Online Credit Card Processing Services for High-Risk Businesses

When a customer pays on your site, your payment gateway encrypts the card details and routes the transaction to the processor, which requests authorization from the customer's issuing bank.

Once approved, funds are batched, settled, and deposited into your merchant account — typically within one to two business days. For a deeper walkthrough, read our guide on how credit card processing works.

To process credit cards online, you need three things. PayKings provides all three — including a dedicated high-risk merchant account — even for industries mainstream processors decline:

There is no single normal rate for online credit card processing. Your effective rate is set by four factors: your industry's risk classification, your chargeback history, your average ticket size, and your processing volume.

PayKings offers two pricing models. Flat-rate pricing charges one consistent percentage on every transaction, which makes costs predictable. Interchange-plus pricing passes through the card networks' interchange cost and adds a fixed markup, which is usually the lower-cost structure for established volume. Because we underwrite your business up front, your full fee structure — including any reserves — is set out in writing before you sign.

Two ways to lower your blended cost: accept debit alongside credit, since debit interchange runs below credit interchange, and review your pricing model once your volume grows, since interchange-plus tends to favor higher-volume merchants.

Can you charge customers a credit card processing fee? In most U.S. states, yes — on credit card transactions only, not debit, and under Visa and Mastercard surcharge rules that require registration with the card brands and clear disclosure at checkout. A few states restrict surcharging, so confirm your state's rules with us before you enable it.

Every transaction is protected with encryption, tokenization, and PCI DSS-compliant infrastructure.

Built-in fraud prevention screens transactions before they authorize, and our chargeback management tools deliver alerts, dispute response, and mitigation guidance to keep chargeback ratios inside card-brand thresholds — the single most important factor in keeping a high-risk account healthy.