I mean run a small tattoo studio. Used Square for 3 years supposedly, never a problem. Woke up yesterday to an email saying my account was permanently deactivated for "prohibited business activity." Tattoo isn't on their prohibited list anymore (they updated it 2 years ago).
Zero chargebacks, zero issues. What happened and what should I use instead?
Same thing happened to a studio down the street from me. Square's algorithm flagged them for "body modification" even though tattoos are technically allowed. Their support is useless - you won't get it back.
For "higher risk" businesses like tattoo, you want a real merchant account not an aggregator like Square. Look into: Helcim, Stax, Payment Depot. Higher monthly fee but they won't randomly terminate you because they actually underwrite your business.
Aggregators (Square, Stripe, PayPal) share one big merchant account and can dump you anytime. Traditional merchant accounts go through underwriting - takes longer to set up but they can't just flip a switch on you. For a tattoo studio I'd recommend Helcim or finding a local payment processor that works with your industry.
Clover is owned by Fiserv, they work with tattoo shops. A bit more setup than Square but way more stable. Also Shopify POS if you sell merch too
Thanks all. Applied with Helcim, they said tattoo studios are fine as long as I don't sell piercing services (I don't). Should be up and running by end of week. Lesson learned - never trust aggregators for anything "gray area."
pro tip: always have a backup processor ready to go. I keep accounts with 2 different companies. If one goes down I can switch within an hour
Important data point: I tracked how long it took from my initial complaint to resolution. Through customer service: 4 months of runaround. Through a formal demand letter: 3 weeks. Through a CFPB complaint: 10 days. Don't waste time with customer service — go straight to formal channels.