Furniture Merchant Account

How can something as simple as furniture be a high-risk sector in the world of payments?

A question we get asked several times a week by furniture retailers looking to gain a merchant account for their business. On this page we will do our best to reveal all as to why acquirers and payment providers view this sector to be a little on the risky side.

Furniture, everyone has it, it holds no risk to everyday people so why is it a high-risk sector in the world of merchant accounts?

Well – If you own a furniture store where there is no lead times and customers walk in and take the goods after paying on card, the truth is that these businesses are NOT high risk and you should be able to obtain a merchant account to accept card payments very easily – if this is you then you can start the process here!

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Furniture only becomes a high-risk sector for card payments when there is a delay in receiving the goods or if there is a deposit payment that is required.

You see, if a consumer is asked to pay 50% deposit for their brand-new sparkly sofa but they must wait 4/8 weeks to receive the goods, the acquirer is sitting in the risk seat for this deposit if anything terrible were to happen to this business in the meantime. In layman’s terms – if this retailer went bust the acquirer bank would have to stump up the deposit money via what is called a chargeback instigated by the merchant through the Visa and Mastercard rails. It’s a very similar story in the world of Travel and the sad affair we saw with Thomas Cook back in 2019 where thousands of people had their holidays and flights cancelled and had to claim their money back through Chargebacks.
Furniture retailers and websites are a little easier for us to get approved for a merchant account than some of the other high-risk sectors we have as we have more banks at our disposal that are prepared to look at furniture merchant accounts.

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But before you start your application to start taking card payments for your furniture business here are some things for you to know or consider before getting started:

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It might take a little longer than average to get approved for a furniture merchant account, please allow 10/14 days for approval as the acquirers underwrite your application.

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With some furniture merchant accounts the bank will apply a rolling reserve, this means that the acquirer will hold back a percentage of your transactions for up to 180 days and then release them to you, this is to protect them against chargebacks, If your furniture business is a start-up then this will likely 100% be the case.

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The rates for furniture businesses are usually a little higher than the average high street store to reflect the risk, also acquirers like to price based on Interchange ++ for furniture merchant accounts. This protects the acquirer’s margin. These rates can be negotiated if you are a merchant with trading history.

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Documents that you will need to get together for your furniture business merchant account are as below:

  • Proof of ID for Directors
  • Proof of Trading address
  • Proof of director’s address
  • Proof of Stock purchases
  • Images of Shop or store (not if online)
  • Proof of business bank account – we can help with this here 
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Internet presence helps! If your shop or website has great reviews and is easily accessible online then you have a better chance to be accepted for a merchant account. Acquirers like to support good furniture businesses in accepting Visa and Mastercard.

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There is NO high risk set up fees with Mastercard for Furniture retailers.

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If you are an online business selling furniture then please ensure that the chosen gateway that you select is compatible with the website build that you have.

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If you have a start-up furniture business you will need to provide the following extra documents to be accepted for a merchant account:

  • Business plan
  • Cash flow forecast
  • Proof of Stock
  • Proof of funds
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We can only support furniture businesses in the EU with EU residing directors.

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You will need to show the acquirer of choice that you have all of your legal documentation in place to be accepted for a merchant account for Furniture, this means you will need the following in place:

  • Terms and conditions
  • Refund policy
  • Cancellation policy

If you think that you have all of the above in place and you are ready to start with your application for a furniture merchant account then get in touch today by calling on 01487 808990 or filling out the form below.

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