A Guide to Online Pharmacy Merchant Services

Online Pharmacy Merchant Accounts and Payment Gateways

Online pharmacies are one of the more complex businesses for payment providers to underwrite.

The challenge is not simply that medicines are sold online.

A payment provider may need to understand:

• Who operates the pharmacy
• Where the pharmacy is registered
• Who prescribes the medicines
• How consultations take place
• Which medicines and treatments are supplied
• Where medicines are dispensed
• How patients are assessed
• When payment is taken
• How repeat prescriptions and recurring payments work
• How medicines are delivered
• Where patients are located
• How prescription-only medicines are marketed
• Previous card-processing history
• Refunds and chargebacks

The rapid growth of private weight-management services and GLP-1 medicines has made this particularly important.

For established online pharmacies processing significant card volumes, the conversation can also move beyond simply getting a merchant account. Payment costs, authorisation rates, recurring-payment performance, settlement, reserves and gateway technology can all have a meaningful commercial impact.

This guide explains what payment providers assess, how weight-loss pharmacy payments differ from ordinary ecommerce and what established pharmacies should review as their business grows.

Quick answer: Can an online pharmacy get a merchant account?

Yes.

UK online pharmacies can obtain merchant accounts and payment gateways, but the provider must knowingly support the pharmacy's business model and products.

A high-street pharmacy processing payments through a card terminal may be viewed differently from an online business taking prescription orders entirely through a website.

Online pharmacy underwriting may examine:

• Pharmacy registration
• Company ownership
• Superintendent pharmacist
• Prescribers
• Website
• Consultation process
• Medicines supplied
• Advertising
• Fulfilment
• Patient locations
• Transaction values
• Refunds
• Chargebacks
• Previous processing

Pharmacies are commonly associated with MCC 5912 - Drug Stores and Pharmacies, although the acquiring provider is responsible for assigning the appropriate merchant category code according to the actual business activity. Current Visa and Mastercard merchant-category documentation includes pharmacies under MCC 5912. 

For more complex pharmacy businesses, finding the right payment provider is therefore as much about regulatory fit and payment structure as transaction price.

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Why are online pharmacies considered higher risk?

Payment providers can be exposed to several different risks when processing online pharmacy transactions.

These include:

• Prescription-only medicines
• Patient safety
• Medicines regulation
• Online prescribing
• Advertising restrictions
• Cross-border supply
• Fraud
• Chargebacks
• Delivery disputes
• Unlicensed medicines
• Reputational risk
• Changes in the treatments being offered

The underwriting question is not simply:

“Is this a registered pharmacy?”

It is closer to:

“Does the entire customer journey - from advertising and consultation through prescribing, payment, dispensing and delivery - fit within our acceptable-risk policy?”

That is a much more detailed assessment.

Weight-loss pharmacies and GLP-1 payment processing

Weight management has become one of the most important areas of private online pharmacy.

Medicines such as semaglutide and tirzepatide have driven considerable growth in private weight-management services.

GLP-1 medicines are prescription-only medicines. The MHRA states that private patients must have an appropriate consultation with a healthcare professional before a prescription is issued and warns against buying these medicines from unregulated sellers or without a prior consultation. 

From a payment-provider perspective, this means the transaction cannot necessarily be viewed like an ordinary online retail purchase.

An underwriter may want to understand:

1. How the patient reaches the pharmacy
2. How the treatment service is presented
3. Who conducts the consultation
4. Who makes the prescribing decision
5. How patient information is verified
6. Which pharmacy dispenses the medicine
7. At what point payment is taken
8. What happens if the patient is unsuitable for treatment
9. How repeat prescriptions are managed
10. How medicines are delivered

Independent verification for weight-management prescribing

The General Pharmaceutical Council's current guidance for pharmacist prescribers includes specific safeguards for weight-management medicines.

Before prescribing, the prescriber should independently verify the person's weight, height and/or BMI. This could be done through a video consultation, in person, using clinical records or through another healthcare provider. The guidance says verification by telephone would not be appropriate for the supply of weight-loss medication. 

This is relevant to payment underwriting because the customer journey should not look like:

complete questionnaire → pay → automatically receive medicine

where there is no clear clinical decision between the request and the supply of treatment.

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Semaglutide, tirzepatide and other weight-management medicines

A payment provider is likely to want the actual medicines sold disclosed rather than an application simply stating:

“weight-loss treatments.”

The precise product matters.

