried (and enjoyed) a CBD product.
Adding CBD to your smoke shop’s selection can help you appeal to this growing group of customers and make more sales — but there’s a catch.
Selling CBD can cause payment processors to label your business as a high-risk retailer.
That’s why you need a specialized solution for CBD payment processing. In this blog, we’ll explore the basics of CBD payment processing and share how to find the right high-risk payments provider for your smoke shop, including our top three recommendations.
What Is High-Risk Payment Processing?
Before we dive into the details of selling CBD, let’s talk about payment processing in general. This service allows your shop to accept debit cards, credit cards, and contactless payments quickly and securely.
When a customer taps or swipes their card at the checkout counter, your payment processing provider validates and authorizes the transaction, facilitating the transfer of funds from their bank account to yours.
So, what makes high-risk payment processing different?
This specialized service is tailored to the needs of retailers prone to financial complications like chargebacks and fraud, or businesses that are subject to regulatory scrutiny or legal challenges.
Since the laws surrounding products like CBD, delta-8, and kratom are constantly evolving, your smoke shop will fall into this high-risk category.
What To Look For in a CBD Payment Processing Provider
Ready to start your search for the perfect CBD payment processing provider? Let’s talk about how to narrow down your options.
Your best bet is to choose a smoke shop point of sale (POS) solution with fully integrated high-risk payment processing. Here’s why:
- One single system: Instead of using multiple software solutions to run your smoke shop, you can rely on one powerful system to process transactions, track inventory, maintain customer records, and generate sales reports.
- Simpler checkouts: An integrated POS and payment processing solution eliminates manual pricing and item entry at the checkout counter, allowing your cashiers to serve customers faster and more accurately.
- More affordable: Relying on one provider for all your smoke shop’s software needs will help you negotiate the best deal on your payment processing, saving money in the long run.
- Better support: Instead of going back and forth between different providers, you can trust one support team to solve your technical issues and get you back to making sales.
Our other tip is to choose a POS and payment processing provider that specializes in supporting smoke shops.
If you opt for a generic retail POS provider, you might run into issues opening your merchant account and getting the industry-specific support you need to run a profitable smoke shop.
3 CBD Payment Processing Providers To Consider
Now that you know what you’re looking for, you’re ready to dive into the world of smoke shop POS systems and CBD payment processing options.
To help you out, we’ve curated this list of three providers that offer high-risk merchant accounts to CBD retailers like you.
3. Square: A Simple Solution
First on our list is Square, a popular POS provider catering to retailers in all industries.
Square is known for user-friendly software and sleek hardware, and it’s also advertised as an all-in-one POS and payment processing solution for CBD retailers.
With Square, you can process payments for CBD online and in store, making it easy to offer convenient e-commerce services like pickup and delivery to your customers.
Their standard in-store processing rate is 3.5% plus 10 cents per transaction.
Note: Some users have reported canceled transactions of hemp-derived products and merchant account deactivation, so we recommend doing some careful research before committing to Square if you plan to sell CBD, delta-8, or kratom.
2. PayKings: A Standalone Payments Option
Already love your smoke shop POS system and want to open a standalone high-risk merchant account? PayKings might be a good fit.
While this provider caters to several different high-risk industries, they specifically promote their payment processing services to CBD stores and vape shops. And since PayKings exclusively works with high-risk retailers, you face a very low risk of canceled transactions or the closure of your account.
PayKings doesn’t advertise their processing fees online, so get in touch with their team for more information.
1. Cigars POS: An All-in-One, Industry-Specific Solution
Our final (and favorite) high-risk payment processing option is Cigars POS. We offer an all-in-one solution to help you process transactions and run your smoke shop.
Along with fully integrated high-risk payment processing, our POS solution includes built-in age verification tobacco and CBD inventory management, a customer loyalty program, and powerful reporting features.
Plus, our team of experts has experience supporting smoke and vape shops like yours.
We offer flexible processing rates to meet any budget, and we also offer a unique dual pricing option, allowing you to save money on your processing fees.
Conquer CBD Payment Processing With Cigars POS
CBD payment processing offers you the chance to expand your product offerings to include new and popular products like CBD, delta-8, and kratom, helping you attract new customers to your smoke shop and make more sales.
If you’re looking for a reliable provider to help you accomplish these goals, you’re in the right place.
Our tobacco POS system buyers’ guide will help you find the perfect POS and payment processing to meet your smoke shop’s unique needs.
