Leaving Square with two channels takes three separate jobs. A CBD brand with both a counter and a web store has to put new card hardware at the counter, reconnect the online checkout to a new account, and get one underwriting file approved that covers both kinds of sale.
The four providers below take hemp-derived CBD and cover both channels. Before applying to any of them, it helps to have a list of every place the brand takes cards, from the shop counter and event tables to the web store and any orders taken by phone, since the new account has to cover each one.
How to move both channels off square
Replacing the counter hardware
The counter needs terminals that work with the new merchant account, which in practice means hardware supplied or approved by the new provider. Each provider below supplies its own in-person hardware, and a brand that also sells at markets or events needs a mobile option for those tables as well as a countertop unit for the shop. The number of devices matters too, since each event table that runs at the same time as the shop needs its own reader on the account.
The first things to find out are whether the terminals are bought or leased and what they accept, such as chip cards, tap and phone wallets. After that, does the terminal come with point-of-sale software for the catalog and inventory, or does that software have to come from somewhere else?
Reconnecting the online store
A web sale is card-not-present, meaning the customer types in card details instead of presenting the card. It reaches the processor through the cart platform and a gateway, which passes those details along. The brand needs to confirm that the new provider connects to its cart and ask how any saved cards or subscriptions will move. If the web store itself was built with Square’s own website tools, the store has to move to a new cart platform first, because the gateway question only comes up once there is a cart to connect.
Building one underwriting file
A single application should name both channels, with the counter volume and the online volume stated separately, so the approval covers both from the start. The approval usually comes with a rolling reserve, meaning the processor keeps some of the money from sales for a time before paying it out, and the reserve terms should say whether they cover both channels. Event and market sales belong in the file as well, listed with their rough share of volume, so the underwriter sees every way the brand takes cards.
1. PaymentCloud
At the counter: PaymentCloud takes brick-and-mortar CBD shops and pairs them with countertop readers for the shop and mobile readers for sales away from it. Its retail line also includes point-of-sale systems, so a brand can take the terminal and the register software from the same company.
Online: The same CBD account covers the web store through cart integrations and gateway options, and it adds bank payments, including same-day transfers, beside card acceptance. The account also handles recurring billing and invoicing, which covers subscription orders placed through the web store. Keeping the counter and the website on one merchant account means one approval and one set of monthly statements for both channels.
The file: Among the documents PaymentCloud wants for CBD are a list of suppliers and an up-to-date certificate of analysis, the lab report showing what a product contains. Both cover the counter and the web store together, so the brand only assembles them once. The supplier list should name the source of every product sold in either channel, since each product’s lab report has to match what is on the shelf and on the site.
2. Finix
At the counter: Finix’s CBD accounts cover a physical shop, pop-up events, an online store and payment links, so the shop, the event table and the website all fall under one CBD program. For the counter it supplies countertop and mobile PAX terminals and Tap to Pay on iPhone through the Finix Checkout app, which lets an iPhone accept contactless cards at a pop-up table. On its standard pricing, Tap to Pay adds $0.10 to the card fee for each payment.
Online: The web store connects through Finix’s cart integrations, which include Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. Payment links cover orders taken outside the cart. A brand already on one of those carts can confirm the online step before it applies.
The file: The application covers the whole business at once, and the counter and web volumes go into the same review. Finix provides terminals, processing and a central dashboard, but not full point-of-sale software. A brand that relied on Square’s catalog tools needs a separate system, which Finix’s APIs can connect to its terminals.
3. PayKings
At the counter: PayKings sells storefront hardware to CBD shops, and its point-of-sale range runs from countertop terminals to card readers. Mobile payments cover sales at an event table, so a brand that sells at markets can take cards there on the same account as the shop. A brand with several event tables should ask how many mobile readers the account can carry.
Online: The same CBD account takes web payments through a gateway, with a virtual terminal for phone orders and recurring billing for subscription customers.
The file: Both channels go into one CBD application, and the first documents it expects are lab reports for each product. PayKings takes only merchants based in the United States, so a brand whose business entity is based elsewhere cannot use it.
4. Easy Pay Direct
Easy Pay Direct’s CBD accounts take payments in person, online or on mobile, and its retail program covers countertop terminals, point-of-sale systems and tap-to-pay, while online sales go through its own gateway. All three ways of selling then pass through a single underwriting review. The only rate it posts is for online card sales, so a brand should ask for the in-person rate in writing, along with any terminal cost, before comparing it with the other three.
What a two-channel switch leaves unsolved
Square’s notice, as reported, covered selling CBD “online or in person,” which is why a brand with both channels has to move both at once. The four providers above handle the payment side of that move.
The software side is a separate job. Square kept the product catalog alongside the payments, and a new processor does not replace that on its own. A brand needs to decide whether its new provider’s point-of-sale option covers the catalog or whether a separate system will run alongside the terminals. That choice is best made before the hardware arrives, so the two are set up together.
Customer records are the second gap. Saved cards, subscription schedules and customer lists built up in Square have to be exported, rebuilt, or collected again at the next purchase. Ask each provider whether it can import card data from another processor. If it cannot, returning customers will need to enter their card details when they next order.
For the broader question of how general-purpose providers handle in-person and online sales, Finix’s breakdown of Square alternatives compares the two side by side. It doesn’t cover CBD, so any provider named there needs its own check against CBD before it goes any further. Whichever provider a brand chooses, one test sale at the counter and one on the website, both settled into the bank account, show that the switch is complete.
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