Clothing Merchant Accounts – Online Apparel

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Last Updated on May 23, 2022 by Corepay

This article will break down why we provide the best clothing merchant accounts available.

With the steady decline of retail clothing and apparel stores, the tremendous growth of online fashion or clothing stores has come. Consumers can find your store, search for items they like, and order directly from their mobile devices or tablets, all within minutes. You will need a reliable clothing/apparel merchant account tailored to your specific needs if you own an online clothing store.

At Corepay, we offer clothing store payment processing for all apparel stores, including adult-related clothing stores.

Below is a list of products some of our clients currently sell. It is important to note that clothing merchants that primarily sell their goods online could be deemed medium or high-risk due to the industry being notorious for chargebacks.

• Clothing apparel: shirts, pants, shorts, dresses, formal dresses, neckties
• Footwear: dress shoes, high heels, athletic shoes, 
• Jewelry: wedding rings, engagement rings, necklaces
• Accessories: wallets, purses, clutches, backpacks, etc

Note: Many banks and processors may refuse to process for your store if you sell clothing that could be deemed taboo or risky. On top of this, other things with your business could lead you to be high-risk, such as a high chargeback ratio.

Choosing to work with a high-risk processor has benefits as they can help you process sales globally, potentially lower your chargebacks, and you won’t be left with any surprises, such as a frozen or terminated merchant account.

Applying For Your Clothing Merchant Account

Our goal is to make your application process as smooth and quick as possible. Below you will find a list of things you need when applying for an account. The more information you can provide, the faster we get you approved.

• Company EIN document
• Person and business financial statements
• Proof of operating address
• Principal’s driver’s license
• Optional: business plan
• Voided check

You can speed the process up more by doing the following:

• Providing information on how your business fights chargebacks
• Provide proof of customer support
• Terms and conditions page easily accessible
• Business policies – refund and return

Why Choose Corepay For Your Clothing Store Payment Processing?

Our extensive banking network allows us to quickly get our client’s exceptional rates. We also understand what goes into payment processing for eCommerce and offer our payment gateway, Solidgate, which is explicitly designed for high-volumes and online sales. 

We also promise the following to all of our clients:

• Competitive rates: Providing the lowest rates helps our clients grow to maximum profitability
• Quick Approvals – While “instant approval merchant accounts” are a bit of a myth, we can get you approved in as little as 24 hours
• Payment gateway – Solidgate
• Chargeback solutions via CB-ALERT
• High-volume processing
• Multiple currencies
• Security: Our PCI-LEVEL 1 secure payment gateway is monitored 24/7 to prevent any cyber attacks
• Mobile payments: Accept payments from customers paying with their mobile device
• Waived application fees
• Waived set up fees
• Waived annual fees
• 24/7 customer service

We Approve Clothing/Apparel Stores, Even Where Other Processors Can’t

Many processors that deal with low-risk payment processing typically won’t accept your online store or terminate your store when they perform their underwriting.

At Corepay, we perform our underwriting at the time of the application to avoid any obstacles that could occur down the line. 

So, why is it so hard to get approved for payment processing if you’re selling clothing/fashion products?

Below is a list of reasons why banks and processors may consider your account to be high-risk:

• CNP transactions
• High chargebacks
• Fraud/Unethical merchants

CNP Transactions

CNP or card-not-present transactions are usually a significant reason for being considered high-risk. This is because CNP transactions typically have a higher chance of chargebacks than card-present transactions. 

While this is unavoidable, there are many things that merchants can do to better their entire checkout process, ultimately lowering their chargebacks, saving them money on processing fees.

High Chargebacks With Online Apparel

Chargebacks are notorious in the clothing industry, especially when purchases are made online. If your business has many chargebacks, it will make finding a payment processor more difficult. The good thing is that a reliable payment processor may still accept you and provide you with a merchant account. As mentioned above, merchants can do a few crucial things to lower their chargebacks.

• Clearly state refund policies
• Provide relevant product descriptions
• Make website secure
• Find a reliable payment processor

Unethical Behavior

Many online stores have developed a bad reputation by providing products that don’t always fit the description. When a merchant promises a certain quality in an article of clothing and the buyer decides they were deceived, this will result in a chargeback.

The fear of cases like this typically makes processors and banks nervous about online clothing stores, resulting in everyone paying more fees.

Do We Accept Dropshipping For Clothing?

With our extensive network of acquiring banks, we are confident we can get you approved. As long as your business is legit and not fraudulent, we are the perfect fit for your company, offering services that will lower your chargebacks, as well as providing specialty dropshipping merchant accounts. 

Online Store Merchant Account Was Terminated

If your merchant account was terminated or frozen, you are doing the right thing. There’s usually nothing you can do to speed up the process on a freeze, outside of following the steps your provider gives you.

So, why was your account terminated? Typically, providers such as Paypal or Square only process for accounts that are considered low-risk. If Paypal sees your account suddenly start accepting payments that they deem to be risky, they will freeze or terminate your account.

Online Clothing Industry

In 2020, the online clothing industry amassed over 110 billion dollars in the US alone. That number is expected to grow to over 150 billion by 2024.

The reason is simple; there are more ways to push products than ever with the advent of social media websites. It is not easier than to ever to accept payments with the help of technology. 

Let’s take a look at the ten biggest online clothing stores in the world today:

1. Macy’s
2. Amazon
3. Gap
4. Wal Mart
5. Kohls
6. Shein
7. Nordstrom
8. Victorias Secret
9. Target
10. Stitchfix

Outside of these companies, there are a plethora of online clothing stores in the world today that are growing at a rapid pace.

Wrapping Up

Now that you understand payment processing in regards to your clothing business, we highly suggest filling out an application.

We are confident we can help take your business to the next level when it comes to clothing merchant accounts.