Best CBD Payment Processors in Europe

Introduction

The Cannabidiol (CBD) industry is rapidly gaining ground in Europe, having accrued an estimated total sale of 3.2 billion USD in 2021. Today, consumers have more access to different CBD brands than ever before. Perhaps, this is due to the growing awareness of the health benefits of CBD and the changing regulation of cannabis products. However, while CBD is legal in almost every European country, only a few companies offer CBD payment processing services throughout Europe.

Here, we will examine all you need to know about the best CBD payment processors in Europe. First, let’s take a detailed look at European CBD distribution issues.

Issues With CBD in Europe

Right from time, the CBD industry has faced many challenges as the European Union (EU) set stringent laws to guide the movement of CBD -infused products between member states. More specifically, the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs form the basis for classifying and controlling narcotic products worldwide.

You’ll find that these regulations limit the production and distribution of narcotic products, including cannabis and its derivatives, to legitimate applications for scientific or medical purposes. Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the major cannabinoids extracted from cannabis plants. While THC is the psychoactive component that causes a high feeling when most people take cannabis, CBD has no intoxicating effect. And this led to the recurrent abuse of cannabis.

For this reason, the EU member states imposed severe criminal penalties on the unauthorized sale and distribution of cannabis extracts and tinctures. Besides, the concentration of THC in these cannabis derivatives cannabinoids varies depending on the source and the cultivation technique.

Likewise, some CBD products also contain THC. This is because CBD can be extracted from both hemp and marijuana. Although both plants are cannabis plants, hemp contains a minute amount of THC, while marijuana has a more significant amount of THC. Hence, not all CBD products are legal.

Aside from this, there are also challenges with CBD payments. You’ll discover that European CBD retailers are not legally allowed to accept specific payment options like bitcoin, whereas bitcoin payments are legal tenders in other regions. More so, the excessive exchange rate of some European cannabis payment processors makes inter-state transactions for cannabis products high-priced beyond normal.

CBD’s Legal Status in European Countries

Without a doubt, CBD has soared in popularity across notable European states. However, CBD distribution across these European states varies with different legal specifics. There are still uncertainties surrounding what is legal and what isn’t to date.

Even so, while most European countries have legalized CBD products in some way, some states have still not legalized CBD products. Likewise, some states that have legalized the industry still classify these products as grey areas. The general legal directive for many European countries is that it must be extracted from industrial hemp. More so, these products must contain less than 0.2% THC.

Check some of the recent CBD market outlooks in Europe below:

• Countries like France and Norway only permit CBD isolates with no THC.
• Currently, Germany and the United Kingdom spearhead the European CBD market.
• The rising consumer demand for CBD products and the progressive stance on cannabis legislation allow fair CBD distribution in other European states. They include Poland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
• CBD remains illegal in Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, and Slovakia.

Boost for CBD Industry in Europe

The European Court of Justice’s ruling in 2020 created many opportunities for European CBD market growth. You’ll find that the court published a judgment stating that CBD products legally extracted from industrial hemp should not be considered a narcotic drug.

Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) also reviewed that CBD has no potential for abuse or dependence. CBD is also medically proven to have several health benefits. This includes analgesic, anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, etc.

As a result, the European Commission classified CBD as a novel food, provided it meets the conditions of EU legislation on novel foods, particularly safety, proper packaging, and labeling. Consequently, these recent developments granted consumers more access to various CBD-infused products across Europe, contributing to the remarkable growth of the CBD industry.

CBD-Friendly Payment Processors in Europe

Recently, the number of CBD eCommerce companies scrambling to find CBD payment processors for their products continues to rise. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Due to the stringent regulations, the CBD industry is a high-risk venture. So, many card payment companies, banks, and other payment gateways are hesitant to work with CBD companies.

On top of this, some CBD payment processors that transact with CBD businesses tend to reconsider their position or sometimes modify their policies without prior notice. Thus, payment processing issues constitute a major barrier to hitch-free CBD distribution in Europe.

Therefore, we researched and identified some reputable CBD payment processors in Europe equipped to handle high-risk transactions. Even though these friendly payment gateway options differ slightly, there’s bound to be a processor that will suit your needs. Besides, employing a reliable payment gateway is a good way to get your CBD business on the right track. Take a look at them below:

Worldnet

This payment processor is a well-established payment gateway for CBD self-retail services in notable European states. This includes Atlanta, Georgia, Ireland, and Dublin. Worldnet’s developers use flexible solutions with various hardware and processor options to meet many consumers’ digital shopping habits.

Thus, this CBD payment processor is highly credited in the CBD industry as it provides simple and secure payment options for most merchants. In addition, it offers reliable payment gateway solutions for online card payments and subscription-based services, which keep your customers happy.

However, Worldnet has a specific requirement CBD businesses must meet before approving its payment processing services. CBD merchants or companies must be registered with the Cannabis Trade Association (CTA) or the European International Hemp Association (EIHA) to ascertain legitimacy.

NMI: Payment Gateway

This CBD payment processor delivers exceptional payment processing experiences for both CBD merchants and customers. NMI accepts online payments, major credit cards along with various international currencies. More so, you’ll find that this payment gateway offers top-notch security measures, including payer authentication using verified Visa and Mastercard, Merchant Defender system, SecureCode etc.