The MHRA's current GLP-1 guidance lists medicines including semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide, while also making clear that not every GLP-1 medicine is authorised for weight management. 

For example, semaglutide is used in different medicines with different authorised indications.

An acquiring application should therefore clearly identify:

• Medicine or brand
• Active ingredient
• Intended treatment
• Prescribing route
• Supplier
• Dispensing pharmacy

In June 2026, the MHRA also approved the UK's first GLP-1 receptor agonist tablet specifically for weight loss and weight management: a tablet formulation of semaglutide marketed as Wegovy. 

This is a useful example of how quickly the product landscape is developing — and why a provider needs to understand what a pharmacy actually supplies rather than relying on broad terms such as “GLP-1 treatment”.

Powdered or unauthorised GLP-1 products create a different problem

Legitimate pharmacy supply should not be confused with websites selling products that merely use the names of popular GLP-1 medicines.

The MHRA states that legitimate GLP-1 medicines are provided in authorised forms such as pre-filled injection pens or tablet formulations. It specifically warns that products supplied as powder in vials which need to be mixed before injection are not authorised GLP-1 medicines and pose significant health risks. 

From a payment perspective, this creates a fundamentally different risk from a registered pharmacy dispensing authorised prescription medicines.

A provider may therefore examine:

• Exact formulation
• Packaging
• Manufacturer
• Supplier
• Marketing authorisation
• Website descriptions
• Prescribing arrangements

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Advertising weight-loss medicines online

This is one of the most important current compliance issues for online weight-management pharmacies.

Prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised to the general public.

Treatment providers can promote a service or consultation, but advertising must not become an invitation for members of the public to request a particular prescription-only medicine.

The MHRA continued taking action throughout 2026 against weight-management advertising that directly or indirectly promoted prescription-only medicines, including references to “weight-loss injections” and GLP-1 medication. 

In June 2026, the MHRA, Advertising Standards Authority and GPhC also issued a joint warning about advertising newly licensed and as-yet unlicensed weight-management products. References such as “GLP-1 tablets”, “oral GLP-1s” or “new weight-loss tablets” can breach advertising rules when they promote prescription-only medicines to the public. 

For payment underwriting, this means the provider may inspect much more than the checkout.

It may review:

• Homepage
• Treatment pages
• Landing pages
• Paid advertising
• Blogs
• Social media
• Testimonials
• Affiliate websites
• Influencer marketing
• Email campaigns

MAS insight: A legitimate pharmacy can still have a payment problem because of its marketing

This distinction matters.

A pharmacy could be:

• Properly registered
• Using qualified prescribers
• Dispensing legitimate medicines
• Operating an appropriate consultation process

but still create concerns for an acquiring bank because its website or advertising is too product-led.

That is why pharmacy underwriting needs to consider:

clinical governance + payment journey + commercial marketing

rather than registration alone.

What information will an online pharmacy payment provider ask for?

Requirements vary, but merchants should be prepared for more detailed underwriting than an ordinary ecommerce retailer.

Company information

This may include:

• Company registration
• Directors
• Beneficial owners
• Trading history
• Business bank statements
• Accounts or management information
• Ownership structure
• Previous payment providers

Pharmacy information

A provider may ask for:

• Pharmacy registration
• Pharmacy premises
• Superintendent pharmacist details
• Dispensing arrangements
• Relevant regulatory information

Where the website, prescribing service and pharmacy are operated by different companies, the relationship between them should be clearly explained.

Prescribing information

The underwriter may want to understand:

• Who employs or contracts the prescribers
• Professional registration
• Prescribing qualifications
• Consultation method
• Patient-verification process
• Clinical governance
• Repeat-prescription process
• How medical information is verified

Products

Expect to disclose the complete product range.

This might include:

• Prescription-only medicines
• Pharmacy medicines
• OTC products
• Weight-management treatments
• Controlled medicines where applicable
• Supplements
• Cosmetics
• Other healthcare products

A merchant account approved for one business model should not be assumed to cover materially different products introduced later.

Your provider needs to understand who does what

Online pharmacy businesses can involve several organisations.

For example:

Website operator → prescribing service → pharmacy → fulfilment provider → courier

Sometimes one company performs all of these functions.

Sometimes several independent companies are involved.

This can create confusion during underwriting.

