When You Need to Change Offshore High Risk Merchant Account Providers In the processing world, some business types and industries are considered “too risky.� High risk merchants are often denied a merchant service account with many processors. Keep in mind that while you may be considered a high risk merchant account with one processor, another may not put you in the high risk category. This depends on how strict or lenient the approval guidelines are. Acquirers classify merchants into risk categories, usually just low-risk or highrisk. The risk profile a merchant gets is predominantly based on the goods and services sold. These are sectors that have an innate high-risk for chargebacks, be it due to stolen cards, non-delivery of goods, unsatisfactory goods, or unclear billing descriptor.