Aeropay + Carrot: Compliant Online Payments for Cannabis Orders
Every other integration on this list connects Carrot to a point of sale. Aeropay is different. It solves the problem at the end of the transaction, where cannabis retail has always been most awkward: getting paid.
How the Aeropay and Carrot integration works
Aeropay is a pay-by-bank network that lets customers link a bank account and pay directly, without cards. Carrot and Aeropay announced their integration in October 2024, bringing compliant online prepayment into the Carrot checkout. Customers pay when they order. Your team hands over a bag that's already been paid for.
A customer builds their order on your Carrot storefront or branded app.
At checkout, they choose to pay by bank. First-time users link their bank account through Aerosync, which takes about fifteen seconds and supports over 12,000 banks.
Payment is authorized before the order is submitted. Returning customers pay in a couple of taps since the bank connection is already saved.
The paid order flows into your fulfillment queue and on to your POS, the same as any other Carrot order.
No cash handling at the counter. No card workarounds. No ATM in the lobby doing the heavy lifting.
Why dispensaries move online orders to pay by bank
Lower processing cost
Aeropay reports that pay by bank runs roughly 50% cheaper than card processing, and cannabis retailers are rarely getting favorable card rates to begin with.
Faster pickup, shorter lines
A prepaid order is a quick handoff at the counter. That compounds during rush periods and makes curbside and drive-through workflows dramatically simpler.
Fewer abandoned orders
Orders paid at checkout get collected. Orders that require payment on arrival are effectively reservations, and reservations get forgotten.
Faster settlement
Same-day or faster settlement instead of waiting several business days, which matters when you're managing cash flow around inventory purchases.
Built-in risk protection
Aeropay handles returns and fraud risk up front, with a roughly 90% approval rate and none of the chargebacks card payments produce.
Less cash on premises
A meaningful security and operational benefit that's easy to underrate until you've dealt with the alternative.
What this does to your numbers
Prepayment changes customer behavior in ways that show up in the basket. Shoppers building an order online with a saved payment method browse longer and add more than someone standing at a counter with a queue behind them. Combine Aeropay checkout with Carrot Rewards, where points pricing displays on the menu while customers shop, and the online order becomes the highest-value transaction type in the store rather than a convenience feature.
For context on the online channel generally: Carrot dispensaries average around 22% of total revenue through online orders, with the strongest performers approaching half.
Works with your existing POS
Aeropay sits in the Carrot checkout, so it works regardless of which point of sale you run. Carrot integrates with all of the POS systems below, and Aeropay is available across every one of them.
Who this fits best
- Dispensaries with meaningful online order volume who are still collecting payment at pickup
- Delivery operations where drivers are currently carrying cash
- Retailers paying high card processing costs or working around card network restrictions
- Stores running curbside or express pickup where speed of handoff is the whole product
- Operators who want to reduce cash on premises
Common questions
Is Aeropay compliant for cannabis payments?+
Aeropay is a bank-to-bank payment network built to serve highly regulated industries, including cannabis, and is used widely across the sector for online payments.
Do customers need to download anything?+
No. Bank linking happens inside your Carrot checkout through Aerosync. First-time setup takes about fifteen seconds; after that, returning customers pay in a couple of taps.
Does this work for delivery orders as well as pickup?+
Yes. Prepaid delivery orders mean your drivers aren't handling cash, which is both safer and faster.
What does Aeropay cost?+
Aeropay pricing is set with Aeropay directly and, per Aeropay, generally runs about half the cost of card processing. Book a demo and we'll walk through how it fits your volume.
Can customers still pay in store?+
Yes. Aeropay handles online prepayment through Carrot; your in-store payment methods are unaffected.
Which POS systems does this work with?+
All of them. Aeropay is part of the Carrot checkout, so it's independent of your point of sale.
Stop collecting payment at the counter.
15 minutes with the live platform. See Aeropay running inside a real Carrot checkout.
Book a Demo