When we were looking for high-risk merchant accounts, it was amazing how high the charges were.... discount rates as high as 8-9%, "setup" fee of $2000, $50 wire charges, $50 chargebacks... and then you were going through some off-brand gateway in one country, with the processor in a different country, and the actual bank settling the transactions and wiring you in yet a third country. Oh, and a minimum monthly processing fee of $750 or something (750 against the actual discount% of your business) .

The "shady" factor was just way too high for our comfort.