Originally Posted by KrisKross

Honestly, the options are cut and dry. There are no Canadian banks that openly process high risk transactions. If anyone does, then it's done very quietly and likely only if there's high volume involved. People have murmured about Moneris but I've set to see a single site, big or small, processing with them.

If you're a Canadian who wants to accept Visa, you need to do it with an IPSP or a merchant account from another Visa region. To do so, you need to incorporate in said region.

Alternately, you can go with some of the fly-by-night companies that aren't Visa compliant. But then you run the risk of losing your cash like with Paymonde, Globill and a handful of other similar IPSPs.

In terms of merchant accounts, very few companies have their own merchant account for processing. Those that do are often the big guys who have the volume to justify it, and even most of them don't (take a look at the join pages for Gamma, Platinum Bucks and Braincash for example). In terms of cost-effectiveness, it's really not worth it to have a merchant account if you don't have volume. Canadians who have their own merchant account got one by incorporating elsewhere.