Blue Payment Agency’s Shopify Workaround Using Authorize.net – Digital Transactions

Sellers offering weapons such as collectible knives and swords often have difficulty selling them online, but Blue Payment Agency Inc. has launched a service to help them while also providing access to Shopify Inc.’s e-commerce platform.

Announced Tuesday, Windham, Maine-based Blue Payment Agency lets Shopify merchants selling knives use an Authorize.net merchant account to make those purchases. The accounts are covered specifically for knives and other bladed weapons, Alex Roy, president of Blue Payment Agency, said in a statement. The warranty review covers specific bladed and knife products sold by the merchant, Blue Payment Agency says on its website.

Blue Payment Agency, which specializes in high-risk payment processing, says some other payment gateways refuse to process credit and debit card transactions for online knife sales. Roy says his company’s Authorize.net accounts are customized for these sales. This allows Blue Payment Agency to offer direct integration with “Online shop -integrated Authorize.Net merchant account, ensuring stable and reliable payment processing,” he says. In May Blue Payments Agency has added processing for knife and blade retailers to its product lineup.

Blue Payment Agency also provides payment processing services for firearm and cooperates in this area with many companies from the e-commerce and payments industry.

While processing for high-risk merchants can be cost-effective, it can come with additional fees and hurdles. The risk assessment can also be more complicated than for a regular merchant account. Typically, a high-risk classification is applied because the account is considered more vulnerable to fraud, chargebacks or refunds, says Global Legal Law Firm, an Encinitas, Calif.-based payments industry firm. That classification almost always means the merchant pays a higher processing fee than a non-high-risk merchant.