Laws surrounding firearm sales and use are different across the globe. The USA (seemingly the wild West of firearms and all the unfortunate negative consequences of lax gun control policy that come with it) and Canada vary in many ways, including gun safety measures and how they can be purchased. If you operate a business that manufactures, distributes, sells, or resells firearms, there are a few key things to keep in mind to ensure lawful and efficient payment processing on-site or online.
Buying & Transferring (Selling) Firearms in Canada
Canada Firearm Debit Card Merchant Services
Many laws and regulations must be met regarding firearm sales before the purchase can be made in Canada. Failure to comply with all of the line items that are required for a legal sale of a weapon can lead to fines, business closure, and even arrest. Here is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Fire Arm Regulations info on a firearm’s legal purchase or sale (transfer) in various conditions, including online or in-store.
Some of the basic requirements include:
- Adults 18 years of age orde older with a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) that is valid for the specific firearm
- Buyer’s (transferee’s) license number, date of birth, and email address + phone
- A declaration that the seller has taken reasonable steps to verify the buyer is the license holder and that all documents have been provided and confirmed
Other requirements are necessary depending on the type of firearm or if it is from person to person or as a business sale. If it is a business-to-business sale, the requirements are similar but have a few different parts.
Debit Card Sales OK’d by the Canadian Government via Interac
No matter how you feel about firearms, they are legal to own and operate in Canada if you meet the legal requirements and proceed within the context of the law. You can now accept sales for various firearms both in-store and online using a debit card in stores and online websites that have proper approval. Interac is changing how businesses get paid and how easy it is for customers to make a card transaction in stores or online where credit is not accepted.
Interact is excellent for a few critical reasons across different industries, including firearm sales:
- Interac is a debit card based, and there are lower or no fees compared to a traditional credit card purchase, where fees could be anywhere from 2% – 4%.
- Being debit-based, in-store customers must enter the card pin, preventing chargebacks as only the card owner can authorize the purchase through their pin.
- Unmatched fraud prevention via tokenization technologies and more go even further to prevent fraud built into the processing system.
- Canadians trust Interac. This isn’t a new payment system and Canadians have become accustomed to being able to pay with cards for all purchases. Now, with Interact, that is also possible for firearm sales.
There are more benefits to using an Interac-based debit card processing solution for your business. Still, the most significant takeaways are the enhanced fraud prevention and comfortability of use by Canadian consumers and businesses (not to mention the low fees).
Debit card processing with Interac is a win-win for buyers of goods and sellers alike.
Finding the Right Firearm Merchant Service Provider
A few different providers provide Canada Firearm Debit Card Merchant Services, but here at Brother Processing, we are proud to work with every business directly. We are not a large institution or anonymous agency that doesn’t know your business, let alone your name, and has specialized in credit and debit card processing for nearly 20 years.
Give us a call today, and let’s discuss your processing needs and how we can make the entire process for firearm sales easier than ever before.
