Square and Shopify welcome CBD
Square and Shopify are now working with CBD retailers.
Earlier this year Elavon/U.S. Bank announced that it would stop accepting new merchant accounts for CBD businesses and would close all existing CBD accounts. This left numerous CBD merchants scrambling for a replacement as they could no longer process orders online or in their brick and mortar. CBD retailers were then stuck with using high risk merchant accounts who had much higher rates and charges.
This month Square Inc. announced it would officially open up payment processing to CBD retailers. What first started as a beta program has now moved forward. Square will charge CBD sellers 3.9% plus 10 cents per transaction for in-person, swipe and dip payments. Online payments will cost 4.2% plus 30 cents per transaction. Access to Square Business services including payroll and inventory management will also be available. .” Online Stores can be built using Square partners such as Big Commerce, Woo Commerce as well as Square Space (Squares online website building platform ).
Square further stated that all sellers must be compliant with federal regulations around labeling, marketing, medical claims and that all CBD products “must be hemp-derived and have less that 0.3% THC”. “Square’s purpose is economic empowerment, and we’re always looking for ways for people to thrive and participate in the economy,” said Sivan Whiteley, general counsel at Square. “This is an industry that’s been underserved.”
Carthook is the leading checkout optimization platform for ecommerce merchants on Shopify. This week Carthook announced that it will now partner with Square so that CBD merchants can process their orders using the Shopify Platform. According to the company website: “CartHook is now the bridge between Square and Shopify” Choose Square as your payment processor, so you can accept major credit card payments quickly and securely. You can integrate with CartHook, which lets you customize your Shopify checkout experience with a one-page checkout and one-click, post-purchase upsells.
Shopify recently announced that it rolled out a suite of tools focused on enabling retailers to sell CBD online and through brick and mortar stores in the U.S. market. Features for U.S. retailers include location-based settings for orders to ensure that shipments don’t go to locations where they are illegal. Shopify currently works with third party merchant accounts Digipay and eMerchant Brokers for CBD payment processing.
This is all exciting news for CBD retailers, starting a CBD-based ecommerce business is now easier than ever. Like everything else online sales are expected to account for the majority of CBD sales going forward, however, competition will be tight and marketing will be key.