The acquiring provider needs to understand:

• Who contracts with the patient
• Who takes the payment
• Who provides the consultation
• Who prescribes
• Who dispenses
• Who fulfils the order
• Who handles refunds
• Which business name appears on the customer's card statement

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MAS insight: Complex pharmacy applications often fail because the structure has not been explained clearly

The underlying business may be legitimate.

The problem is that the application leaves the underwriter trying to work out:

Who is actually selling what to whom?

Making the commercial and clinical structure clear from the beginning can avoid a significant amount of unnecessary back-and-forth.

When should the patient be charged?

This deserves careful consideration.

An online pharmacy should be able to explain what happens where:

1. The patient requests treatment
2. Payment is authorised
3. A clinical assessment takes place
4. The prescriber decides treatment is unsuitable
5. No medicine is supplied

What happens to the payment?

Is it:

• Refunded automatically?
• Partially refunded?
• A consultation charge retained?
• Never captured until clinical approval?

The right model depends on the business.

The important point from an underwriting perspective is that the payment journey should make commercial sense alongside the clinical process.

Recurring payments for weight-management pharmacies

Many private weight-management services operate on a repeat or monthly basis.

This creates an additional payment challenge.

Not every monthly pharmacy payment is simply a standard ecommerce subscription.

A recurring charge might include:

• Membership
• Clinical monitoring
• Consultation
• Prescription service
• Medication
• Delivery

The provider needs to understand exactly what the customer is paying for.

A properly structured recurring-payment journey

A pharmacy using recurring card payments should understand:

• How the initial card transaction is authenticated
• How the customer's card credential is stored
• How later payments are submitted
• Billing frequency
• Cancellation process
• How changes in payment amount are communicated
• What appears on the customer's statement
• What happens when treatment stops
• What happens when the patient is no longer clinically suitable

Good recurring-payment design is not just a technical issue.

Poorly understood repeat charges can result in:

• Customer complaints
• Refund requests
• Chargebacks
• “Transaction not recognised” disputes

Payment gateways for online pharmacies

The merchant account and payment gateway perform different functions.

An online pharmacy may need:

• Ecommerce card acquiring
• Payment gateway
• 3D Secure
• Tokenisation
• Digital wallets
• Recurring payments
• Payment links
• Fraud screening
• Refund functionality
• Reporting
• API integration

Larger pharmacies may also need payment systems to connect with:

• Patient portal
• Consultation platform
• Prescribing software
• Pharmacy-management software
• CRM
• Subscription platform
• Fulfilment system
• Accounting software

The cheapest gateway is not necessarily the right gateway for an online pharmacy.

High-turnover online pharmacies: when payments become a strategic issue

Once an online pharmacy reaches meaningful scale, payments should be reviewed as part of the wider business rather than treated simply as a transaction fee.

A pharmacy may have started with:

website → payment gateway → one acquiring bank

That may have worked perfectly well while the business was smaller.

As turnover, patient numbers and repeat payments increase, different issues begin to matter:

• Transaction costs
• Payment authorisation rates
• Failed recurring payments
• Gateway costs
• Cash tied up in reserves
• Settlement times
• Reconciliation
• International cards
• Dependence on one acquiring relationship
• Limitations in existing technology

At this stage, simply asking:

“Can you beat my processing rate?”

may miss the bigger opportunity.

A small pricing difference can become significant at scale

For a high-turnover pharmacy, even a small difference in effective processing cost can translate into a material annual figure.

But cost is only one part of the equation.

A £1 million-per-month ecommerce business that improves legitimate payment acceptance could potentially benefit more from that improvement than from shaving a small amount from its transaction rate.

This means higher-volume pharmacies should understand:

• Overall authorisation rate
• Decline reasons
• Issuer performance
• Domestic versus international performance
• 3D Secure performance
• Recurring-payment success rate
• Failed-payment recovery
• Card expiry
• Customer retry behaviour

The objective is:

lower cost + higher legitimate payment acceptance + better customer experience

rather than simply the lowest quoted percentage.

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High-volume recurring payments deserve particular attention

This is especially relevant to weight-management pharmacies.

At scale, a poorly configured recurring-payment process can result in substantial lost revenue.

The pharmacy should understand:

Initial customer transaction

How is the first payment authenticated?

Stored credentials

How are card details tokenised and stored securely?

Subsequent transactions

Are later payments being correctly submitted as recurring or merchant-initiated transactions where applicable?

Expired or replaced cards

Does the provider support tools that can help update stored card credentials?

Failed payments

What happens when a legitimate recurring transaction declines?

Can an appropriate recoverable decline be retried?

