In Europe, merchants accepting Visa and Mastercard benefit from some of the most structured and predictable card-processing rules in the world. EU/EEA regulation caps interchange fees, protects consumer rights, and standardizes security requirements across member states. However, despite this unified framework, businesses do not face the same card-acceptance conditions.
The critical differentiator is risk category. Whether a business is classified as low-risk or high-risk directly affects approval processes, fees, reserves, onboarding time, and ongoing monitoring.
Below is an integrated overview of how card acceptance works for both business types in Europe — and the strategies high-risk merchants can use to bring their costs down.
1. Low-Risk Businesses in Europe
Examples:
Characteristics:
Transparent commercial model
Card Acceptance Conditions:
1. Easy onboarding
Most acquirers and PSPs can onboard low-risk merchants quickly, requiring only basic KYC documentation.
2. Predictable, regulated pricing
EU interchange fee caps ensure:
Final merchant pricing typically falls around:
3. Little or no rolling reserve
Reserves are rare unless a business is very new or has inconsistent trading history.
4. Broad choice of providers
Most European PSPs and acquirers accept low-risk merchants, including:
Adyen, Stripe, Rapyd, and many more.
High-Risk Businesses in Europe:
Examples
Characteristics
Card Acceptance Conditions: Heavy underwriting & enhanced KYC, Higher pricing, Rolling reserves, Limited PSP/acquirer availability, Strict chargeback oversight
Specialized European high-risk acquirers are typically found in:
How High-Risk Merchants Can Reduce Costs in Europe?
Even within a regulated region like the EU/EEA, high-risk merchants can take steps to reduce fees and improve acceptance conditions. These strategies address issues that directly drive up acquirer risk.
1. Use local acquiring (domestic European routing)
Transactions made with EEA-issued cards typically carry:
2. Reduce chargebacks using advanced fraud tools
Lower risk → lower fees.
High-risk merchants should adopt:
Reducing chargebacks improves MCC rating and reduces reserve requirements.
3. Shorten delivery and fulfillment timelines
Acquirers treat long fulfillment cycles as risk. Merchants can optimize by:
4. Improve dispute management
Efficient chargeback handling reduces long-term costs:
5. Add PSD2-compliant authentication
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) reduces fraud and improves acquirer approval rates.
This lowers risk category and final fees.
6. Introduce alternative payment methods (APMs)
For high-risk industries, APMs reduce reliance on Visa/Mastercard and help bypass card chargeback risk.
Popular European APMs include:
While using those APM's you increse trust with your customer and get less chargebacks.
