Why SelectCBD.com isn't accepting VISA

I'm a believer in CBD, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis/hemp. I've read enough about CBD to decide that taking it for general health promotion makes sense, since I take quite a few supplements for the same reason. 

SelectCBD.com has been my main source for CBD drops, which I take twice a day.

But around ten days ago I saw that the site wasn't accepting VISA, just MasterCard, due to "technical issues" with their payment processor.

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NEXT DAY UPDATE: This is either a bit of synchronicity, or this blog post has magical powers (my favored explanation!), since today I got this message from Select CBD. Note, however, a comment from another CBD provider that I'll copy in below.

Hello!

  

We have good news! After the long wait, we are now able to accept Visa payments again. Even better, we are now able to accept Discover and American Express as well. Thank you so much for your patience as we worked out these improvements.

  

As promised, we want to make it up to you. Instead of $10 off, we'd like you to enjoy 20% off your entire order. Please use the one-time use code VISA20 at checkout, this will be valid through the end of June.

Please note that discount codes cannot be used in conjunction with other offers and promos. That said, if you originally had a coupon code applied that you feel gives you better savings, then please use your best judgment as these savings will not be able to be retroactively applied. 

 

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our team.

Best wishes,
Select CBD Support
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OK.  But I wanted to get their CBD for pets, since our dog has a chronic liver problem that's gotten worse recently, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if CBD could help her. 

So after a few days of seeing that the technical problem was still preventing me from using a VISA card  (I don't have MasterCard), I emailed the support staff at SelectCBD, asking how long the technical issues would take to be resolved.

I didn't get an answer then. However, I did get a free bottle of chicken-flavored CBD drops for pets, which was much appreciated.  

Yesterday I emailed the support staff again, noting that it sure seemed like this must be more than a technical problem. Here's part of the response I got:

Hi Brian,

Thanks for reaching out to us. 

We do apologize for any inconvenience you're experiencing through this matter. We are experiencing issues due to the fact that our credit card processing merchant has decided to drop all CBD accounts with no notice. We were caught off-guard by this just as much as you and our other customers were. This is the current state of our industry, as it's very new and we're treading on new legal ground. There are a lot of grey areas and land mines for us to step on just like this one. 

PayPal doesn't accept payment for CBD products either. You can find this information with a little bit of research. 

We are currently in discussion with a new merchant but these things do not happen over night, hence the long wait. 

So that's the reason. I suggested to the support staff person that being a bit more open about the problem on their web site would be better than simply saying "technical issues."

After all, I felt more empathy for SelectCBD after learning why they can't accept VISA. Here's what the site currently is saying about the problem.  (Hard to read, due to the small type.)

SECOND UPDATE: Here's a comment another CBD seller left on this post. I wanted to share it in the post itself to give it more visibility. It's really disturbing that both CBD and THC forms of cannabis get singled out for financial and legal discrimination when other much more dangerous products, such as alcohol and tobacco, are sold without any problem.

Hi Brian,

This frustration is real for both merchants and consumers. I run an ecommerce CBD site, and we are with the same processor/bank as Select.

To make matters worse the processor/bank with the most clients, Elavon/US Bank, is shutting down all CBD processing as of today (May 15th, 2019). The processor SelectCBD and we are with is not Elavon, but a high percentage of CBD ecommerce sites are currently looking for a new home to process payments due to the Elavon/US Bank exit.

The information we are hearing is that the few banks that are currently accepting applications are only taking on large clients right now. I've heard minimum per month processing for new merchant accounts right now with some of these banks is in the 500k/month range. We have applications with multiple processors and they are saying our application could take at least 3-4 weeks due to the number of applications they have.

The shutting down of Visa payments from our processor was immediate with no warning on April 30th. Our transactions were 80% visa prior to the visa issue. To say the least, it has been a significant impact to small businesses such as mine.

I hope this adds a little color to your post.

- Mark H. from EarlybirdCBD

Comments

[Rain Trueax]

It's a shame that there is so much ignorance when it involves CBD or hemp. I saw a hemp meme, and all its benefits, on FB and again the reason we don't have more of it growing (which has no THC) is ignorance.

[Mark H]

Hi Brian,

This frustration is real for both merchants and consumers. I run an ecommerce CBD site, and we are with the same processor/bank as Select.

To make matters worse the processor/bank with the most clients, Elavon/US Bank, is shutting down all CBD processing as of today (May 15th, 2019). The processor SelectCBD and we are with is not Elavon, but a high percentage of CBD ecommerce sites are currently looking for a new home to process payments due to the Elavon/US Bank exit.

The information we are hearing is that the few banks that are currently accepting applications are only taking on large clients right now. I've heard minimum per month processing for new merchant accounts right now with some of these banks is in the 500k/month range. We have applications with multiple processors and they are saying our application could take at least 3-4 weeks due to the number of applications they have.

The shutting down of Visa payments from our processor was immediate with no warning on April 30th. Our transactions were 80% visa prior to the visa issue. To say the least, it has been a significant impact to small businesses such as mine.

I hope this adds a little color to your post.

- Mark H. from EarlybirdCBD

[Helo]

Too bad to hear about the issue and sounds hassle for the CBD customers. Hope they will got it resolved the soonest time.