Video Transcription

Hey, it’s Allen Kopelman today, and we’re here with another episode of B2B Vault. Today, we will discuss CBD payment processing; CBD is a moving target. So, you know, the information changes all the time. We’ve been talking about this one; we’ll probably see an update to it within another month or so.

Do you need a high-risk merchant account for CBD sales? So the simple answer is not really, but you do need to be working with a processor and a bank that is working with CBD for credit card processing. We also offer cryptocurrency processing for CBD. CBD can be bought in person or through e-commerce. And we have a plugin that plugs into many of the, uh, popular shopping cards.

So let’s talk more about CBD done, right? So we have banks and processors who want your business. And like I said, our CBD and hemp products are legal, the answer is yes, but it’s a moving target. The processors are constantly adjusting. Uh, we’ll take this. We won’t take that. So we keep up with that. And the way that we get your business qualified is we review your website. We study your advertising, and we make sure everything is compliant. And we make sure that you have the proper certificates of authenticity or the tests that show that your products have zero or 0.03, people, everybody refers to it differently. We make sure that they meet the standards that the bank wants. As far as products go with CBD and other types of high-risk merchant accounts, compliance is always crucial. So if you’re compliant, the bank is happy, and you’re going to get a merchant account for CBD, and the processors are going to be obedient, and they’re not going to get grief from their banks because the bank comes in and they do a check on the CBD and hemp merchants. And this way, the bank will be happy that everybody is compliant.

So what’s all this compliance about the federal agencies who are watching this business, you know, some, for example, you own a cigar store. You sell cigars online where you’re selling vape. Okay. Well, if you’re selling cigars, you got the alcohol and tobacco people looking at your website to make sure you’re compliant. The FTC is looking at your advertising. What are they advertising? And do you have the proper nicotine disclosures or one of the disclosures on your website? The CBD and hemp business is much different.

Yeah. 1, 2, 3, 4 agencies watch you, the FDA, looking at your advertising and your product. Labeling the USDA is looking at the hemp. That’s being grown that you’re using to make your CBD products. The DEA monitors CBD products to see that nobody’s selling CBD products that contain too much THC. The FTC is looking at your website, they’re looking at your social media, they’re looking at your affiliate marketing, and they’re checking to see that your advertising isn’t containing promises like, oh, this will cure rheumatoid arthritis or eat these gummies. You’re going to feel fabulous. And it’s going to make you think better or clear your mind or whatever you’re making claims to be. Unless you have claims like backed up by a doctor, you know, it’s not going to, it’s not going to fly. You know, then if you do have some product. There’s, you know, doctor or medical evidence or medical testing that shows that that, that product does do something, then you know, the bank is going to review that and make sure that it’s valid, but this compliance and all these agencies make the banks nervous. So that’s why they go overboard. And that’s why it takes time to get these accounts approved.

Let’s go on to the next part. And let’s talk about how you could make payments for CBD and the app so that you can do it in person, retail, and retail. They’re going to look at the name of your store. What’s in the title. You know, they don’t want necessarily; right now, there are a few banks doing retail, but they don’t want the store’s name to contain CBD or hemp. So it can’t be called Bob’s hemp palace or John’s CBD store, but you know, so that shows that they’re loosening up a little bit. The banks are loosening up, so there are ways to get a retail merchant account when it comes to retail. From an e-commerce standpoint, we can take companies that are in startup mode.

I put startups into two categories; startup number one is small. Doesn’t have a whole lot of money that maybe you have a retail store, but you’re also going to open a second company and sell online. We have a bank that accepts that. Let’s say you have a startup company, but you know, you guys have an investor deck, and there’s more to the advertising plan, and there’s a budget and a couple of hundred grand in the bank. We have another bank that’s also accepting those merchants. We have a bank taking merchants if you’re doing $20,000 a month in CBD sales online. We have a bank offering very competitive rates saving people 50 to a hundred basis points or more.

If you’re doing over a hundred thousand dollars a month and you supply us with three statements, we get you a special quote on that. So we work with new businesses and existing businesses. And you know, we are also helping merchants understand that a cryptocurrency is an option for the CBD space. So you can do, you can do a lot with cryptocurrency. And what we’re doing with cryptocurrency is it is dollar conversion. So someone goes on your website, they’re buying $300 worth of CBD. With Bitcoin, they want to pay that our shopping cart software says they’re paying $300. It sends them onto the crypto platform. They choose which cryptocurrency they will pay with Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, litecoin, or Ethereum. Then they click the button. It tells them how many coins they need to do that, and it processes the payment. You’re going to get $300 minus the fee. Then you’re getting a hundred percent of your sale price. So cryptocurrency and credit cards for CBD.

Accepting crypto as payment is an option for everybody, you know, the farm bill because it’s what started everything in 2018, allowing for CBD and hemp sales and everything to take place. We put a link here. I’ll talk a bit about the farm bill roadway. So when the farm bill came out, the USDA thought like 80% of the of everything grown was going to be used for textiles type stuff, clothing making, maybe mattresses, pillows, and things like that. But that’s not what happened. What happened is 80% is being used for CBD. They’re cracking down on plants containing the 0.3 or 0.03% THC, and there’s no more watering down the isolate or whatever, the juice that’s squeezed out of the hemp to make the, uh, to make the oil that makes that everybody puts into the CBD products. So you have to have the right kind of plants. That’s just changed over time from the USDA. So we can help merchants get set up with CBD and, you know, processing.

We’ve been helping businesses that have hard-to-place merchant accounts since 2001. We’re always looking for new solutions, new banks to work with, you know, and besides CBD and hat, we offer merchant accounts for cannabis-related products. So call that, you know, MRB marijuana-related marijuana, business, marijuana-related business. Doctor’s offices that give out the cards for medical marijuana, selling grow lights, you’re selling accessories, rolling paper websites. All kinds of websites or businesses that need retail for those products are also eligible for credit card processing. So we help you with credit card processing, crypto acceptance.

We give online reporting, and we have our compliance services, which help you maintain your compliance. We check the compliance with the bank, processor, and, PCI compliance and everything in between surrounding your business of CBD and hemp. So if you need help getting a merchant account for a CBD business, they have a business or any cannabis-related business, nationwide payment systems can help you visit our website NPSbank.com. Again, this is Allen Kopelman with the B2B Vault. Thank you for listening to the podcast today. You can catch us on all the popular networks or watch the videos on YouTube, and you can visit our website npsbank.com or visit the B2Bvault.info to get more information about the podcast. Have a great day, Carpe diem.