What kind of high risk merchant business are you in?

[ShannonD]

Is there any stats that tells which high risk industry is "riskier" than the other? For example, is gambling more prone to chargebacks than travel agencies?

[stymiee]

There are no publicly available lists that I know of although you can be sure that the processing banks have their own lists with the risk factor of each business style. If you are thinking of entering a particular industry let us know and we'll let you know what our experience has seen.

[ShannonD]

Oh well this is cool i did find some information about which high risk business is "riskier" than the other:

"...Different MAPs have different criteria of judging whether a business is high risk or not. Among domestic MAPs, an applicant is declined if it is considered high risk. But for those who apply for offshore merchant accounts, the likelihood of getting approved is far greater."

this is just an excerpt from an indepth article:
[b]UNDERWRITING HIGH RISK MERCHANT ACCOUNTS[/b]
http://www.highriskexperts.com/underwriting_highriskmerchantaccount.html

[nelsonkist]

If you are thinking of entering a particular but There is really no choice in accepting a high-risk merchant account because the processor is the one taking the risk and the merchant is charged according to the risk.

[tinabrandon]

The “risk” in high risk categories depends based on the chances for chargebacks and fraudulent transactions. There are no specific statistics that will identity one industry as having more chargebacks than others since much has to do with the way individual merchants manage accounts. There are, however, particular industries are targeted by cybercriminals. For example, digital content and merchants selling low-ticket virtual goods are often hit by criminals who are trying to determine if a stolen card has been reported or if there is credit left on the card and running a small transaction goes “under the radar”. On the other end, merchants selling electronic goods, televisions, computers and the like, are targeted by cybercriminals who use stolen cards to buy goods which are then shipped out of the country, often before the card is reported as stolen. Travel is high risk primarily because tickets are bought far in advance. And gambling sites are high risk simply because of the nature of the business, although their risk of chargebacks and fraud is comparatively low compared to other high risk categories.