Updated September 16, 2024

BigCommerce is a popular, user-friendly platform for e-commerce merchants that allows merchants to set up their online store and accept multiple payment options from multiple payment service providers. This is one of the biggest advantages of working with BigCommerce, and why many merchants choose to use it.

BigCommerce offers other advantages as well. Here are the major reasons many merchants choose to work with them:

• They allow multiple payment methods: A BigCommerce payment gateway makes it easy to accept payments from credit cards, Square, Paypal, Apple Pay, and many other methods.
• Secure Payment Processing: BigCommerce protects merchants by offering data security features and fraud protection for the payment methods they accept. This means both merchant and customer can be confident that your customer's account and sensitive payment information will be kept confidential.

BigCommerce Payment Gateways

BigCommerce is an e-commerce shopping site that works with many payment gateways. Payment gateways are a tool that connects customer information from different online payment methods, such as sending a credit card number to your bank in order to process a payment. The payment gateway serves as a secure tool that allows for safe transactions and monitoring of purchase information.

Each payment gateway has its own features and different methods of integrating with your website. The integration is usually a short code that plugs into a webpage or is downloaded as a plugin or application. From the main menu (on certain gateways), you’ll have the ability to adjust elements of the checkout page and set up the payment format for customers to enter their payment details and make a purchase.

BigCommerce Merchant Account

A merchant account for BigCommerce is a banking entity that holds and exchanges your online online payment methods. It’s the main location you will see customer payments enter, and the account you can withdraw funds from. BigCommerce has a wide range of partners in the merchant account space, which means you have the option of choosing the best one for your industry, your customer's main payment method, and your bottom line.

Some important factors to consider when choosing a provider for your BigCommence-supported payment gateways are:

• Ease of Use: While there are many BigCommerce-supported payment gateways, find one that makes setting up payment processing and gateways simple. Zen Payments is a great option if ease of use is a main concern.
• Transaction Fees: The payment processors that provide the best BigCommerce payment gateways vary with transaction fees. Find one that meets your needs and charges transaction fees that fit your budget.
• Flexibility with Supported Payment Methods: The best payment gateway and processor will allow you to not only accept credit cards, but multiple payment options. This allows you to accept many types of online transactions.
• Security: While BigCommerce works to protect merchants from fraud, you also want to find payment gateways and credit card processors who offer that as well. Make sure your customer's credit card details and other information stay secure. An embedded checkout process is important to protect your customer's payment information.

How Do BigCommerce Payment Gateways Work?

Another reason to choose BigCommerce is because it allows your e-commerce payment process to function as most do. Customers will shop on your site and then will be taken to separate cart and checkout pages. Exactly what this process looks like will depend on your hosted payment gateways. Whichever you choose, a payment gateway allows you to process transaction data almost immediately. The gateway will communicate with payment processors for you, making the payment process simple and preventing unauthorized transactions.

High Risk Merchant Account for BigCommerce

A BigCommerce high risk merchant account is essential for businesses in certain industries that standard payment processors often ban. This is typically because the industry sees a lot of chargebacks and returns or because that industry faces unique legal challenges.

If you are a high-risk merchant, you may have found it difficult to obtain an account or a reliable payment gateway provider. Without these things, you can't offer an online payment service to customers. E-commerce merchants often fall within this category, meaning e-commerce payment gateways often must come from high-risk merchant service providers.

A few of those industries that can't use traditional payment processing are below:

• Bad Credit – A bad credit merchant account on BigCommerce can be appropriate for one of two reasons. One, you’re running a store that helps others with their bad credit. In this case, you offer services to help coach and improve other people’s credit so they have the freedom to get loans and make investments. Alternatively, you may have a low credit score, and stand payment processors won’t support you. Not to worry, there are payment solutions to get you the credit card processing and payment gateways you need for your business. Zen Payments specializes in bad credit merchant accounts and can help you apply for one today.
• Coaching – Coaching merchant accounts on BigCommerce are perfect for anyone who has a speaking business or sells self-help items. A payment for coaching services might sometimes be a high-ticket item, meaning the bill is for over $1K. Also, it may come in after a seminar or coaching event. Because of this, you’ll need a specialty payment processor to help you create a merchant account or payment gateways to accept online payments.
• High Volume – A high volume merchant account for BigCommerce is used for large companies and many transactions. If you have many locations or make a significant amount of revenue, you’ll need an account that caters to that. When you first open your merchant account you’ll be designated a monthly volume limit. This is the general estimate of how much money you can process on your account. During holidays or as your business grows, your company might exceed this limit. In which case you’ll want to contact your payment processor and ask to increase your volume.
• Nutraceuticals – A nutraceuticals merchant for BigCommerce is ideal for companies selling health products online. Dietary supplements, muscle enhancers, protein drinks, and stress relief formulas are all considered nutraceuticals. These products are not evaluated by the FDA, but are consumable, therefore, they have a higher level of attention when it comes to your payment processor and payment gateways. Also, some are sold via negative option billing. In this payment model you offer a product as a trial and bill a customer if they don’t return it. It’s very common for weight loss and joint relief products.
• Tech Support – A tech support merchant account on BigCommerce supports businesses who operate by outsourcing technical expertise for computer and IT services. Tech support is in high demand because of the cost of services, but many processors see it as a risky business type due to the possibility of cyber attacks and hacking that go along with the field of work.

Why Choose Zen Payments as Your Payment Gateway?

If you're a high-risk merchant, you know how frustrating it can be to find a payment processor who will work with you. That's where we come in. Our e-commerce payment processing tools integrate seamlessly with BigCommerce, making it easy to set up a payment gateway, payment processing, and a merchant account. We also streamline the acceptance process because we work with over 15 partners, meaning you'll be able to easily accept payments quickly after applying for a BigCommerce payment gateway with Zen Payments.

Many merchant service providers offer available payment gateways to high-risk companies. What makes Zen Payments different?

We Work With a Large Network

For starters, Zen Payments partners with over 15 banks and financial institutions, meaning your chances of approval are much higher than most other high-risk payment providers. We can get you set up with payment processing and a payment gateway quickly.

Get Onboarded in One to Two Weeks

At Zen Payments, we take you through a traditional underwriting process to ensure you are accepted for reliable payment gateways and payment processing. However, this doesn't mean you'll be waiting long to be able to process payments. In most cases, we'll get you approved in one to two weeks so you can start accepting online purchases.

Accept Multiple Online Payment Methods

Zen Payments allows you to accept multiple payment methods. This includes all major credit cards and debit cards, PIN-debit, e-check, electronic bank transfer (EBT), and gift cards.

Chargeback Prevention Tools

One of the biggest issues e-commerce platforms face is high chargebacks. Zen Payments is one of the most popular payment gateways with e-commerce platforms because our retail POS systems are designed to minimize chargebacks. This allows you to combat fraud and effectively dispute chargebacks.