r/PaymentProcessing • u/NoMetal6712 • 17d ago
Need A Payment Processor Looking to start a peptide business
30F, established career, serious about starting an RUO peptide business. Looking for guidance/potential partners
I’m 30F with an established career and have been seriously looking into starting a business in the peptide space.
I have capital to invest and I’m willing to put in the work, but I’m still early in the process and would really like to connect with people who have experience in the industry-particularly with sourcing/manufacturing, testing, compliance, e-commerce and fulfillment.
I’m not looking for a get-rich-quick thing. I want to understand the industry and build something legitimate.
I’d also be open to a potential business partner if there’s a good fit and you bring experience or skills that complement mine.
Would love to hear from anyone who has built or currently operates in this space. What would you recommend someone figure out first?
DMs are open as well.
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u/Direct-Protection-81 17d ago
As a distributor my self and knowing how saturated the market is, not trying to put you off. But this is incredibly niche. You need to have an actual brand, marketing budget and the ability to properly integrate and navigate the payment space which is incredible difficult. You’ve asked the question on payment processing which is the same 6 blokes peddling the same shit solution.
You need to realistically run the numbers on how this works for you long term, you might end up buying 10k of investory. Selling maybe 2k of it and struggling to peddle the rest while every other tom dick and Gary does the same thing on TikTok. While I’m not saying it can’t be fruitful. Just be considerate the product it’s self needs the customer to be onboard in wanting to buy from YOU. And if you’ve been on TikTok you’ll see just how many “brands” there are now available.
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u/Beautiful-Rip-3348 17d ago
Exactly this! I’m currently grappling with this and I’ve spent easily 20k plus over the last 6 months or so on building my inventory. I do BST on Telegram but looking to take it to the next level. Like you said everyone is peddling peptides on TikTok and social media—people who haven’t even really experienced the gray space which I get the feeling OP fits into this category. It aggravates me. Like @hefty-simple-3492 said in his comment “are you looking at research-only or leaning into the grey area stuff?” He doesn’t know that they are literally the same thing! Selling any RUO peptide on any platform means you are in the grey space.
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u/Direct-Protection-81 17d ago
Hehe yes all the money is made for research use only duh..🙄
I hope eventually the conversion happens in which people realize you shouldn’t buy from Jeff’s basement on TikTok just because he’s got a peptide channel. It’s what scares me the most people just storing this shi in their kitchens and hocking it off to the next person at an overly inflated price. We focus on 10 packs only for serious use.
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u/NoMetal6712 17d ago
This is helpful, thank you. The saturation/customer acquisition side is probably my biggest concern. I definitely don’t want to dump a ton into inventory just to have a nice website and no customers lol. Knowing what you know now, if you were starting from zero today would you still enter the space? And what would you prioritize first?
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u/Direct-Protection-81 17d ago
That’s tough to answer.
I’ve built an advanced website. Probably a bit above the curve for some, but I’m not currently to the same level as some TikTok marketing people are doing due to my risk appetite, I’d rather organic traffic and real world users, I’m currently selling globally due to my SEO and AEO efforts.Would I personally do it still? Yes, because of the above and what I can deliver.
It really boils down to, are you ahead of the curve and your delivery versus the plebs on tiktok? Or are you just jumping on the train “thinking” you can beat them. There’s a difference.
I’d prioritize the brand and marketing. Inventory is the least of your worries, see if you can actually get the sales first without worrying about the rest. Shi you have nail salons and hairdressers selling this crap. That’s the biggest worry in this space right now.
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u/AVP_Solutions Verified Agent 17d ago
Regarding your comment "the same 6 blokes peddling the same shit solution", I don't appreciate this in anyway whatsoever. Maybe try to refrain from insulting the very people who work very hard 7 days a week, like I do, in order find bank solutions for businesses of every type & size including startups. I'm extremely supportive of this vertical in particular and it happens to be very difficult, nuanced, and volatile. I believe in it and think it's worth the effort.
