Cannabis & CBD
Your dependable partner in Cannabis & CBD friendly payment processing.
Cannabis & CBD Payments Built with Trust
PayFirmly enables compliant, secure, and reliable payment flows for cannabis & CBD merchants (from checkout to settlement) ensuring your business can scale without regulatory surprises.
Transaction & Conversion Levers
Operational Levers
Risk & Compliance
Banking & Acquirer Access Limitations
- High-risk stigma: Banks and major processors often classify cannabis/CBD as high-risk, refusing or closing accounts even when sales are legal, pushing merchants toward niche high-risk PSPs or bespoke acquiring at higher cost and complexity.
- Limited payment providers: EU payment options for cannabis merchants are scarce, and the few providers that will onboard often demand strict terms (high reserves, heavy paperwork) or offer limited regional coverage, so even in “legal” markets, banks remain cautious.
Cross-Border Payment & Currency Hurdles
Multi-currency Settlements
Cross-border EU sales require multi-currency settlement, EUR by default, but GBP forthe UK, CHF for Switzerland, etc. So payment and finance teams must process andreconcile across different rails, adding FX exposure and operational complexity.
Card Network and Compliance Restrictions
Scheme bans on cannabis: Major card networks often ban or restrict cannabis/CBD, so card payments can be blocked even where products are legal—forcing merchants toward cash or crypto, with no chargeback protection and more complex audits.
Checkout Experience & Customer Retention
High decline rates: Strict risk policies and “high-risk” labels drive elevated decline rates for CBD merchants, each failed auth costs a sale and trust, and sustained declines erode retention and recurring revenue.
Local Payment Preferences
EU shoppers favor local payment methods (e.g., SEPA, iDEAL, Giropay, Bancontact), so card-only checkouts depress conversion; winning across multiple markets requires integrating diverse APMs—each with its own technical and regulatory setup.
Advantages of choosing PayFirmly
Multi-Acquirer Routing
PayFirmly’s multi-acquirer routing connects you to several banks/PSPs at once, auto-selects the best path and instantly retries declines, lifting approval rates, avoiding outages, and, via specialist high-risk partners, reducing account-closure risk to keep cash flowing.
Regional Alternative Payments
PayFirmly natively enables Europe’s top local APMs, lifting conversion versus card only checkouts and, where needed, bypassing card restrictions with compliant, instant bank based payment flows tailored to each market.
Fraud Prevention & 3D Secure
PayFirmly pairs advanced fraud controls with PSD2-compliant 3D Secure 2.0, blocking risky transactions while keeping checkout smooth, cutting chargebacks and SCA friction without penalizing legitimate customers.
Transparent Reporting & Analytics
PayFirmly provides a unified, real-time reporting dashboard that shows approvals/declines by country, method, and acquirer, with EU-ready details for easy reconciliation and tax reporting, so teams can spot issues early and audit every transaction to satisfy regulators and internal finance.
Stablecoin Settlement
PayFirmly can settle payouts in stablecoins to bypass banking bottlenecks, delivering 24/7, near instant, low-cost funding across borders, especially useful for international cannabis merchants who need cash flow without bank delays or credit constraints.
EU-Compliant Onboarding
PayFirmly fast-tracks go-live for high-risk merchants by handling the EU paperwork, so every document meets EU and local rules, doing the compliance legwork to secure approvals quickly and avoid delays.
Considering a Cannabis Digital Payment Strategy?
Specialized Regulatory Support
Because cannabis is still federally restricted in many places, you need a payments partner who understands banking opacity, varying laws, and can navigate them responsibly.
Clear, Compliant Economics
No hidden markups or misclassification risk, you deserve transparent pricing and agreements that won’t cause your account to be flagged or shut down later.
Visibility Into Every Transaction
Real-time booking visibility and reconciliation allow you to match paymeWith detailed reporting, you can track which payment rails, routes, and methods are working (or failing), crucial for compliance, audits, and optimizing cash flow.nts, bookings, and payouts instantly across your property management and reservation systems.
Risk Controls Tailored for Plant-touching Verticals
Dispensaries and CBD brands face unique fraud scenarios (e.g. proxy IPs, conversion fraud, cash to product mismatches). You want a partner who anticipates them, not surprises you with them.
Start Optimizing Your Payments Today
Experience the power of intelligent transaction routing and a seamless payment ecosystem with PayFirmly.
