Nutraceutical Products: The Benefits and Controversies

May 20, 2023

What are Nutraceuticals?

From the dawn of civilization to modern times, cultures across the world have been using naturally occurring substances from food and plants to prevent, treat, and alleviate ailments. Ever used fresh aloe vera to relieve the heat from a sunburn? Or drank chamomile tea to combat your restlessness before bed? Congratulations, you are a nutraceutical consumer.

Although the concept of treating disease or sickness with natural products has been around for as long has human history, the term nutraceutical is relatively new to western society. It was first used by biomedical researchers in 1989 to differentiate the naturally occurring treatments apart from synthetically engineered pharmaceutical products.

Modern medicine and pharmaceuticals are definitely more front and center in Western society; but the intensity and severity of the opioid crisis caused by the amount of prescribed opioids in the pharmaceutical market has plagued citizens across socio-economic stratifications. Now more than ever, people are looking to nutraceuticals and holistic approaches to safely treat their illnesses.

The Nutraceutical Industry

Currently, as of July 2018, the global nutraceutical industry has already pulled in $34 billion and is projected to reach $49 billion by 2023. There are nutraceutical manufacturers and venders in nearly every country across the world.

Online, the nutraceuticals industry raked in $2.4 billion in 2017, with smaller online nutraceutical merchants outpacing sales of larger eCommerce sites like Amazon by 19%. As you can see, this is a booming market, with a huge eCommerce component that makes it very attractive for small to medium sized business owners to enter.

However, selling nutraceutical products online, particularly accepting credit card payments through a nutraceutical merchant account on an eCommerce platform. If you’re a fan of the blog, you know that’s because the nutraceutical industry is labeled as a high risk payment processing industry by acquiring banks and traditional credit card processors.

Securing a Nutraceutical Merchant Account

The leading reason why banks consider nutraceutical merchant accounts to be high risk is because of the rate of credit card chargebacks in the nutraceutical industry. Though there is real science behind nutraceutical products’ health claims, the definition of the industry is nebulous with some bad actors pedaling nutraceutical products that have not been medically tested against their claims. When consumers of these nutraceutical products do not see the results promised that were promised to them through marketing messages, they start calling for chargebacks.

Of course, there are high risk payment processors like your friends here at PayKings who can provide solutions for high risk nutraceutical merchant accounts. We understand the unique needs of nutraceutical vendors and the payment processing challenges common in the nutraceutical industry. If you need credit card processing solutions for your nutraceutical business, apply for a free quote on your high risk nutraceutical merchant account today.