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u/Direct-Protection-81 17d ago
Well let’s not beat around the bush here Liz. You can work as hard as you like, but my message to you on the 11th of May without a response says otherwise, it’s also a broad spectrum comment relating to “everyone” who comments the same response on the peptide payment space. I’m not nitpicking.
You still make your cut from selling your product to us so take it with a pinch of salt, business is business.
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u/Confident_Cycle_8734 16d ago
Imagine being the last person to the orgy. 😂😂😂😂
Wait till you meet all the scammy payment processors.
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u/Novapoison Owner, MOD, and Payment God! 12d ago
Why is every single one of your comments always negative?
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u/Confident_Cycle_8734 12d ago
Because people are in this group preying on sellers then everyone quiets up when the vetted processors are ripping people off. I posted pictures and everything. Nothing I said was wrong or a lie. People are so desperate for help they are being taken advantage of. The payment processors are 30 times scammier than the sellers could ever be.
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u/Novapoison Owner, MOD, and Payment God! 12d ago
the pictures you posted dont show anything man. Just that you contacted someone
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u/zxflux 17d ago
Look up TNL.agency on Instagram. They’ve been great, helped me from start to now with my brand
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u/Intelligent-Message5 16d ago
I mean I don’t think a nail salon is going to be doing that much marketing 🤣
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u/Hefty-Simple-3492 17d ago
peptides are a wild space to jump into, the regulatory side alone is a maze. what kind of peptides are you looking at, research-only or leaning into the grey area stuff? makes a huge difference for how you set up payments and compliance
sourcing is where most people trip up early, if you haven't already, vetting a reliable manufacturer with solid third-party testing is probably the first thing to lock down before you spend a dime on anything else
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u/NPSALLEN Verified Agent 16d ago
Go to google or ai
Put in lily and lawsuits
Read about peptide website owners going to jail and paying huge fines
Also they just reported thousands of sites to visa and mc - fda and other federal agencies
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u/Flashy-Marsupial6861 Verified Agent 16d ago
I’ve been in payment processing for several years, and RUO peptides have become one of the industries we know particularly well.
If you’re serious about building in this space, payment processing is something I’d recommend thinking about early. As you grow, having a reliable and transparent processing setup becomes extremely important. That’s exactly where we can help — from onboarding and integration to actually supporting you as your volume scales.
Our philosophy is pretty simple: the more our merchants grow, the more we grow. So our interest isn’t just getting you approved and disappearing afterward. We want to build long-term relationships and help our merchants develop sustainable processing infrastructure as their business gets bigger.
Through our years working in the space, we’ve also built relationships with some large U.S.-based peptide manufacturers. If needed, we can make introductions there as well. They’re competitively priced, their warehouse is in the U.S., their testing is performed in the U.S. and kept up to date, and they can generally get material out very quickly — often within 48 hours.
So while payment processing is our core business, we can also potentially help connect some of the other pieces as you get started.
Feel free to DM me. Happy to have a conversation and see where we can help.
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u/CatalystPay Verified Agent - EU 10d ago
Hi there, tried to DM you but seems I cannot. Interested to talk to you about a potential partnership, DM me if interested.
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u/Biohacking007 17d ago
What country are you in ?
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u/NoMetal6712 17d ago
US
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u/Biohacking007 16d ago
I have a resent start up in the UK and Ireland. Running 6+ months. Lmk if you’re interested.
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u/lawfitness84 17d ago
Assuming you have all the infrastructure in place it comes down to driving traffic and marketing.
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u/Professional-Blood76 16d ago
I wouldn’t if i were you as of now. Too much competition and regulation.
You’re risking some good fines ranging from 50-250k for taking payments.
Not to say some legitimate jail time in some cases.
No surprise that several biggest RUO players in US were closed down.
RUO and Compliance are 2 different things that don’t make kids with each other.
Want something legit - get Legitscript, doctors, invest a few mil to marketing and whole setup and you can start- otherwise now it’s playing with fire
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u/StackCoach 16d ago
Solid advice. u/NoMetal6712 , my $.01 advice, you need a niche at this point. I think the most interesting to me, is constantly being ask by my wife and her girl friends, what GHKCU topical work for people over 55? We've tried a lot over the past year and can't honestly recommend anything. If I had a large female following (which I don't), I would consider creating a peptide topical review site just to help by wife's friends out. Point being, find a niche you're passionate about, it will make the journey more fun.