Does the customer receive a secure link to update their card?

Hard declines

Are transactions which should not be retried being stopped?

Cancellation

Does stopping the treatment also stop the payment?

For high-volume recurring merchants, these details can have a material effect on revenue and chargebacks.

Payment authorisation rates can matter more than the merchant rate

Higher-turnover ecommerce merchants should monitor how many genuine customer payments are being lost to declines.

A provider offering slightly cheaper processing may not represent a saving if fewer legitimate payments complete successfully.

Useful questions include:

• What percentage of transactions are approved?
• Which decline reasons are most common?
• Are legitimate customers being rejected?
• How is 3D Secure configured?
• Is authentication creating unnecessary abandonment?
• Are recurring transactions properly flagged?
• Are retries being handled appropriately?
• Are card-updater or tokenisation services available?
• Are international payments performing differently?

For some businesses, improving these areas may be more valuable than renegotiating a few basis points.

Should a high-turnover pharmacy use more than one acquirer?

Potentially.

Not every pharmacy needs multiple acquiring providers.

But a larger business may want to consider whether complete dependence on one provider creates operational risk.

A second properly underwritten acquiring route or payment-orchestration arrangement may potentially support:

• Business continuity
• International markets
• Different currencies
• Legitimate payment routing
• Different transaction requirements

Every provider should understand and approve the activity it processes.

Multiple merchant accounts should not be used to:

• Conceal activity
• Avoid provider restrictions
• Hide excessive chargebacks
• Process products another acquirer has rejected
• Split problematic transactions between providers

The purpose should be resilience and legitimate payment optimisation.

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High-turnover pharmacies should review their reserve

Some online pharmacies are required to maintain a rolling or fixed reserve.

A reserve that was reasonable when the company first launched may become financially significant as turnover grows.

For example, an established pharmacy may now have:

• Years of processing history
• Low chargebacks
• Strong financial accounts
• Reliable fulfilment
• Mature compliance
• Much higher turnover

but still be operating under reserve terms originally agreed when the business had little track record.

It may be worth asking whether the current arrangement remains appropriate.

Possible areas for discussion include:

• Reserve percentage
• Reserve cap
• Holding period
• Release schedule
• Alternative security

The provider does not have to reduce or remove a reserve.

But the effect on working capital should form part of any payment review.

Settlement can matter as much as price

Online pharmacies may have significant ongoing expenditure on:

• Medication
• Dispensing
• Prescribers
• Clinical staff
• Technology
• Advertising
• Delivery

Settlement therefore matters.

A merchant should compare:

• Same-day or next-day settlement
• T+2 or longer arrangements
• Weekend settlement
• Reserve deductions
• Currency settlement
• Refund treatment

A provider with a slightly higher transaction cost but materially better settlement may sometimes represent the better commercial arrangement.

Pricing: blended rates versus IC++

Higher-turnover merchants should understand how their processing is priced.

A simple blended rate can be convenient.

For larger businesses, greater visibility may be useful.

IC++ pricing can separate:

• Interchange
• Card-scheme charges
• Acquirer margin

This gives the merchant greater insight into where the cost of accepting different cards originates.

However, IC++ is not automatically cheaper.

The comparison should reflect the pharmacy's actual:

• Debit/credit mix
• Consumer/commercial mix
• UK/international cards
• Average transaction size
• Transaction volume
• Ecommerce profile

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MAS insight: High turnover changes the conversation

For a new pharmacy, the first question is often:

“Can I get an online pharmacy merchant account?”

For a pharmacy processing substantial monthly card volumes, the questions become different:

Are we paying the right amount?

How many genuine payments are being declined?

Is our recurring-payment setup working properly?

Are we holding unnecessary amounts of cash in reserve?

Could settlement improve?

Is our gateway limiting us?

Are we too dependent on one provider?

Can the current payment setup support the next stage of growth?

This is where MAS can look at the payment arrangement as a whole, rather than simply finding another acquiring bank.

High-turnover pharmacy? Ask MAS to review your current payments

If your pharmacy already processes significant card volumes, you do not need to wait until your existing provider causes a problem before reviewing the setup.

A useful starting point can include:

• Three recent merchant statements
• Monthly card turnover
• Number of transactions
• Current acquiring pricing
• Gateway costs
• Current gateway
• Settlement period
• Reserve percentage and holding period
• Recurring-payment volume
• Chargeback rate
• Payment authorisation rate, if available
• Key decline reasons, if available
• Countries and currencies
• Planned expansion

MAS can then consider:

processing cost + payment performance + recurring payments + settlement + reserves + technology + provider suitability

rather than simply comparing headline rates.

