I’m a merchant. I have Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Discover charge abilities for our customers who buy things from our website. I use Authorize.net for the processing.
Today I get a computer generated letter from Kim Goodman, Executive VP of Merchant Services, Americas.
She informs me that for the privilege of my putting money into AMEX bank (last year it was like over $150,000) I now get to pay them 3.5%. In effect I have to pay more to let people pay me if they use the AMEX card.
We do not run a porn shop. We sell virtual tour cameras and products – services to law enforcement and REALTORS. This sucks that I have to pay more when customers want to pay me with their AMEX card.
Google check out is the circumvent here. They charge 2.2% and they don’t care what card my customers use.
Does anyone else have a beef or a bone to pick with AMEX? I mean, don’t they charge their customers a premium to own the card? So why do the small business owners of America have to take it in the shorts with price hikes like this?
– Bartman
August 14th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
All online merchants should stop accepting American Express payments. Enough is enough. 3.5% to process a transaction? They are robbing us all and the government should step in and put a halt to this nonsense. They won’t and so it is up to the people. If i sell something for $100 and make 30% on the sale, they charge me 3.5% of my gross. Now in reality they are taking over 10% of my profit. Oh wait but what about the international exchange rate fees and the other fees?…it can add up to a hell of a lot more. If you offer free shipping built into your prices, those percentages go up even more. I will not be taking American express after the new rates go into effect any longer. These banks and credit card companies cry poverty and are literally stealing from Americans. They have become loan sharks as well. Screw you American express.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 am
I’ve been mad at register.com and American Express because the latter has allowed charges on my AmEx card by the former even though the card expiry date on file at register.com had long ago passed.
Register.com, unlike many online companies, does not apparently send out notices when a card on file expires. It just keeps charging, and AmEx just lets them do it . . . all in the name of, when I inquired about it, “that’s what out customers want” but it’s not what this customer wanted. I naively thought that expiry date would be honored. I couldn’t go into a Best Buy and charge something on an expired AmEx, and I don’t see why register.com should be special.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
As a long term (19 years) AMEX customer – who is PAYING an annual fee every year – I have to just say that I am very happy with AMEX.
I had one hickup back in the mid 1990ies with “sign-and-travel”, but after pointing the problem out, my actions likely got one guy at AMEX fired. He represented EVERYTHING that AMEX is not, or at least was not. With the current economic situation, even AMEX has had to adjust and be a tad more like the other “customer chasing” card issuers. Still far better though.
Bottom line, I’m still very happy.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I no longer have an AmEx card as a consumer because of this fun story: I had a regular AmEx credit card and called the customer service line for something – can’t remember what. They talked me into opening their AmEx gold debit card thing. Basically, you get a ton of points for using it and you pay it in full each month. There’s no fee and no limit. The spiel I was given was to “use it just like you would use your debit card, for everyday purchases, and you’ll get a ton of travel points”. Great, okay. I got the card, used it for groceries, etc.
I check my AmEx accounts online less than one month after opening this new account and both accounts have been suspended – with no notice to me.
I call and ask why: they tell me that I’ve had an “unusual” amount of activity on the new card, so they suspended both cards. I told them I was using it just like they told me to, and had not yet even been billed for the first month!
The kicker is that they dropped my regular AmEx credit card limit to just over the current balance, making it look like I had maxed out my card when in fact I has used less than 25% of the limit.
That screws with your credit rating!
I paid both cards in full on the spot and closed both accounts.
I sent in a complaint letter. No one ever followed up.
They really don’t care.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Here’s a good story:
I had an AMEX Blue card. I rarely used it. In fact when my new one came a while back I just tucked it away.
When we decided to go to on an a cruise from Seattle to Alaska (stopping in Vitoria, BC on the way) I decided to activate the card and bring it as a ‘back up’.
After I activated it I spoke briefly with a customer service rep who tried to sell me services I didn’t need. I asked him to note in the account that I would likely be using the card away from home and gave him the locations and time frame. He said he would note it in the account.
Fast forward one month. We’re in Seattle. In a restaurant that doesn’t take Discover. Fine, I’ll use the AMEX. Not so much. Declined. Twice. So I pay cash.
I call customer service to find our that my card was canceled a week earlier. Canceled. No phone call; no warning; just canceled. Of course they sent me a letter giving me a few days notice. It arrived while I was in Glacier Bay. Not much help there.
And why you ask was my card canceled? Lack of use.
That’s right. I activate my card, tell them I’m going to use it to charge a two week vacation and to thank me for potentially charging thousands of dollars they cancel my card. Nice.
And here’s the bonus. The customer service rep I spoke to couldn’t find any record of my conversation regarding my travel. Apparently when AMEX reps tell you “I’ve noted it in your account, sir.” they are full of crap.
The next rep (I was transferred to another department) offered to re-open the account immediately. I asked her how often I would have to use the card in order to not have it canceled again. The answer: once or twice….. per week. I don’t use ANY credit card that much. I gave her one more chance to explain how canceling a card for non-use immediately after being activated and informing them of impending use was a good idea. She couldn’t. She also didn’t want to get off the phone.
I informed her that since they decided I was no longer a customer, I had no reason to continue talking to her, so I hung up.
/rant
August 24th, 2009 at 12:58 am
There is nothing about AmEx that I like, not as a merchant or as a customer. This is the most patently dishonest company I have ever done business with and their style of pretending they have no idea what the other office is doing, sending notices then making deals that are totally contradictory to those notices and pretending to have no written records of their agreements, is like no other bank in the world. They are more like a movie representation of mobsters than regulated bankers.
I hate AmEx. They have more gaul than any company doing business today and this new campaign to kiss the behind of us small business owners is hysterical. They actually believe we are so dumb we are going to sigh a collective3 sigh of releif and forgive them for screwing us during this economic downturn.
Every woman and minority business owner I know lost their “guidance.” They were hounded by American Express for payments after they offered payment plans and AmEx themselves could not keep track of the myriad accounts they had given to everyone. Stand up for yourselves, don’t succumb to this marketing scam to entice you to go back to using their credit at their new higher raes. All AmEx wants is a piece of YOUR profit.