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      High Risk Merchant Program from Visa and Mastercard
      • 06 Jan 2025
      • 2 Minutes to read
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      High Risk Merchant Program from Visa and Mastercard

      • Updated on 06 Jan 2025
      • 2 Minutes to read
      • Print
      Article summary

      What is the High Risk Merchant program?

      Visa and Mastercard guidelines have classified certain industry codes (MCC Codes) as high risk.

      Merchants operating with these MCC in a card-not-present (manually keyed) environment will be subject to fees or registration. These merchants have a higher risk of accepting potentially unlawful transactions when operating without controls, which may pose a greater risk of fraud or chargebacks.

      For the list of applicable MCC, please click here.

      What is Required from Merchants?

      All merchants with a high-risk MCC code operating in a card-not-present environment are subject to an Acquiring Fee.

      A subset of these merchants will also need to register, requiring a separate Registration Fee.

      Types of Fees

      Acquiring Fee

      An annual fee automatically debited from the merchant’s account. Merchants will be charged the month they sign up and then annually in April.

      • Canadian Region: $100.00 annually

      • U.S. Region: $25.00 annually

      Merchants will receive an email prior to billing.

      Registration Fee

      Applies to specific MCCs. The two MCC’s that need registration at this time are Pharmacies and Tobacco Sales. Merchants will be charged an initial fee in the registration year and then annually in September.

      The fees for each specific card brand are:

      • VISA: $950.00 annually

      • Mastercard: $500.00 annually

      Billing example: Merchant is billed in January 2025 for the year of 2025. Annual billing will be September 2026.

      Registration Fee Limits

      • Pharmacies: Can key up to 25% (Visa) or 50% (MasterCard) before registration is required.

      • Tobacco/Vape Sales: Can key up to 0.01% (Visa) and 50% (MasterCard) before registration is required.

      Registration Fee Waiver for Pharmacies

      Visa will waive the registration fee if the pharmacy provides one of the approved items listed below.

      Accepted certifications and monitoring programs currently recognized by Visa include:

      • NABP Healthcare Merchant Accreditation (HMA)

      • NABP Drug Distributor Accreditation (DDA)

      • LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification (HMC)

      Note: Mastercard will not waive the fee.

      List of Applicable MCCs

      The high-risk categories are for MCCs:

      • 5967 (Direct Marketing/Inbound)

      • 7273 (Dating Services)

      • 7995 (Gambling)

      • 5122/5912 (Pharmacies/Drug Stores) - Requires additional registration

      • 6051/6012 (Quasi-Cash/Crypto)

      • 4816 (Computer/Network Services)

      • 5816 (Digital Games)

      • 6211 (Securities Dealer)

      • 5966 (Direct Marketing/Outbound)

      • 5968 (Direct Marketing/Subscriptions)

      • 5993 (Tobacco Sales) - Requires additional registration

      What if a merchant refuses the program?

      Merchants who refuse the program have the following options:

      1. Temporary Visa and MasterCard Disablement: Suspend Visa and Mastercard acceptance while we work on registration and compliance.

      2. Permanent Visa and MasterCard Disablement: If the merchant declines the program entirely, they can permanently disable Visa and MasterCard acceptance. Advise the merchant that this option may cause significant business disruptions due to the widespread use of these cards.

      3. Account Closure: Close the merchant account if no other option is acceptable.

      Inform merchants that switching payment processors will not exempt them from this program as it’s implemented by Visa and MasterCard. Additionally, registration cannot be transferred between payment processors.


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