Last modified on June 19, 2024
This is the part of your journey where you’re gonna take a step back and go… “do I REALLY want to do this?” “moderation isn’t so bad” “maybe I can get away with changing 1 letter of a word for the rest of time” and Bestie I’m so so sorry to tell you that if you want to openly and explicitly talk about kink or NSFW topics – you’re gonna have to use the clunky ugly difficult-to-use platforms sometimes. This is where authorize.net comes in.
You can learn this lesson the hard way if you want, try your luck with Stripe or PayPal for a while (I did… and would never do it again. Ask me about December 26 2023 when a Stripe autoresponder started shutting down my business and I thought I’d loose everything). Or just work with a payment processor from the start that is okay processing transactions for legal adulty content. Which, spoiler alert: most WON’T and will turn their noses up at you and shut you down without a second thought.
Here’s the payment processor I use for processing sales in my kink mentorship biz.
About Authorize.net
What it is:
Supports payment processing by helping small businesses accept credit card and eCheck payments online.
Why I like it:
Listen - it's butt-ugly (the second you're beyond the gates and have committed to them), but it lets me process transactions as a NSFW biz. And popular enough that I can still find a scheduling tool/checkout tool that work with them. You just really don't have many options of processing platforms that will work with you if NSFW stuff is on the table (unless you want to worry about seemingly nonsensical moderation).
Pricing:
Varies depending on your merchant and sales volume, monthly fee.
Disclaimer
While this is a tool that has worked for me, it may not be the right fit for every biz owner. Or for the current stage of your biz. Vet the terms and conditions (especially around adult content) of ANY service you build your business with, in addition to making sure the actual features are a good fit for your needs.
There are affiliate links in this post and I may earn commission for qualifying purchases.
Also know that you don't "need" any of these tools to build a profitable, sustainable business that support you and your family. I just like sharing because we need more kinky businesses in this world and maybe my learnings will help you grow your own empire!
Oh and if you want personal recommendations for your own kinky biz, I can be your mentor and love to geek out about this! Get Vetted for private mentorship here.
