Is the FDA & Visa Credit Card companies so way working together now?

There is a lot of misinformation about kratom out there. That's why I believe that the American Kratom Association is so important. (L)

I am a kratom vendor and I understand all your frustration. Believe me, I am as vendor is more frustrated, let alone customers. I have worked for some major banks in the west coast over 15 years and here is what I know:

Merchant Services typically have different categories of merchant they do business with and and certain categories they do not do any business with them. It's because federal laws and regulations. They consider them as high risk merchants. Now, the high risk merchants has two categories, where bank "MAY CONSIDER" taking a merchant, another is "COMPLETELY RESTRICTED", under any circumstances they will "NOT CONSIDER" taking that merchant as a client.

Kratom falls under the high risk and "RESTRICTED" category, that's why they won't consider accepting any merchants that sells kratom.

Electronic Cigarettes for example, falls under the high risk category, but bank may or will consider them as client. Just because it's not approved by the FDA, it falls under the high risk category.

I believe it's not just is the reason for the Kratom to be in the restricted category. It has a lot to do with the DEA who's putting kratom on their "DRUG OF CONCERN" list.

When amazon removed our listings from their website, this is the reason they gave us, Kratom is considered the "DRUG OF CONCERN" by the DEA. As you know amazon has it's own credit card processing. So, accepting a High Risk Merchant who falls under the Restricted category - they are violating the Federal Regulations.

You and I can talk all we want, all day about how kratom is beneficial to many people. Truth is, until the DEA removed this item from their list of concern drugs, no bank will accept us.

So, no FDA and Visa company are not working together, they are just following the acceptance protocol. By accepting a Kratom merchant, somebody is violating the protocol, and there's consequences. In the case of amazon, their Payment Processing services will or may get shutdown due to the violation.

Just my two cents. Good luck to us all!!

No, you will not run out of a source because of MasterCard. You will always have bitcoin, and thus, you will always have a way to pay for it. Chrome Dreams and AK did a very good job explaining things about this. There are some inconsistencies from what I've been told by some big bankers, but in the end, it's real minor inconsistencies.

Times are slowly changing though, think about the new Marijuana laws in Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Alaska. Paypal is actually jumping on this new money boat, and is starting to fund some sort of thing where they will take credit cards for those states. I'm sure it's not going to be called Paypal, but essentially, Paypal is opening the door to taking credit cards for something that is illegal on the Federal Level. I'm sure they'll work this out in time, but it's a major cash crop, and times are changing. If they can take credit cards for drugs that are illegal on the federal level like that... ... ...

There was a very small bank in Bend, Oregon, which is very close to me, that was taking Kratom vendors on. They aren't taking any more vendors, but this means that there are merchants who will take on Kratom vendors within the USA. Times are changing, and I think if we keep the fight up by funding the AKA and BLK, by doing business with other business that fund these organizations, then we stand a good chance of having wonderful things.

By the way, it sounds like AK knows a bit more about this kind of stuff than I do, so correct me if I'm wrong. By the way, have you been approved yet?

The same four are accepted here. As to why it's typically MasterCard, I don't think any of us know.

I always use A Money Order to pay for my Kratom Online. I only have to pay less than a dollar a Money Order from the Post Office. That way I have a copy of my Payment. It takes a little bit longer but that's fine with me. I never use any Credit Cards just a rip-off. You are just paying the interest when you send in a Payment. That's how people get into debt. They spend more than they have when they use a Credit Card.

When using a Money Order you can only use the Money that you have. Pre-Paid Cards are pretty good also. Better than regular Credit Cards. But they charge you every time you have to re-load money back on them. So the Credit Card Companies are getting there money either way.

I deal with Wells Fargo. I've been asked over a dozen times, what I do, what I'm doing with my money, why I'm doing this with my money. I have also been asked how much I make, where I send it to, how I do it, what kind of laws there are, and frankly, it's none of their business. They keep hounding me though, and they are TERRIBLE at playing coy. I have a good friend in the business who also works FOR Wells Fargo, and I guess they won't deal with you at all in some cases.

I wouldn't suggest Wells Fargo. As for processing credit cards, around 99% of Kratom vendors in the United States, have to go oversea and get qualified with an offshore credit card processor. They take no less than 10%, plus 0.80 per transaction, and another 10% as a six month rolling reserve. Honestly, the first number, is usually somewhere between 10 and 20%, so that is 20 to 30% already. There is also a monthly service fee that is several times more expensive, somewhere around 5 to 10 times more, and there are other hidden fees and international wire transfer fees which are VERY expensive, this raises the rate to around 30 to 40% of your sales. If you're using Shopify or another ecommerce website, that is another 1 - 2 %, and then there are a slew of charge backs because the name of your business varies from day to day because it's a shared account, you're looking at around 40 to 50% of your income being lost.

There is virtually no way around this, unless you started very early. The reason why this is so, is because of "Project Choke Point". This is a high risk industry. Frankly, there are a lot of people in this business who are into drugs, are ex-cons, and are rough around the edges in some other manner. It can range from something as benign as Marijuana, and range as high as contract killings, and illegal research chemical drug distribution and usage. I can't share the information on the contract killing, because I could get sued (even though he's most likely going to prison since there is already pending legal charges against this person (I do not know him BTW)), but I can tell you this...

The industry has had a lot of criminals in it, and you're going to want to make sure not to do business with them, if you want to keep the plant legal. A lot of people see this as a quick way to make money, and genuinely aren't interested in helping people, or being noble and righteous. Other people I've seen go in and out of business, are naive (I once was), and want to be too helpful, and thus it hurts them, but the bad ones ruin it for us all, every single one of you. I feel that is why Project Choke Point extends it's arms into this industry...because frankly, there are some bad characters out there.

If you didn't get a head start a long time ago, there is only one way to get that oversea merchant account, and it will be a massive headache from day one, and it will not stop being a headache. You have to make 20k per month or more to even get in an application. They'll put you on hold for months, and sometimes never tell you you're denied! Everyone is looking for a Kratom merchant account... ... ... ...

If you haven't gotten one, and are not getting 20k in gross sales, you're toast, unless you know some extremely high people in the industry who can put in a good word on your behalf with a bank. I don't know how that works though... ... The chances of this happening are pretty much zero though.

As for Paypal, they are highly apt to give you your funds, they just got sued for this a while back, and you'll get it back...in time. They don't allow Kratom sales though.