We unlock for the industries they say no to.
Stripe does not accept every industry. We make it work for yours. From your first sale to serious volume, your store runs on Stripe, the checkout your customers already trust.
The first $50k a month is the hardest money you will ever process.
Not because customers will not pay. Because nobody wants to let them. Here is what the early stage looks like for a store in a category the payment industry would rather not think about.
The underwriting catch-22
Specialist processors ask for months of processor statements, six months of operating history and a $25k monthly minimum before they will price you. Mainstream processors will not give you the months. You are asked to prove the volume you can only build with the account you are applying for.
Approved on Monday, closed on Friday
Stripe, PayPal and Shopify Payments approve in minutes because they underwrite after the fact. When the review catches up with your product pages, the account closes, payouts stop for 120 days, and merchants report the hold being extended by another year.
Priced like a problem
The processors that will take you charge premium rates, hold a 5–10% rolling reserve for 90 to 180 days, and add $150–$300 a month in platform, gateway and minimum fees. Your margin pays for their caution.
A checkout your customers do not trust
Crypto, wire, Zelle, “email us to pay”. Nearly one in five shoppers who abandon at checkout say they did not trust the site with their card. An unfamiliar payment flow on an unfamiliar store is the worst of both.
One dispute away from the list
Card networks measure disputes as a ratio, and low volume makes the ratio brutal. A handful of chargebacks on a few hundred orders trips a monitoring programme, and a termination for disputes puts you on the MATCH list for five years.
You become the compliance department
Multiple merchant accounts, load-balancing gateways, descriptor changes, refund policies, document requests that take weeks. The founder ends up babysitting processors instead of growing the store.
Where these numbers come from
- Stripe · Restricted businesses
- Stripe · Unacceptable risk policy (120-day payout pause)
- Stripe · Prohibited & restricted businesses FAQ
- Shopify · Payments terms (termination at any time)
- Merchant Risk Council · Visa VAMP thresholds, April 2026
- Braintree · Mastercard Excessive Chargeback Program
- Corepay · MATCH list
- Baymard Institute · Cart abandonment rate
- Seamless Chex · Specialist merchant fees
- Seamless Chex · What underwriters need
Too small for the big processors. Too big to go unnoticed.
The payment industry's attention arrives in exactly the wrong order: instant approval when you are invisible, a review when you start to matter, and real offers only after the damage is done.
Nobody will look at you.
Below the $25k minimum most specialist processors quote. Mainstream processors approve instantly and review later.
Everyone looks, most say no.
Volume is now visible. The instant-approval account gets reviewed and closed; the specialist quotes arrive with reserves and rates that eat the margin.
Offers appear, on their terms.
You finally have the history to negotiate, except the history now includes a termination, a held balance and months of lost conversions.
The fix is not a better specialist processor. It is Stripe itself, made to work for your store in a category Stripe would otherwise decline.
We make Stripe work for stores like yours.
Stripe will not onboard your industry on its own. Our solution is what puts your store on Stripe anyway: the checkout your customers already know, Stripe’s pricing plus our flat 2.5%, and an account built to survive its review as you scale.
We know your challenges
We know your category, its rules, its language and its numbers. You will not have to explain what you sell on a call, and we will not ask you to pretend it is something else.
Onboarding, done in hours
No onboarding call, no application queue, no waiting weeks for an approval email. Connect your store and you are taking card payments the same day.
A path from $0 to $100k
The simplest and cheapest way to start taking cards in your category. No start-up fee, no reserves, no minimums, just a flat 2.5% on top of Stripe. The numbers work from your first order and keep working as you grow.
What the alternatives actually cost.
The specialist route and the workaround route both look cheaper than they are. Here is what each one does to the store.
| Specialist processor | Crypto / wire workarounds | Stripe with our solution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-transaction cost | 5–18% + $150–300/mo fixed | 1–2% + a 5–15% crypto discount | Stripe’s standard pricing + 2.5% flat |
| Rolling reserve | 5–10% for 90–180 days | None, and no buyer protection either | None |
| Time to first card sale | Days to weeks, after 3–6 months of statements | Never | Days |
| Checkout your customer recognises | Sometimes | No | Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay |
| Processing history required | Usually, plus a $25k monthly minimum | No | No, and no volume requirement |
| Start-up fee | $0–$500 application and setup | None | None |
| Who handles the paperwork | You | You | We do |
Ranges as published by specialist providers and crypto processors; your quote will differ. Stripe pricing is set by Stripe and varies by country.
Before you ask.
Straight answers to the questions every store in this position asks first.
Do I need processing history to start?
Which product categories does this cover?
What if Stripe already terminated my account?
What does it cost?
Can you also run the ads?
Find out in one business day.
Your store URL, your monthly revenue and an email address. We review by hand and reply with a clear yes, no or what needs to change first. No commitment, no start-up fee, no volume requirement.