# Payment gateway that allows Pot related humor?



## gurgle (May 24, 2011)

Does anyone know of a payment gateway that allows pot related humor? I had signed up with Authorize.net but they said I would have to remove pot related images (a care bare smoking a joint) because they "don't support that message." I tried explaining that it was really just an absurd parody but they just don't support it regardless.

So, does anyone know of a payment gateway that does?


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## gurgle (May 24, 2011)

Just wanted to update. It's not Authorize.net but Cybersource that won't accept pot humor. I feel pretty stupid for not even knowing the difference between cybersource and authorize.net, but I don't even know where the cybersource thing comes into it. I just signed up at authorize.net and then I have to deal with this Cybersource place automagically. But I finally found out that Authorize.net can hook me up with something other than Cybersource.


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## chobay (Aug 4, 2009)

Cybersource sucks! They hold onto your money for 5 days, which is ridiculous in the internet age. Cybersource is is your merchant account and authorize is the gateway. It is none of their business what you sell on your website. They should process your money and shutup. Find a new merchant acct asap. I recommend whoever your business banks with, your captures will process much quicker. My funds are avail next day..


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## gurgle (May 24, 2011)

Well i am in total agreement 

But the authorize guy was nice and is looking for a cybersource replacement that will tolerate such outrageous things.

I'm just a little amazed that something as tame as a humor t-shirt would even be an issue.


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

Perhaps they also have a problem with the intellectual property infringement.


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## Naptime (May 19, 2011)

Paypal merchant account.


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## chobay (Aug 4, 2009)

kimura-mma said:


> Perhaps they also have a problem with the intellectual property infringement.


Even if that were the case, how would they know that? Merchant accounts are not the moral or IP police. As long as you have the proper policies stated on your site, and you are not selling anything illegal, it's none of their business what you sell..

They put me in a 90 day escrow for ONE chargeback. Their customer support was rude as well, so I dropped them like a bad habit.


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## kimura-mma (Jul 26, 2008)

chobay said:


> Even if that were the case, how would they know that? Merchant accounts are not the moral or IP police. As long as you have the proper policies stated on your site, and you are not selling anything illegal, it's none of their business what you sell..


True. I guess I was just trying to stir the pot a bit.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> and you are not selling anything illegal


I guess selling unlicensed goods could be considered illegal.


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## chobay (Aug 4, 2009)

But a merchant account has no way of determining that. If I sell mickey mouse shirts on a website, how do you know they are not licensed? The only party that would know, or have the right of enforcement is the party that holds the copyright. 

In this case, it sounds like the merchant account doesn't agree with the content of what is being sold, which is none of their business..


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> If I sell mickey mouse shirts on a website, how do you know they are not licensed? The only party that would know, or have the right of enforcement is the party that holds the copyright.


Well, based on his description of the mickey mouse shirts, it was probably very clear to them that they were not officially licensed t-shirts and therefore illegal.

Whenever you signup for a merchant account they have some liability. That's why they ask you in the beginning what you sell and all types of credit qualifying information. 

They have to make a business decision based on risk factors and selling drug related items or unlicensed goods probably puts them at a much higher risk.

They know because it's part of the application process. It's their job.


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

gurgle said:


> But the authorize guy was nice and is looking for a cybersource replacement that will tolerate such outrageous things.


There are a couple of merchants (authorize is the gateway) that specialize in providing merchant services for the Medical Marijuana industry in California. 

I'm guessing they wouldn't have any issues with your shirts. A google search should bring up a bunch. Two that found while helping a friend with a research project are CanaPay and PotMerchants.com

I also saw that AlertPay has no issues with this content either. They seem to be a paypal type of business. 

I haven't used any of these companies, just offering up ideas...


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

Naptime said:


> Paypal merchant account.


Bad advice. Paypal will not accept drug humor sites / products. 

You risk having funds held and accounts closed. It's an ugly scene. Some folks get away with it for years, but all it takes is one report...


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## GanjaGarb420 (Feb 17, 2011)

Paypal absolutely ****ing blows! I go through a week of headaches getting Paypal Payments Pro loaded onto my site, and then after I process one order they tell me that my merchandise violates their terms of service. I sell weed tshirts, and tobacco accessories for **** sake -- nothing illegal about it! Now they are refusing to cancel my account, and have frozen all money in the account until I sign some papers indicating that I will not use Paypal again. Good riddens, I'll see you in court Paypal.


