How to use WooCommerce for CBD Payment Processing

CBD (cannabidiol) has been legalized under strict conditions. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is still researching its safety and effectiveness. This means that starting an online CBD business comes with a unique set of challenges. Nevertheless, it is worth perusing the CBD market since cannabis products are quickly becoming a sought after commodity.

Many people are looking to use CBD to help them with symptoms relating to pain, inflammation, anxiety and depression, epilepsy, and other health conditions. One of the challenges you might face is finding a cbd payment processor that is CBD friendly. We will discuss some options in this article.

What is a CBD Payment Processor?

When you’re selling goods and services online, you will have a global customer base. This means that your online store needs to support payments from various countries. This means different currencies and bank policies. The easiest way to manage this is with a cbd payment processor.

The challenge is that most of the payment processors that are popularly used, do not support the sale of CBD such as PayPal and Stripe. Using these payment processors are likely to result in an account that is either frozen or shut down. But why? Because CBD is considered high risk by many banks and payment processors because of the litigation involved. Your only alternative is choosing or integrating a CBD friendly payment processor that works with your website.

WooCommerce for CBD Websites

WooCommerce is a plugin that was designed for WordPress. It allows you to turn your site into an online store using WordPress. The reason we will focus on WooCommerce in this article is that it is one of the most recommended platforms to build your online CBD store. Here are some of the advantages of using WooCommerce:

• It is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress
• You can easily customize the theme of your website
• It offers excellent features
• You avoid third-party rules
• Their security is up to date
• Their platform is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly
• They offer Built-in analytics
• Their platform is affordable

CBD Payment Processing for WooCommerce

You now know about some of the features that WooCommerce offers. Now you want to know how to process payment for your CBD business using WooCommerce. Again, the challenge is to find a payment processor that can integrate with WooCommerce that also allows payments or transactions for CBD. Another important consideration is the transaction fees charged by the payment processor that you choose and since a limited number of them allow CBD payments, the transaction fees are generally higher when compared to other businesses.

The solution is to look at third-party payment gateways that support transactions related to the sales of CBD. This will help you to avoid having your account shut down without notice and avoid any legal issues. Here is a list of third-party payment gateways for WooCommerce.

1. Payment cloud: They offer merchant accounts for high-risk businesses, including CBD businesses.
2. T1 Payments: They process payments internationally and allow CBD payments.
3. Easy Pay Direct: Apart from allowing payments for CBD, they will set you up with a local bank account or credit card processor.
4. Square: They offer secure credit card processing for online CBD stores.

Features of a Good Payment Gateway

Remember that you are not limited to the cbd payment processors that we mentioned earlier. If neither of these meets your needs, you can do research or ask other online CBD business owners for their advice. Here is are some features to look out for when choosing a CBD payment processor for WooCommerce.

• Encryption standards: Your customers are sharing highly sensitive information so security is important. Payment gateways need to use encryption techniques to limit the risk of the payment process. Integrating it with WooCommerce boosts the security.
• Compatibility: You want to choose a payment gateway that is easy to integrate with or is supported by WooCommerce.
• Speed: A payment processor that takes forever to secure a credit card authorization is likely to stress your customers out. Make sure the CBD payment processor you choose for WooCommerce has a good speed.
• Reporting and Analysis: A good payment gateway will provide reports of transactions and analyze payment history.
• Fraud Detection: Some payment gateways offer this feature adding additional security. They detect any suspicious activity during the payment process and alert you to stop.
• Invoicing Features: It is great to have the tools you need to handle all your payment needs in one place. A good payment gateway may offer an invoicing system to help you keep track of important information.
• User Friendly: Customers are suspicious when making payments online because of security threats. A payment gateway that is not user friendly might frighten them. Alternatively, they may become frustrated and choose another CBD store.
• Fees: Transaction fees are high for CBD businesses because payment gateways consider them as high risk. Search for CBD payment gateways for WooCommerce that charge reasonable fees.

The Bottom Line

It may feel like a challenge to find a decent payment gateway for your CBD shop with WooCommerce but it is not an impossible task. The key is to decide which one offers the features you need, can be integrated with WooCommerce, and accepts the sale of CBD. There won’t be one perfect payment gateway but look for one that has the least amount of frustrations and covers the things that are most applicable to your business.