A quick guide to Shopify and payment gateway emulators

Since Shopify stopped supporting new Network Merchants Gateway integrations as a drop-down feature, there has been a lot of discussion about gateway emulators, high-risk payments, and Shopify. You can still accept payments for high-risk products on Shopify if you were declined by Shopify Payments, but it needs to be done differently now. The preferred method is a carefully set up an Authorize.Net payment gateway with a high-risk, industry appropriate merchant account on the back end. 

Another solution that we did investigate at the request of a website owner was the ability to use a payment gateway emulator. An emulator allows a high-risk website owner to use the code or “API” of another gateway integration and “point” the transaction to a different gateway. An example would be to take a site builder that allows Authorize.Net and then, go into the code and update one small line, called the “Post URL.” This simple code change would then allow the site owner to use a different gateway, like ePN, or NMI without their site builder having to support those gateways fully.

What is a post URL?

A post URL is a line of code in a shopping cart or site builder program the determines the internet address the gateway sends the transaction to. A post URL is gateway and or processor specific and, depending on the ability to update code; it can be changed to allow the API of one payment gateway to work while using another.

Does Shopify allow users to change the post URL?

No, they do not. We have confirmed this multiple times with their support staff, who double checked with their supervisors. Shopify is a walled-off environment and doe not allow users to change the posit URL. This information is current and updated as of  May 2018 per direct communication with Shopify support.

Does Shopify allow you to use a gateway emulator?

No. In order to use a gateway emulator a merchant, high-risk or otherwise, would need to be able to change the post URL. Because Shopify does not allow a change to the post URL, no emulator will work on their platform according to their support staff.

I am high-risk and use Shopify, where do I go from here?

Contact us, let us help. We have the contacts, experience, patience, and expertise to help you get your high-risk Shopify store up and running, accepting payments, and hopefully, making you money!