You do not need to cancel your existing provider to review your payment setup.

Can online pharmacies switch payment providers?

Potentially.

An established pharmacy should not assume that the merchant account it opened several years ago still represents the best arrangement.

A review may be worthwhile where:

• Turnover has increased significantly
• The business has moved into weight management
• Ecommerce volumes have increased
• Pricing has risen
• A historic reserve remains in place
• Settlement is slow
• Recurring payments perform poorly
• The gateway is limiting development
• International requirements have changed
• The existing provider no longer supports the full business

But pharmacy merchants should be particularly careful when moving.

Do not cancel a functioning pharmacy merchant account on the strength of an attractive quote alone.

The replacement provider should have completed underwriting and knowingly approved:

• The pharmacy
• Product range
• Prescribing model
• Website
• Patient markets
• Recurring-payment model

before the old account is closed.

What about additional pharmacy verification?

Online prescription-medicine businesses can face additional due diligence depending on the acquiring provider, card scheme, market and business model.

This can include further verification of the pharmacy or its authority to supply medicines online.

Do not assume every provider has identical requirements.

It is often worth establishing what a prospective payment provider actually requires before paying for third-party verification or certification.

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Online pharmacies should also be aware that requirements are not identical throughout the UK.

Great Britain-based online medicine sellers have not been required to display the EU Distance Selling Logo since 1 January 2021.

Northern Ireland is different.

Anyone based in Northern Ireland selling medicines to the public online must still comply with the EU common Distance Selling Logo regime, register with the MHRA and display the logo on relevant pages offering medicines for sale. 

Payment underwriters may therefore want to establish:

• Where the pharmacy is registered
• Where the website operator is located
• Where medicines are dispensed
• Where patients are located

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What if an online pharmacy also sells peptides or research products?

This should be treated separately.

A provider willing to accept a registered online pharmacy does not automatically accept research peptides, laboratory compounds or other products described as “research use only”.

Adding these products can materially change:

• Risk classification
• Provider appetite
• MCC
• Underwriting requirements
• Reserve
• Pricing
• Website requirements

Where a pharmacy also sells research peptides, MAS would normally assess that part of the business separately rather than assume it falls within the pharmacy merchant account.

Read our separate guide to Peptide Merchant Accounts and Payment Processing.

Why do online pharmacy merchant account applications get declined?

There is rarely one universal reason.

The payment provider does not accept online pharmacies

Some providers simply exclude the sector.

The pharmacy structure is unclear

The underwriter cannot establish who:

• Runs the website
• Contracts with the patient
• Prescribes
• Dispenses
• Takes payment

The prescribing model creates concerns

There may be insufficient explanation of how patients are assessed.

Weight-loss advertising is problematic

This remains a live enforcement issue. The MHRA's June 2026 decisions included businesses that changed advertising following concerns about direct or indirect promotion of prescription-only weight-loss medicines. 

The product range has changed

A general pharmacy may have moved heavily into weight management or another specialist treatment area after the original account was approved.

Cross-border sales were not disclosed

A provider may accept UK patients while excluding other countries.

Chargebacks are too high

High dispute levels can make an already specialist application much harder to place.

Previous termination was not disclosed

A new provider may still consider the business, but it will normally need to understand what happened to cause termination.

Chargebacks in online pharmacy

Common pharmacy disputes can include:

• Transaction not recognised
• Medication not received
• Delayed delivery
• Refund disagreement
• Subscription disagreement
• Customer cancellation
• Alleged unauthorised transaction

Recurring weight-management services need particular care.

Useful controls may include:

• Recognisable billing descriptor
• Clear recurring-payment terms
• Delivery tracking
• Prompt refunds
• Appropriate authentication
• Clear customer communication
• Simple cancellation
• Good transaction records
• Effective chargeback management

A high chargeback rate can affect:

• Provider appetite
• Pricing
• Reserves
• Ongoing account stability

Comparing online pharmacy merchant accounts

Do not compare providers on transaction rate alone.

Product acceptance

Does the provider knowingly support everything you sell?

Business model

Does it understand the relationship between the website, prescriber and pharmacy?

Gateway

Can it work with your technology?

Recurring payments

Are repeat-payment requirements properly supported?

