How High Ticket Prices and High Volume Affect Your Travel Merchant Account

September 14th, 2024 by Mark Fravel

High ticket prices and high transaction volumes are usually positive signs of business growth, but they require careful management when it comes to your merchant account. By understanding the potential impacts and taking proactive stepswhen underwriting your travel merchant account to begin with you can mitigate your high risk potential, or ensure smooth and uninterrupted processing, even during your busiest periods.

When your business processes high-value transactions or experiences sudden surges in volume, it can significantly impact your merchant account. Understanding these effects is crucial for maintaining healthy processing relationships and avoiding disruptions to your business.

High Ticket Prices

Selling big-ticket items like luxury goods, or full service travel can trigger extra scrutiny from your merchant account provider. Here's how:

• Increased Risk: High-value transactions are inherently riskier for processors due to the potential for chargebacks and fraud.
• Reserve Requirements: Some providers may impose rolling reserves, holding back a percentage of each transaction for a period to cover potential losses. This can drastically impact your cash flow. We strive to provide merchant accounts with no reserves when possible.
• Higher Fees: While not always the case, some providers may charge higher processing fees on high-ticket items. We guarantee the lowest rates possible.

High Transaction Volumes

1. Processing Limits: Your merchant account likely has transaction limits, both in terms of value and quantity. Exceeding these can lead to declined transactions and frustrated customers.
2. Suspicion of Fraud: Unexpected surges can be interpreted as suspicious activity, potentially leading to account holds or even termination.
3. Strain on Infrastructure: High volumes can strain your processing systems, potentially leading to delays or errors.

How We Mitigate the Risks

Transparency:

We communicate openly with underwriting about your business model, anticipated sales volumes, and any expected volume spikes.

Strong Underwriting:

We ensure your merchant account is properly underwritten from the start, with clear terms and conditions and strong financials to back the high risk merchant account.

Chargeback Prevention:

We help you implement robust fraud prevention measures and excellent customer service to minimize chargebacks.