International Offshore Merchant Accounts
Offshore merchant accounts are an effective way to protect and grow your high volume or high risk business. As an important element of a successful long-term business strategy, offshore merchant accounts mitigate risk, reduce expense, and protect continuity of payment processing.
- Diversification of merchant accounts is a simple method of reducing payment processing risk
- Offshore acquiring banks are keen to process payments for high volume & high risk merchants
- International accounts give you greater flexibility on chargebacks
- Higher processing volumes available offshore help power your business growth
- Multicurrency processing valuable for boosting global ecommerce sales
Some businesses chose to process all payments offshore. Others combine offshore and domestic merchant accounts. The decision on whether to use offshore accounts alone or combine them with domestic accounts depends on the specific needs of your business.
Processing payments through an offshore bank is sometimes preferable for merchants in certain high risk categories. Offshore banks frequently accept business types that are challenging to place domestically. International acquirers also have a greater tolerance for chargebacks, although chargebacks still must be kept under control, of course.
Some merchants combine domestic processing with offshore accounts to dilute processing risks. All accounts can be load balanced and managed through a single gateway simplifying management and reconciliation.
Fast growing merchants find it beneficial to establish offshore accounts along with domestic processing. Domestic banks often put caps on the amount you can process, which can stifle a rapidly expanding business. International banks allow for higher monthly processing volumes than domestic ones. Therefore, adding an offshore account gives you the processing power necessary to grow your business.
Combining domestic and offshore processing is particularly valuable for companies with an international customer base. By using acquiring banks in the regions where global ecommerce customers are located, you eliminate cross-border fees, take advantage of lower intra-regional rates, and reduce foreign currency exchange risks.