Nicohit Replaces PayPal Payments with Opayo
One of the most alarming blows to the vape industry over the coronavirus pandemic period was not necessarily a lapse in sales, although some shops may very well have seen that. It was in fact a complete shutdown of a whole payment provider.
Back in November of 2020 payment provider giant PayPal announced out of the blue that they were banning businesses that sell vape products from using their services. This included full freezing of all payments in e-cig businesses PayPal accounts for up to 180 days. This is a measure that is usually sanctioned for suspicious or fraudulent activity so was bound to ruffle some feathers in the vape industry, which by and large prides itself on honest and transparent business.
Why Did PayPal Freeze-Out Vape Businesses?
If you plan on trying to purchase e-cig products or use the PayPal service to process payments for your vape business, you may see a response like this:
“Under PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used for the sale of e-cigarettes, including e-liquids containing nicotine, without pre-approval. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer pre-approval for you at this time; this is due to complex legal and payment industry requirements related to e-cigarettes”.
This unprecedented move by PayPal was explained in a statement released 8 months ago in which they lopped the smoking cessation industry in with tobacco products as “harmful to customers”. Whilst tobacco sales are prohibited by many online companies aside from PayPal – including Amazon and eBay – Paypal – which is not a trading platform – made the decision to ban the vape industry from using its services as well. This was due to PayPal’s uncertainty regarding the safety of vaping and their wish to wait for more evidence on the industry’s safety.
Vaping And Health
No one can be blamed for their suspicions of the vaping industry – any product that uses nicotine should be regulated and watched closely, but when it comes to health, there’s no question that vaping is safer than tobacco. Back in 2015, a study undertaken by Public Health England concluded that vaping was 95% less dangerous to the human body than smoking.
Whilst 5% is still a margin, another study undertaken by the STS and Public Health England found that smoking cessation via vaping was at least 10% more successful than other nicotine replacement therapies.
Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions regarding the ethics and perceived dangers of vaping, but maybe next time, provide businesses with a little more warning PayPal!
What Happens Next?
Due to the suddenness of the PayPal debacle, it’s taken a few months for vape companies to reclaim their money from frozen accounts and seek out alternative avenues for processing online payments. Nicohit has decided to work with online payment provide Opayo, FKA SagePay. This transparent and efficient payment provider is a trusted service for the vaping industry and better yet, has grown exponentially in size and efficiency since its recent acquisition by US financial giants Elavon.
What this all means is that Nicohit customers can enjoy a variety of payment methods once again and can purchase trusted vaping products however suits you.