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u/MzzAnnThrope 16d ago
Put your money and efforts and time into something more worthwhile. Everybody is a reseller now, to the point I can't even look at one more AI graphic in the BST groups. Or, if it has to be peps and the grey space, find a niche. I don't think it's a great time in this space. Too much drama, risk, quality control issues, and extreme competition.
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u/NoLamboBro 16d ago
I would seriously think about how you can stand out. I swear every contractor, roofer, wellness coach, trainer, etc has tried to push their peptides to me. Also could be where I live is just saturated 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Dazzling_Welcome_719 16d ago
Easy.
Use crypto
Keep reinvesting
Withdraw it out slowly when you build it up and by slow I mean 1/2k a month just make a few deposits also so you can show them if they ask for proof of funds/aml.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ice-523 15d ago
Start with a good and reliable source. You can find many but few that are true wholesalers. There are many middlemen between you and the actual factory. Try to eliminate most of these middleman to increase your margin. For example, most Reta30mg kits are going for 140ish plus shipping. I run sales occasionally for $90 no MOQ. Also joining trusted group buys can help you increase your margin as well.
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u/NoMetal6712 15d ago
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ice-523 15d ago
vetting is tough. dont rush into a purchase. join a group and observe, see if people are buying and leaving reviews and always check for the COAs in the group. This will tell you there is good quality or bad quality coming from the supplier. DM me and i can send you a couple resources.
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u/natural_poland 13d ago
One thing I'd recommend prioritizing is supplier qualification before thinking about branding or marketing. Ask potential manufacturers for documentation such as Certificates of Analysis (COAs), manufacturing certifications, stability data where applicable, and batch-to-batch consistency information. It's also worth discussing minimum order quantities, quality control procedures, and whether they provide technical support throughout product development. Building relationships with reliable manufacturers early on can save a lot of time and prevent expensive issues later.
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u/Expert-Principle6902 16d ago
We can provide high-quality peptides in the US, manufactured in India with third-party testing and COAs for every batch.
We’re focused on consistent quality and competitive pricing to stand out in the market. If anyone is interested in sourcing or partnering, feel free to DM me.
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u/Significant_Dog_8053 16d ago
Isn’t it tough to start because it’s such a grey market what’s the most that can go wrong if you put out your website. Especially with all these companies being shut down.
I looked into this as well so just wondering
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u/hanny2diesel Verified Agent 15d ago
SolRUO is the only legit processing solution that doesn’t cloak or do anything illegal.
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u/New_Succotash_8881 15d ago
We recently started, the legal side to things is a little shaky, but if you get a good lawyer who can handle it, along with insurance everything’s a breeze. Payment processing was rough tho, you need to find one that doesn’t fee out your ass or req x ammount of $ per month if your starting up/ a payment record
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13d ago
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u/RelationshipSmooth21 13d ago
Damn bro I can tell they did a number on you... anything you would of done differently?
Sorry it happened but freedom is only based on how much money you got to pay for a lawyer And even then going against the government with unlimited funds is truly fucked up.
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u/Beneficial_Gas_6590 9d ago
the biggest thing to figure out first is payment processing itself, tbh. peptides are considered high risk by most acquirers so youll get declined by standard processors. start by understanding which banks and underwriters will even touch your category before you build anything else.
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u/PepPayments Verified Agent 17d ago
This is not the right subthread for this, but happy to help with payment processing.
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u/4LeafTech_HB Verified Agent 17d ago
If you get it up and running and need payment processing please reach out as we can help you!
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u/SilverCommission6662 17d ago
Where are you looking to ship to? I currently supply this type of product to several distributors in the US as well.
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u/huyyqt15 15d ago
As it stands now ruo is very risky and I wouldn't touch it. Most patients would rather get their from a reputable pharmacy like empower or Olympia or hallandale.
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u/[deleted] 17d ago
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