86% of merchants who apply are approved. No setup fees, no hidden costs.
Get Started FreeHigh-Risk Industries · SEO & Web Design
Banks decline SEO agencies, design studios, and hosting providers for the same three reasons: the deliverable is intangible, results take months to show, and revenue bills automatically to stored cards. None of that makes your business a bad risk. It makes it a high-risk category, and high-risk is the only category we underwrite.
We approve 86% of the merchants who apply, and with more than 20 banking partners we place your file with the bank most likely to approve your industry rather than sending one application everywhere.
If a previous processor declined you, held your funds, or exited mid-retainer, include your statements with your application. We will tell you what we can place and on what terms before you commit to anything.
Be approval-ready
What SEO & web design underwriters ask for
Your terms, before you sign
86%
Of the merchants who apply are approved.
20+
Banking partners, so we place your file with the bank most likely to approve your industry.
Every fee
Disclosed in the merchant service agreement before you sign.
Underwriting
A client who pays for link building or an ongoing content strategy may not see measurable results for a quarter. Some of those clients dispute the charge with their bank instead of raising it with the agency. Nearly every payment is card-not-present, most of it recurring, and there is no tracking number to submit when a dispute arrives.
Mainstream processors read that profile and decline it. We read it as the normal shape of an agency's revenue and underwrite for it.
One contract clause deserves attention before you apply. Promising specific rankings raises dispute risk and weakens your file with underwriters.
Our guide to SEO merchant accounts and the ranking guarantee problem explains how to word client agreements so they support your application instead of working against it.
Apply
Choosing a processor
Three pieces work together:
Judge any provider on four points:
We pair your account with the tools to process card payments online, 3-D Secure authentication to verify cardholders at checkout, and real-time monitoring to prevent fraud before it reaches your dispute ratio.
Web design
Design billing carries its own risk profile:
Because nearly every payment is card-not-present, banks classify design studios as high-risk by default.
We underwrite around those realities. Deposit and milestone billing structures are supported from the start, and we help you document scope approvals and sign-offs so that when a dispute arrives, it is winnable. Processing stays consistent whether you invoice one-off rebrands or run a productized subscription design service.
What's included
Web hosting
Hosting shares the recurring-subscription profile that gets agencies declined, with wrinkles of its own:
Add free-trial funnels and reseller arrangements, and most mainstream processors decline hosting providers outright.
We underwrite on your actual numbers — subscriber churn, renewal cadence, refund policy, and historical dispute ratio — and configure the gateway for automated renewals and dunning, with alerts that surface a spike in chargebacks before it threatens the account.
Whatever you sell, it fits under one account:
Account structure
An aggregator onboards you in minutes, then pools your volume with thousands of other merchants. When its risk model flags the pool, your funds can be held with little explanation and no underwriter to call.
A dedicated account takes longer to open because a bank actually reviews your business — and that review is what keeps the account stable when a difficult month arrives. Limits, reserves, and pricing are set out in writing before you sign, in the same merchant service agreement that discloses every fee. Here is how the two approaches compare:
The difference
Built for the businesses other processors turn away.
Getting set up
A short application covering your SEO, web design, or hosting business.
A government-issued ID, a voided check, three months of business bank statements, processing statements if you have accepted cards before, and your client service agreement.
We match your business with the banking partner most likely to approve it. If underwriting needs anything more, we name the document and the reason.
Retainers, project deposits, and subscriptions settle through an account underwritten for your actual risk profile.
FAQ
Everything you need to know about high-risk payment processing
Through a mainstream processor, harder than it should be: many decline the category outright, or approve quickly and close the account after the first wave of disputes. Through a high-risk specialist, it is a documentation exercise. We approve 86% of the merchants who apply, and a complete file — ID, voided check, bank statements, processing history, and your client agreement — is what moves an application to a decision.
There is no single rate, because pricing is built from several components: a per-transaction rate, monthly and gateway fees, chargeback fees, and in some cases a reserve requirement. What you pay reflects what underwriters review — monthly volume, average ticket size, chargeback and refund history, and time in business. Agencies with clean processing history and signed contracts generally qualify for stronger terms, and every fee is disclosed in the merchant service agreement before you sign. Because we work with more than 20 banking partners across the high-risk industries we serve, we shop your file for the strongest available terms rather than forcing every merchant into one pricing model.
No. A merchant account is a holding account where settled card funds sit before transferring to your business bank account; you cannot write checks from it or treat it as operating cash. For an agency, the distinction that matters is dedicated versus pooled: a dedicated account carries limits, reserves, and pricing tied to your own processing history rather than to thousands of unrelated merchants.
Any legal business can apply, but approval depends on underwriting. For SEO, design, and hosting businesses, the decision turns on documentation and billing structure: signed client agreements, clear refund terms, and invoices that describe the work covered in each billing period all strengthen a file. A declined application elsewhere does not disqualify you here — it usually means the file was placed with the wrong bank.
The deliverable is intangible and results take time. A client who pays for link building or an ongoing strategy may not see measurable return for months, and some dispute the charge with their bank rather than raising it with the agency. Because monthly retainers billed to stored cards are standard, one wave of disputes can destabilize an account quickly without underwriting built for the industry.
Every invoice should describe the specific work covered in that billing period. Contracts should be signed before any card is charged, with pricing, payment schedule, and early-termination terms spelled out. For agencies selling digital services through an online checkout, we integrate authentication and address verification so the cardholder is verified at the point of sale. Clear communication with clients about upcoming charges remains the least expensive fraud prevention measure available.
Yes. Many agencies bill both ongoing retainers and discrete digital products — themes, licenses, consulting packages — and each transaction type carries a different chargeback profile. We configure a single merchant account to handle the mixed revenue structure, so monthly retainers and one-time ecommerce builds settle through one stable account with clear reporting by service line.
See how PayKings supports adjacent verticals and the payment solutions that pair with them.