NMI only provides payment processing services to legally certified CBD companies with Merchant bank accounts. Even so, NMI payments help connect you with affiliate companies to find the most suitable merchant account for your CBD business.

Another distinct attribute of NMI payment gateway is that their branding does not appear on integrated websites, hosts, or merchant accounts. That way, you can customize your CBD payment processing page to your liking, and your customers do not get relayed to other sites to input their payment information.

Thus, NMI help optimizes the quality of your service by comforting and appealing to your customers through its user-friendly payment features.

Epay

This payment gateway also ranks with the leading CBD payment processors in Europe. Epay offers and facilitates diverse payment processing options to cannabis industries that meet their specified requirements. First, you will need to create an account. After successful verification, you can integrate this payment processor on your CBD website to accept online payment for CBD products. With Epay, customers can pay from their eWallet or through credit, debit cards, and bank transfers.

ClearHaus

ClearHaus is one of the privately held CBD payment processors based in Denmark. The Danish Financial Services and Authority licensed it as a payment processing institution. Today, ClearHaus collaborates with over 30 online payment gateways throughout Europe to provide secure, innovative, and straightforward solutions for accepting online and mobile payments.

Therefore, to accept online payment through your CBD websites with ClearHaus, you’ll need to select a payment gateway that accepts CBD payments. Therefore, in most cases, Epay and ClearHaus work conjointly as cannabis payments processors. Further, you will need to create an account with both payment institutions.

While ChearHaus take care of processing the CBD payments, Epay handles and safely forward your customers’ card information and, at the same time, provide the payment window. Moreover, securing an acquirer agreement with ClearHaus allows you to integrate different payment options on your CBD website. They include Visa, Visa Electron, and Mastercard.

We Tranxact

We Tranxact, a card payment consultant and card processing broker based in the U.K. This payment institution helps and supports card payment services by providing links to top card payments companies. That way, you can save time and resources by simply exploring the payment processing options available on We Tranxact and selecting the payment processor suitable for your business.

As CBD businesses hover around a legal grey area in Europe, you need to select a payment processor with extensive experience in high-risk sectors to handle your transaction. Then, provided your CBD business meets the set criteria, We Tranxact will offer your business a suitable merchant account to process your payments.

Note that they offer a one-time payment option rather than subscription-based services. Aside from this, they also evaluate your CBD website to confirm that it complies with Visa and Mastercard requirements to ensure continuous, hassle-free transactions.

Paytriot

Paytriot is a complaint payment gateway and merchant account provider that offer a broad range of financial services and consultations for merchants. To a large extent, payment institution considers the cannabis merchant industry. As such, they provide payment processing solutions for CBD merchants, including your website’s payment processors and proper merchant accounts to match.

To get started with Paytriot, you need to provide the application details for your CBD company. At the same time, they help support the onboarding and approval of your application with reputable CBD payment processors. Afterward, they uniquely offer a dedicated relationship manager to handle all your merchant acquiring needs.

Paytriot payments are registered directly with Visa and Mastercard to ensure hitch-free transactions. Besides, they accept various payment models, including one-time payments, subscription-based services, and even international currencies.

Hence, if you are looking for suitable CBD payment processors in Europe, these payment institutions highlighted above are the top choices.

Other Payment Options for CBD in Europe

Below are some other payment options to consider:

Simple Bank Transfer

If your payment processor allows for bank transfer, then you can add this payment option to your payment processing page. There are also instances where you may not need a CBD payment gateway- for instance, using WooCommerce. Peradventure, some customers do not have valid cards to pay for CBD products, so a bank transfer is most suitable in such cases. After these customers manually transfer the money to your bank account, you can confirm the payment and process their orders. Thus, integrating the bank transfer payment option will help you provide more quality service depending on your website compatibility.

Viva Wallet

The Viva Wallet offers online payment processing services to CBD companies in certain European countries. They include Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and France. Even so, this CBD payment processor continues to expand to more countries to ensure availability for CBD merchants throughout Europe. Nevertheless, some special terms and conditions apply to CBD merchants before using Viva Wallet for CBD payments. So, staying current with these requirements published on the official website would be best to avoid legal troubles. Generally, once your CBD business has been successfully verified and you hold a professional Viva Wallet account, you can add this payment option to your CBD website.

PayPal

Recently, there have been lots of speculations as to whether PayPal accepts CBD payments or not. Most of these uncertainties relate to the region where CBD companies operate. As such, we have confirmed that PayPal’s policies prohibit the use of its payment system for the sale of CBD products in the U.S. As for European countries, we strongly recommend you confirm if PayPal offers payment services for CBD products in your region before integrating it as payment options on your CBD website. This will help you avoid unwanted legal constraints on your business.

Conclusion

The popularity of CBD products in Europe is expanding and expanding fast! Even so, the CBD industry still faces specific legal restrictions. As a result, so many CBD companies are left scrambling for reliable payment processors to provide hitch-free transactions for their CBD products.

Hence, this article examined some friendly CBD payment processors you can best add to your CBD website in Europe. We also highlighted other suitable payment options you can integrate.

At Digital Octane, we provide outstanding CBD website design and development services. More so, if you need a CBD website with a connected, CBD-friendly payment processor that will appeal to your customers, you are in the right place. Do well to reach out to us.