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## bomber315 (Jun 18, 2010)

another reason why weed truely is bad... i love people who think try to capitalize on something illegal, es[pecially with names like "ganjagarb420" really? try to act like a serious business man and maybe someone will take you serious... instead of the stereotypical pothead


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## GanjaGarb420 (Feb 17, 2011)

bomber315 said:


> another reason why weed truely is bad... i love people who think try to capitalize on something illegal, es[pecially with names like "ganjagarb420" really? try to act like a serious business man and maybe someone will take you serious... instead of the stereotypical pothead


This coming from a guy with the name "bomber315." What are you a terrorist? Hey bomber, maybe I'd take you seriously if you learned how to spell "truly." Spell check is your friend bro. Listen, bottom line, I'm not doing anything illegal, period. Quite frankly, whether you accept me for a _real business man_ is neither here nor there. If you must know, my screen-name is reference to my website, http://www.GanjaGarb.com

In a little over 4 months we have amassed nearly 3500 followers on twitter, nearly 2000 friends on Facebook, and are generating on average $1000 in revenue/month through t-shirt sales alone. I'm not jumping out of my seat for those stats, but hey, it's something. What have you done lately big guy? 

Just because PayPal folds under pressure from foreign governments, and is about as corruptible as Bernie Madoff in his prime, doesn't make my business practices illegal. Again, I sell t-shirts, and tobacco accessories, absolutely nothing illegal about that. Just in case you haven't caught my drift, your comment insinuating (sound it out) that I'm trying to "capitalize" off of something illegal was completely unappreciated. Grow up.


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## bomber315 (Jun 18, 2010)

wow dude you awesome! if everyone on this site was more like you..... we would get NO WHERE!

for the record my screen name is something i have been using for probably 15 years. the root word, "bomber" comes from the brandname of a padset i had on my bmx bike. it looked alot like this one: [media]http://bmxmuseum.com/forsale/img_4574_blowup.jpg[/media] the number comes from my birthday (march 15th)

CARE TO EXPLAIN YOURS?? besides saying it is in reference to a website devoted to selling items related to an illegal substance. "tobacco" accessories, really? do people still fall for that wording? im sure anyone with a badge wont.

So i spelled truly wrong, big deal, it was still understood enough to make you cry.

Ok your not doing anything illegal. i never said you were. your awfully paranoid arent you? maybe if you were a little less high you would be able to think clearly.

you have a bunch of followers on twitter and friends on facebook... wow thats great, how many of them are actually spending money on anything other than weed? oh $1000 a month you say. thats great i brought in $920 in 4 hours last saturday a benefit car cruise in. not that really has anything to do with anything. not that you would be interested in making that kind of money, it would probably be pretty hard to sell bongs to those kind of people.

your business practices arent illegal (that i can see), again your stuck on something i didnt say. the substance that you support, and endorse IS. paypal can do business with whoever they want, and im sure they have plenty. they dont need to cater to people they dont want to cater to, there are enough straight edged people in this world. 

it only takes 5 seconds for them to them to investigate your site and see dumb stuff like "I'm like a ______ shark, I can smell a nug of weed from 500 yards away. " -ganjagarb then they say to themselves... "hmm maybe we should just steerclear of this guy and the people he markets to, they will probably just cause us problems. we have enough customers, we dont need to bother with him"

i know it is early, but whenever you roll outta bed, hopefully before noon, ill be here to read your reply


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## GanjaGarb420 (Feb 17, 2011)

bomber315 said:


> your awfully paranoid arent you?


A message with over 54 spelling and grammar mistakes doesn't warrant a response. Nonetheless, I will entertain it. First off, here is a quick English lesson. Your usage of "your" in that context makes no sense. Instead, use "you're" or just type it out "you are." _Your_ conceptual understanding of basic grammar techniques, or rather, lack thereof, has only solidified my belief that *you are *in fact nothing more than a troll. 

Since we have established that you are a troll, I'll close by saying, I've already made my points, and they require no additional justification (just-i-fi-cation). I have no need to get into a message board battle with an 11 year old. If you made money, more power to you, I'm really glad. It's not easy to yield a positive cash flow these days, and I have respect for anybody that can do it. With that, I'll take the high road here and end this in a cordial manner. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors. 

