Musical Instrument Merchant Accounts

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Last Updated on September 26, 2023 by Corepay

Musical instrument stores/online music lessons are two industries that require a payment processor familiar with the industry. While these can be highly profitable niches, they can come with problems because musical instruments are usually high-ticket purchases, card-not-present.

In this article, we will break down everything you need about musical merchant accounts/payment processing and explain why we believe we’re the perfect fit for your business.

Key Takeaways:

  • Musical instrument payment processing can be challenging to find
  • Chargebacks frequently occur in the music niche
  • Corepay offers fast approvals, highly competitive pricing, and offers chargeback protection through our partner product, CB-ALERT.

Apply Today

Applying for your music payment processing doesn’t have to be so stressful. At Corepay, we make the application process as simple as playing 12-bar blues. You will need the following:

  • 3-6 months processing history of statements
  • Voided check
  • Principal’s driver’s license
  • Proof of operating address
  • Company EIN document
  • Business plan – optional
  • Chargeback ratio
  • A functional and compliant website with login credentials

Types Of Musical Instruments/Lessons We Process For Regularly

Below is a quick list that summarizes some of the more popular instruments/lessons we process for:

  • Guitars
  • Drum sets
  • Bass guitars
  • Pianos
  • Digital Pianos
  • Violins
  • Saxophones
  • All VSTs
  • All music lessons

What Is A Music Store Merchant Account?

A music store merchant account is a bank account specifically tailored to the merchant’s business. 

Why Can Music Stores/Music Lessons Be Labeled High-Risk?

Music stores, in general, typically deal with high-ticket and high volume. On top of this, e-commerce has led to a boom in instrument sales over the Internet. 

Below are the main reasons music stores can be high-risk:

  • Chargebacks
  • High volume
  • High ticket
  • Buy it before you try it approach
  • Used gear

Music lessons in general tend to have higher chargebacks as the customer can easily decide they aren’t satisfied with the musical lessons being provided. This is a problem whether it’s drum lessons, guitar lessons, or even piano lessons. Keyboardkraze recently published a review that shows online lessons are easier to give up on than tradtional, as they’re not always in-person.

Chargebacks:

Chargebacks in the music industry are sometimes unavoidable. Meeting customer expectations in the musical niche can take time and effort.

Here are the reasons for most music chargebacks:

  1. Unauthorized purchases: When instruments are purchased online, customers can dispute the transaction if they don’t recognize the billing descriptor.
  2. Dissatisfaction with the product or service: If a customer finds the instrument not to be as high-quality as they thought it would be, they may file a dispute.
  3. Misrepresentation of the product or service: This is common as music retailers might claim that specific instruments are “the best.” 
  4. Technical issues: Double billing is common for certain payment gateways, often leading to a chargeback.

High-Volume

Most music stores produce high-volume as they are both brick-and-mortar and online sellers. To deal with this, you will need a payment processing solution that specializes in high-volume.

High-Ticket

Musical instruments are often high-ticket which means the merchant could face high-ticket chargebacks. 

Buy It Before You Try It

The buy it before you try it approach sometimes goes differently than planned with musical instruments. For this reason, establishing a refund policy that gives the customer 30 days to return the instrument can significantly lower your chargeback ratio.

Used Gear Doesn’t Meet Expectations

While some retailers will clearly state in their terms of service that used items are not valid for return, others need to communicate this more, resulting in the buyer feeling frustrated at the seller.

Music Store POS Systems

While we specialize in online payments, we can assist with pos systems for music stores. We pride ourselves in highly competitive fees for any gear you need for your music store/pos systems.

Why Choose Corepay For Your Musical Instrument Payment Processing

At Corepay, we understand online payments as well as anyone. We pride ourselves in having a strong relationship with our clients and genuinely care about your success.

You can expect the following from Corepay with your musical instrument stores:

  • Quick Approvals Within 24-72 Hours, even for high-risk industries
  • Exceptional Customer Service, including direct access to Management Team
  • Risk mitigation with Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) by Verifi, 3-D Secure 2.1/ our partner product CB-ALERT
  • Low-risk rates as low as $99 per month and $0.05 per transaction
  • Waived fees (application, set up, annual)
  • Maximize approval ratios due to routing technology based on your target customer base within our proprietary payment gateway
  • Traditional chargeback alerts by Ethoca and Verifi
  • High-risk rates as low as a blended 2.95%

While our gateway is designed for e-commerce, we take a gateway-agnostic approach to hook up to whichever gateway you choose.

Can Music Stores Use Shopify/Woocommerce

Music stores and lesson platforms/apps can all use Shopify and woocommerce as a platform. That said, you will need to find a high-risk processing partner, as those platforms will have a volume limit cap on your account.

Please check out our guides that deal with:

Music Store Merchant Category Code

The musical instrument store’s merchant category code is 5733.

Music Store Payment Processing Experts

Choosing a payment processing partner for your music store is a challenging task. At Corepay, we recommend that all of our merchants compare other payment processors before deciding.

We can not only help you with payment processing, but also help you eliminate frustrating chargebacks and take your business to the next level.

Please fill out the application below to get started.

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