The questions merchants actually ask before they apply, with the answers we would give you on the phone.
Getting approved
What is a high-risk merchant account?
It is a card processing account for a business that banks and mainstream processors treat as risky — because of the industry, the dispute rate that industry carries, or how and when the customer gets what they paid for. The payments work the same way; the underwriting is what differs.
How long does approval take?
Most reviews finish within 24 to 48 hours, counted from the moment nothing is missing. The fastest applications are the ones sent in one go instead of a step at a time.
What do I have to send?
A description of what you sell and where, a government-issued ID with a selfie, and the bank account you want to be paid into. A registered company also uploads its registration document. It is one checklist, and your dashboard names anything still outstanding.
Which industries do you accept?
Nutraceuticals and supplements, subscriptions and memberships, travel and ticketing, e-commerce and dropshipping, gaming and digital goods, forex and crypto platforms — and ordinary low and medium-risk businesses. The Industries page has the detail, and if your sector is not there we would still rather look than guess.
Are there setup fees or a long-term contract?
No setup fee, no application fee and no long-term contract. You pay a percentage of each successful payment plus a small fixed amount, agreed with you during onboarding. Your own rate is shown in Dashboard → Settings and on every statement.
Can I take payments without a website?
Yes. Create a payment link in your dashboard and send it however you already talk to customers. They pay on the hosted checkout page and the payment lands in your dashboard.
Payments and payouts
Which currencies can I charge in?
AED, for everything new: products, payment links, checkout sessions, payments and subscriptions. If your account carries older records in another currency, they keep it and stay editable at that currency.
Your dashboard shows what your own records use, and the API's account endpoint lists what a key is allowed to charge in.
How do I get paid?
Payments build up in your balance and are paid out to your bank account or in stablecoins — weekly by default, or on demand once your account has a settled processing history. The payout destination has to be in the same legal name as the verified account.
Could my payouts be held?
A newer or higher-risk account may carry a rolling reserve. If that applies to you, the percentage and the release period are agreed during onboarding and written down — not introduced later without notice. The schedule is told to you up front for the same reason.
Can I refund a customer?
Yes, but not yet from the dashboard or the API: write to us with the payment id and our team processes it. There is no public refunds API, so do not build against one.
When a refund goes through, the payment's status and refunded amount change and your server receives a refund.succeeded event. The processing fee on the original payment is not returned.
How do chargebacks work?
A chargeback is the customer's bank reversing a payment, and the bank decides it. 3-D Secure, the record of the order and the contact details captured at checkout are what you answer one with. The Chargebacks page goes through it properly.
Subscriptions
Do you support recurring billing?
Yes. A recurring product bills every day, week, month or year, or every few of those. The first payment saves the card, and renewals are charged on schedule after that.
If a renewal cannot be charged it is retried, and the customer can be sent a link to pay it, so one declined card does not quietly end the subscription.
Can a customer cancel?
You can cancel a subscription immediately or at the end of the paid period, from the dashboard or the API, and the renewal terms are shown at checkout before the first payment. Both keep disputes down, which is why they are there.
Developers
Is there an API?
A REST API at utopia-payments.com/api/v1, a Node library, a PHP library and a WooCommerce plugin. The Integrations page compares them.
Can I test before going live?
Test keys create products and customers today. A hosted test checkout needs sandbox credentials that are not enabled yet, and there are no test card numbers — so try the real flow with a small live payment instead.
How do I know a webhook came from you?
Every delivery is signed with your endpoint's own secret, over the event id, the timestamp and the exact body. Verify that signature and reject anything that fails it; both libraries have a one-line check.
Something not answered here? Ask a person — sales@utopia-payments.com.