Best,

GanjaGarb420


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## bomber315 (Jun 18, 2010)

i bet you're taking the HIGH road! in case you hadnt realized i dont so much care about my 54 spelling and grammar error, but im glad you took the time count them. ya know because you couldnt agrue my logical thinking. this is internet forum, not a term paper. I BET YOUR HEAD SPINS OFF WHEN SOMEONE TYPES IN ALL CAPS, huh? haha (to save you from counting that was 44 mistakes in that last sentance alone)

oh and welcome to the forum, you have contributed ALOT and have earned all kinds of respect with your 4 posts

and by the way, i (and most everyone else) know the "big" words you feel it necessary to sound out. we are not the stoners you are used to hanging around

on a nother note, im sorry to the OP for hogging up this thread, i originally thought Mr. Ganja was the OP (ori-gin-al po-ster)

OK IM DONE WITH THIS


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## superD70 (Dec 22, 2010)

bomber315 said:


> i bet you're taking the HIGH road! in case you hadnt realized i dont so much care about my 54 spelling and grammar error, but im glad you took the time count them. ya know because you couldnt agrue my logical thinking. this is internet forum, not a term paper. I BET YOUR HEAD SPINS OFF WHEN SOMEONE TYPES IN ALL CAPS, huh? haha (to save you from counting that was 44 mistakes in that last sentance alone)
> 
> oh and welcome to the forum, you have contributed ALOT and have earned all kinds of respect with your 4 posts
> 
> ...


 
I noticed nothing logical in any of your above posts, except that you seem to judge others you know nothing about, personally or professionally, lets keep the judgement & insults to yourself please


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## GanjaGarb420 (Feb 17, 2011)

gurgle said:


> Does anyone know of a payment gateway that allows pot related humor? I had signed up with Authorize.net but they said I would have to remove pot related images (a care bare smoking a joint) because they "don't support that message." I tried explaining that it was really just an absurd parody but they just don't support it regardless.
> 
> So, does anyone know of a payment gateway that does?




Okay, I think I have some answers for you. Over the past week I have been furiously searching for a new Marijuana t-shirt and Tobacco accessory friendly gateway provider. Out of around 25 applications, over half replied that they *would not* work with me.

Anyways, I know you don't care about the people who wouldn't work with me, so below is a list of all the Gateway providers who said they *would* be willing to work with me -- and presumably anyone else with Marijuana t-shirts. I won't give any of their pricing or rates in an attempt to protect my own business interests. However, it should be easy enough for you to contact them and get rates. Hope this helps. I'm going to go put one in the air for Bomber315, dude needs to hit a j and relax 


1. Credit Card Payment Processing | Top Edge Solutions

2. High Risk Merchant Account Provider - Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley

3. Official Site - FREE Terminal Equipment, Low Rates, Cash Advances | Total Merchant Services

4. TransFirst - Specialized Transaction and Payment Processing

5. Merchant Services Canada US Credit Card Processing PSiGate Merchant Accounts

6. Merchant Accounts, Credit Card Processing, E-Commerce Exchange

7. http://skipjack.com/
 





P.S. Fck PayPal...


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

bomber315 said:


> another reason why weed truely is bad... i love people who think try to capitalize on something illegal, es[pecially with names like "ganjagarb420" really? try to act like a serious business man and maybe someone will take you serious... instead of the stereotypical pothead


First, cannabis has legal applications in a 1/3 of the states. There are countless professional business people in this market. Just to gain some perspective. Viagra is a $1.9B dollar market. Legal medical marijuna generated $1.7B in sales. Add on to that all the different business that support that $1.7B market and you have 10's of billions generated on legal medical marijuana. Will these numbers grow over the next decade? Not only grow but skyrocket. So why you may have moral issues with the subject there is an exploding market that is all legal to take advantage of by people regardless what you my coin them.


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## tlpe548b (Jul 14, 2011)

Has anyone tried out googlecheckout? That's who i'm currently set up with, i have one Amsterdam heraldic design that has a pot leaf in it, we'll see what happens. I went with google because it's clear that google favors their own platforms, and in terms of seo, they do a fair amount of marketing of your products for you.


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## GanjaGarb420 (Feb 17, 2011)

You're probably alright, but I'd be careful. Google wouldn't even allow me to create an Adwords account; and at the time I applied, all I was selling was t-shirts, I hadn't even added the tobacco accessories. If it works for you though, rock on!


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