Candy Press

“I sell kratom online. Here’s what actually worked for me.”

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I’m Kayla. I run a tiny kratom shop from my kitchen table. It started with a few blends for friends. Then a real store. I learned fast. Some tools love herb shops. Some do not. If you want the full origin story and every test I ran, I laid it all out in this deep dive.

I’ve tried more platforms than I want to admit. I’ve broken carts, fixed carts, cried over carts. You know what? The right setup makes your day calmer. The wrong one eats your sleep. I even tested the top ecommerce platforms for SEO to see which ones could get my tiny shop noticed.

Quick heads-up: laws change. Some states and cities ban kratom. Payment rules change too. Please check your local rules and each platform’s policy. I do that before I change anything now. If you need a starting point, the FDA’s updated public health page about kratom is worth bookmarking.

First lesson: Big sites say no

I tried listing a “botanical tea mix” on eBay once. Boom—pulled in a day. Amazon? Nope. Etsy? Also nope. Marketplaces don’t want kratom. So I built my own site and kept it clean and clear: no medical claims, age gate on the home page, lab reports on product pages. That helped.

Shopify: Pretty, but I got flagged

I started on Shopify because, well, it looks great. Setup took one afternoon. I loved the themes. My store looked like a real brand, not a random blog.

Then payouts paused. Shopify Payments doesn’t allow kratom. I switched to a third-party processor. That worked for a bit, but I got another review note and a warning. Also, using a non-Shopify processor adds a small extra fee per sale. That stung during holiday rush.

What I liked:

  • Design and apps are top-tier.
  • Easy inventory and shipping labels.

What tripped me up:

  • Payments were a headache.
  • Extra fees with outside processors.
  • Policy reviews made me nervous.

Would I do it again? Only if I already had a rock-solid high-risk merchant account on day one and I was ready for surprise reviews.

BigCommerce: More friendly to “high-risk” shops

BigCommerce felt calmer. They don’t handle payments themselves, so I plugged in a gateway. I used PaymentCloud to set up a kratom-friendly merchant account. It took about two weeks with all the docs: IDs, bank letters, supplier info, COAs, the usual.

Once live, it stayed stable. No surprise pauses. I added an age-check app and kept my pages simple.

What I liked:

  • “High-risk” use felt normal here.
  • Good product tools. Bulk edits didn’t lag.
  • Phone support actually understood my niche. That’s rare.

What I didn’t:

  • The monthly bill’s not tiny when you add apps.
  • The admin has more knobs and switches. Took me a weekend to learn.

My real result: I ran two seasonal sales on BigCommerce. Zero payment holds. That alone made me breathe easier.

WooCommerce (WordPress): The one I use now

I wanted control. So I moved to WooCommerce on WordPress. I host with a managed WordPress host. Nothing fancy—just reliable and fast.

Payments: I use an NMI gateway tied to a high-risk merchant account (Durango set mine up). No Stripe. No PayPal. Both said no to kratom.

I added:

  • Age Gate (simple pop-up age check)
  • WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping (to price out heavy orders)
  • MaxMind minFraud (helps flag weird orders)
  • A “no medical claims” disclaimer in the checkout

Good days:

Hard days:

  • Updates. You have to keep plugins fresh.
  • If something breaks, it’s your problem first.
  • I had to block a few states and cities that have bans. It’s doable, just fussy. I toyed with the idea of jumping to Magento at one point, and even put together an honest take on Magento ecommerce SEO from my shop’s perspective. Spoiler: it’s powerful but heavy.

A real moment: Last Black Friday, we doubled traffic. Site held up fine. NMI didn’t blink. I packed orders with peppermint tea and hand-wrote thanks. Small thing. It matters.

Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart): Knows the category, looks a bit dated

I tested Shift4Shop because folks in our space kept mentioning it. Their team actually knew what “kratom” means. That was a nice change. I couldn’t use their free plan (it needs their processor), so I paid for a regular plan and connected my high-risk merchant.

What I liked:

  • Lots of built-in features. Less app hunting.
  • Support didn’t treat me like a problem.

What I didn’t:

  • Templates felt old. I had to tweak to look modern.
  • Checkout had a couple of odd fields I hid with CSS.

It worked. It just didn’t feel like my brand by default.

If you’re comfortable with a more hands-on .NET cart, CandyPress is another self-hosted option that lets you pair a fully owned store with whichever high-risk merchant you prefer.

Wix and Squarespace: Pretty, but payments said no

I built test sites on both. Super fast design. But their default payment partners don’t allow kratom. I tried external invoice links once and got a warning. I shut that down fast. Not worth losing the site.

The money part: who actually processed my orders

Here’s what said yes to me, with real trade-offs:

  • PaymentCloud: Set up my first high-risk account. Took about two weeks. Had a small rolling reserve at the start (they held a bit of my money for chargeback safety). Rates were higher than Stripe, sure, but stable.
  • Durango Merchant Services: Switched later for better rates once I had history. They connected me to NMI. Smooth.
  • Soar Payments: I tested them on a side brand. Also workable for kratom.

What didn’t work:

  • Stripe, PayPal, Square: All said no to kratom. Friendly emails. Firm answers.

Chargebacks happen. I added:

  • AVS checks (address match)
  • Signature on orders over $150 (UPS Adult Signature)
  • Manual review on first-time buyers with mismatched info

That cut my chargebacks in half. Worth the extra steps.

Shipping and packaging: small details, big peace

  • USPS for small, light orders. Cheap, fast.
  • UPS for big boxes or signature needs.
  • I use plain boxes and simple labels.
  • New buyers over a set amount: I require adult signature. Costs a bit more. Saves me three emails later.

Also, I never write “for human consumption.” I keep product use clear and compliant with site policy. No medical claims. Not a medicine. That language matters.

Compliance basics I follow

  • Check local laws often. I block areas that ban kratom.
  • Age gate on entry. ID checks if needed for big orders.
  • COAs on product pages. People ask; I show them.
  • No health claims. None. That keeps me safe with banks.
  • Clear refunds and terms page. Processors ask for it.

For a wider federal perspective, the Congressional Research Service’s kratom brief offers a quick snapshot of ongoing legislative discussions.

Similar compliance hurdles crop up in other age-restricted niches online—adult content, for example, lives under the same scrutiny from processors and regulators that we see with kratom. If you’re curious to see how an explicit site handles up-front age disclaimers, gated access and user warnings in practice, check out PlanSexe’s “Je montre mon minou” photo diary—it’s a clear (NSFW) illustration of how tight content labeling and visitor verification can keep a high-risk site on the right side of policy.

Is it extra work? Yep. But it keeps the lights on.

My picks, plain and simple

  • Best control for me: WooCommerce + NMI + a high-risk merchant (Durango or PaymentCloud). It’s work up front. Then it hums.
  • Easiest hosted choice: BigCommerce + a high-risk merchant. Fewer moving parts. Good support.
  • Works but felt older: Shift4Shop + high-risk merchant. Safe bet if you don’t mind the look.
  • Not worth it for kratom: Shopify (unless you love reviews and fees), Wix, Squarespace, and all big marketplaces.

If you’re planning to serve wholesalers as well as retail customers, I also shared [how I built our B2B ecommerce from scratch](https://www.candypress.com/i-built-our-b2b-e

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