This article describes high-risk items and the benefits of using atgPay to processing payments on those items.
This article contains the following sections:
What Items are Considered High-Risk?
High-risk merchandise includes government-regulated goods that require additional underwriting by credit card processors, as well as potentially brand damaging products. High-risk merchandise may include but is not limited to firearms, ammunition, alcohol, and pornographic, offensive or discriminatory goods.
Selling High-Risk Items
Auction houses that sell high-risk items (whether it's part of their core business or an ad hoc consignment of just one lot) will complete a separate onboarding process from those that do not. Auction houses will need to provide a higher level of information to Proxibid to meet the high-risk assessment criteria. For additional questions, please contact payments@proxibid.com.
Once approved, auction houses will be given two merchant IDs- one for processing regular transactions, and one for high-risk transactions (High-Risk Merchant ID).
atgPay enabled events with high-risk lots present must have a High-Risk Merchant ID. If invoices containing high-risk items are sent to bidders without a High-Risk Merchant ID on file, the bidder will not have a Pay Now button available to them. Instead, they will need to contact the auction company directly to arrange payment.
To apply for a High-Risk Merchant ID, please complete this form.
At this time, atgPay is not able to accept merchants who are not US citizens, or businesses that are not a registered entity.
Federal Firearms Licenses
Proxibid requires a Federal Firearms Licenses (FFL) from auction houses who sell or intend to sell one or more modern, curio or relic firearms. For more information, see atgPay: Federal Firearms Licensing (FFL) Policy.
Payment Processing for High-Risk Items
atgPay gives bidders a seamless, online checkout process that makes it easy to buy from the same auction houses again and again. Funds are automatically deposited into the auction house's bank account on a flexible schedule.
Use atgPay to accept credit card payments for high-risk merchandise at a low, competitive rate, plus:
- Faster payment collection, allowing auction houses to service consignors more quickly.
- Weekly disbursements deposited directly into the auction house's bank account.
- Free sales tax calculation, collection and remittance services including a tax exemption certificate management system for bidders.
atgPay high-risk payment processing accepts almost every kind of credit and debit card can process hundreds of currencies from anywhere in the world.
The cost to process high-risk transactions are higher than regular transactions. This additional fee can be absorbed by the auction house or passed on to the bidder.
To learn more about high-risk payment processing, email Proxibid support at payments@proxibid.com.
High-Risk Invoices
If an auction house is passing the high-risk processing fee on to the bidder, additional fees should be added to the invoices prior to sending or re-sending them to bidders.
For information on adding fees to paid invoices, see atgPay: Invoicing.
The Invoices page in AuctionBuilder will display a High-Risk indicator column to help auction houses track which invoices contain high-risk lots in order to apply any additional fees. This column will only be visible for events that have atgPay enabled and contain high-risk lots.
If invoices containing high-risk items are sent to bidders without a High-Risk Merchant ID on file, the bidder will not have a Pay Now button available to them. Instead, they will need to contact the auction company directly to arrange payment.
Bidder Impact
Bidders who purchase high-risk items will see the notification below on their invoice and on the checkout page:
"Due to the regulated nature of items in this order, the auctioneer may contact you for additional documentation in order to finalize the sale. By paying for this invoice, you agree to all shipping policies and terms of sale set by the auctioneer."
If invoices containing high-risk items are sent to bidders without a High-Risk Merchant ID on file, the bidder will not have a Pay Now button available to them. Instead, they will need to contact the auction company directly to arrange payment.
Disbursements
Auction houses will get two disbursements, one for each merchant ID. These disbursements will appear as two separate deposit entries, but they would happen simultaneously. For more information on disbursements, see atgPay: Refunds and Disbursements.