What are reliable payment gateways for high risk businesses?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

A Shopify merchant selling shoes was denied access to Shopify Payments, Stripe, and PayPal due to being classified as a “high-risk business,” despite selling physical products with tracking. This left them unable to process payments for over a week.

Multiple merchants report similar issues:

  • Sellers of t-shirts, custom apparel, and BBQ equipment faced identical denials
  • Some are based in countries where mainstream gateways aren’t available
  • Non-US residents and European merchants face additional geographic restrictions

Recommended alternative payment gateways:

  • Authorize.net - Most frequently suggested; integrates directly with Shopify checkout without redirecting customers; available in US, Canada, UK, Europe, and Australia
  • PayKings - Specializes in high-risk merchants; representative actively offering assistance
  • Merchant Ground - Focuses on high-risk approvals with Shopify integration
  • Other options: eMerchant Broker, Securepay, First Data Payeezy, SagePay (UK only), TSYS (US only)

Key considerations when selecting:

  • Direct checkout integration vs. external redirect
  • Geographic availability (many solutions US-only)
  • Merchant account requirements for non-US citizens
  • Subscription payment support

Status: Discussion remains open with merchants seeking Europe-specific solutions and sharing experiences with various providers.

Summarized with AI on October 27. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello
I have a shoe store in Shopify.
Shopify payments and stripe and PayPal is denied my website to use their payment gateway due to high risk business reason. It’s just make me mad because it’s shoes, physical products with tracking number etc… what can be risk in that??? Since they denied me (already 1 week), I can’t get payments and new orders from my buyers.
Is someone here know about payment gateway for high risk business? Someone can help me? Shopify just push to open store via their platform and than they leave you without any tools for getting paid !
Someone? Anybody? Help please !

1 Like
2

Hi Friend, I’m in the same situation as you, did you find a solution?

3

Hey Haimimport,

I work with a high risk merchant called PayKings. We specialize in helping companies like yours, and I can help get your shoe store up and running so you can process orders asap. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions.

dustin@paykings.com

Best,

Dustin

4

Hey Jody,

I responded to the question above you but wanted to make sure you got the update too. I work with PayKings, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals.

Email me if you have any questions:

dustin@paykings.com

Cheers,

Dustin

1 Like
5

Hi @Haimimport ,

Thank you for getting in touch with your question and I can appreciate the frustration in being denied use of the gateways you mentioned. There are a number of reasons why a gateway may decide not to support a store, but there are some alternative options you can consider. These include:

These gateways all integrate with Shopify and I would recommend contacting them directly to find out if your business and products are supported. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

6

Hi Haimimport.
Like you I have a t-shirts and custom apparel store in Shopify. A couple days ago Shopify payments and Stripe is denied my website to use their payment gateway due to high risk business reason. It’s just make me sad and mad.
I saw you was in th same situation recently and it seems started to use PayKings.

I know all the Shopify sellers are very busy people, but maybe you could find a few minuts to share your knowledge of the pitfalls when you go to PayKings.

I’m currently in the process of selecting a third party gateway. I would be so appriciate for you for your experience about PayKings.

P.S.: If it would more convenient, you could email me at gorelikk37@gmail.com

Sincerely
Ivan

7

Hello Victor M8,

Just to confirm Authorize.net are compatible with Shopify?

Thanks.

Cameron

8

Hi @uksarms ,

Yes, Authorize.net is a widely used third-party gateway that is integrated with the Shopify platform, and it is available to merchants in many countries. Where are you based?

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

9

I need a merchant account for authorize.net, my company is incorporated in US but I’m non-US citizen. I sell high ticket BBQ Equipments.

Can you please send me a list with merchant account for authorize.net ? for US and international

10

Hi @igorrazvantis ,

Thank you for reaching out with your question. Providing individual merchant accounts for third-party gateways isn’t something Shopify is able to do, so I would recommend contacting Authorize.net for further assistance with this. You can reach out to them here.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

11

Can you contact me please ukfsolutions@gmail.com

12

If you or anyone else runs into this issue in the future, you can apply with us:

https://payments.cannesis.com/register

We have great rates, fast approvals and can work with almost any industry.

13

Can I apply for this if I’m non USA residence ?

14

If you have a US based business address and bank account you can.

15

I work with Best Merchant Services, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals.

Email me if you have any questions:

danny@bestmerchantservices.com

Regards,

Danny

16

Hi @DustinK

I just saw this message and i´m intrested in more info, I’m a Shopify Partner and live in El Salvador, so it makes it very difficult to find a gateway to approve my clients.

Could Paykings be and option for me?

Best,

17

I am with Best Merchant Services, not PayKings, and yes we can help. Please email me direct danny@bestmerchantservices.com or call me at (818)674-4222

18

Hi,

I work with Best Merchant Services, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals.

Email me if you have any questions:

danny@bestmerchantservices.com

Regards,

Danny

19

Hello,

I have similar problem cause my store is based in high-risk country - could not open neither Stripe nor paypal. I found several payment gateways I liked, but they didn’t work with Shopify’s checkout. I was able to integrate them with alternative checkout app,Checkify: https://checkify.pro/

I think it will be very helpful in your case.

20

Haimimport, you may want to give High Risk Merchant Account LLC a call to assist getting you a high risk merchant account. Be sure to mention Spotify so they integrate the proper high risk payment gateway that’s compatible with Spotify.

Hope That Helps !!!

MARK