I've spoken to quite a few high risk merchant account providers who deal in the direct response nutraceutical space, and it seems my options are to setup a US corp and tax ID, fly (or drive) over there to open regular banking and then apply for a merchant account, or setup an offshore corp and process through that.
I was just curious if any Canadians here have a US$ merchant account and could provide any advice on my best option.
Any advice is appreciated.
Been down this road (Australian). It's extremely difficult to get a US merchant account as a Non-US person if you're in the high risk space, you'll need to get a USA-cosigner that has good credit and an SSN. Usually, somebody that has 50% interest in the business.
If you go off-shore, the Rolling Reserve and Discount Rates are usually double. You also have the risk that the bank will run away with the money.
And offshore banks will decline domestic transactions at a higher rate.