Pricing

Compare:

• Acquiring rate
• Fixed transaction charges
• Gateway fees
• International cards
• Commercial cards
• Refund fees
• Chargeback fees

Reserve

Understand:

• Percentage
• Cap
• Holding period
• Release process

Settlement

When does the money actually reach you?

Contract

Check:

• Minimum term
• Notice
• Exit costs
• Volume requirements

Countries

Which patient locations are supported?

Support

Who helps when:

• Payments start declining
• Settlement is delayed
• A chargeback arrives
• A new product is introduced
• Another website is launched
• Turnover increases significantly

MAS insight: Tell us exactly what you sell before we approach a provider

One of the quickest ways to waste time is submitting an application that simply says:

“Online pharmacy.”

That tells an underwriter very little.

MAS would rather understand:

• Pharmacy registration
• Website
• Treatments
• Medicines
• Prescribing model
• Patient countries
• Turnover
• Existing provider
• Previous declines
• Gateway requirements
• Recurring-payment requirements

before considering possible acquiring routes.

The aim is to approach providers whose appetite fits the real business, rather than generating unnecessary declines.

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How Merchant Advice Service helps online pharmacies

Merchant Advice Service helps businesses with more complex payment requirements understand their options and identify potential providers.

New online pharmacy merchant accounts

MAS can review the payment requirement before considering potential providers.

Weight-loss pharmacies

We can consider payment requirements for businesses providing private online weight-management services, including GLP-1 treatment models.

High-turnover pharmacies

For established businesses processing significant volumes, the review can go beyond basic merchant-account approval.

This may include:

• Processing costs
• Payment authorisation rates
• Recurring-payment performance
• Gateway technology
• Settlement
• Reserves
• Resilience
• International requirements

Pharmacy payment gateways

Requirements can include:

• Ecommerce integrations
• 3D Secure
• Digital wallets
• Tokenisation
• Recurring payments
• Payment links
• APIs
• Reporting

Declined pharmacy applications

Where an application has already been declined, understanding the reason can help determine whether another provider is likely to be suitable.

Terminated pharmacy merchant accounts

Where processing has been closed, the reason should be established before replacement applications are made.

Existing pharmacies looking to switch or reduce costs

Recent processing history can be used to understand:

• Current costs
• Gateway fees
• Settlement
• Reserve
• Contract
• Payment performance

A lower rate is not necessarily the only opportunity.

What should you send MAS with an online pharmacy enquiry?

A useful initial enquiry includes:

• Company name
• Website
• Pharmacy registration
• Treatments offered
• Medicines supplied
• Prescribing arrangement
• Monthly card turnover
• Average transaction value
• Patient countries
• Current payment provider
• Current gateway
• Previous declines or terminations
• Whether payments are one-off or recurring

Weight-management pharmacies

It is particularly useful to explain:

• Who prescribes
• Who dispenses
• Medicines currently supplied
• Consultation process
• When payment is taken
• Whether customers make recurring payments
• Patient locations

High-turnover online pharmacies

Where possible, also provide:

• Three recent merchant statements
• Transaction numbers
• Current card-processing costs
• Gateway charges
• Settlement terms
• Current reserve
• Recurring-payment volumes
• Chargeback rate
• Authorisation rate
• Key decline reasons
• Countries and currencies

This helps MAS determine whether the main opportunity is:

cost reduction, better payment performance, improved technology or a combination of all three.

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What happens after contacting MAS?

The first stage is understanding the business.

For an online pharmacy, this may involve:

1. Reviewing the website and treatment model
2. Understanding the pharmacy and prescribing structure
3. Identifying the medicines supplied
4. Understanding patient locations
5. Reviewing current or expected turnover
6. Identifying gateway and recurring-payment requirements
7. Reviewing previous processing where relevant
8. Considering potentially suitable acquiring routes

For established high-turnover merchants, the review may go further into:

• Costs
• Authorisation performance
• Failed recurring payments
• Settlement
• Reserves
• Gateway architecture

Where an appropriate route exists, MAS may introduce the merchant to a relevant payment provider or specialist partner.

The provider remains responsible for:

• Underwriting
• Compliance
• Pricing
• Reserve requirements
• Settlement terms
• Final approval

This article provides general payment information and is not pharmaceutical, clinical, regulatory or legal advice. Requirements depend on the particular pharmacy, medicines, business model and jurisdiction. Businesses should check current requirements with the appropriate regulators and professional advisers.