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Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone has anecdotal evidence of merchants and retailers deciding to no longer accepting AMEX for purchases? Obviously I keep a MasterCard for when AMEX has not been accepted but it seemed like it was becoming more common for AMEX to be ok. However this morning I went to make a ticket purchase from a venue which definitely accepted AMEX historically and I have evidence of this on my statements, but they no longer seem to accept.
Just wondering if anyone has noticed a trend?
Not at all. The other way if anything.
While Amex have signed up some big names recently, they are losing smaller businesses. My dentist no longer takes it. Nor does a small shop in the next village. Both were previously in shop small. And on a recent short break in Norfolk, I found most small shops didn’t take Amex.
Can’t say I blame them. I used to do some consultancy for a small retailer, and Amex were charging them 5%. I persuaded them to stop taking Amex. Their customers suddenly found they had other cards they could use.
More merchants now take Amex because the those signing up to the newer small handheld device payment services aren’t charged any more for allowing Amex and have no extra admin. However, for more traditional users, Amex is not only more expensive unless you negotiate with them (now not as easy as it was), but the additional admin required beyond the acceptance of every other card is a real pain. Thus, you can now probably use Amex at a market stall, while smaller shops or service providers have never taken it or have stopped taking Amex. Many utilities and public sector providers also still don’t take it and probably won’t unless there is a big change in process/price.
And coincidentally just reached the end of a queue which has a new large “NO AMERICAN EXPRESS thank you” sign at the till! Hallelujah for Barclaycard Avios+.
Our village pub never used to take it “I’m not funding your air miles” but recently switched credit card machine provider and bingo plus he’s happy as well.
One mini supermarket has two terminals for which they accept amex on the 2nd. Bizarre.
Another shop has a sign saying no amex plsTed’s Grooming Room has stopped taking Amex – annoying because if you booked in advance you could split the deposit and balance across 2 cards during Shop Small!
Is acceptance as bad in the US as here? I’ve never noticed because the 3% means you’d be stark staring to use it there.
Pretty universal in the US.
My golf club used to take AMEX and it was really good when hitting SUB’s and 241’s but they stopped taking AMEX in April, a month before renewal! Thank heavens for Barclaycard.
@TedL, historically, a true HFP disciple would change clubs at that point, but the avios Barclaycard has made these situations a lot less troublesome!
2 salons I frequent take Amex on their little (izettle?) things, which surprised me a bit, though it makes more sense if there are no extra fees attached. My regular hairdresser, however, has only in recent years even started accepting debit cards (she is a very hard-headed businesswoman!), but at least Curve covers that for the time being.
Interestingly I was sent a survey by Amex last week on exactly this topic asking for my perceptions on places large and small that took Amex vs MS and wether my feeling was that it had got better or worse over recent years. Also asking what stores/sectors I’d like them to add.
So it’s a hot topic within Amex UK at the moment.
Pretty universal in the US.
I’ve found numerous smaller retailers in the US won’t accept it.
Interestingly I was sent a survey by Amex last week on exactly this topic asking for my perceptions on places large and small that took Amex vs MS and wether my feeling was that it had got better or worse over recent years. Also asking what stores/sectors I’d like them to add.
So it’s a hot topic within Amex UK at the moment.
Yep, I received the same survey.
Ted’s Grooming Room has stopped taking Amex – annoying because if you booked in advance you could split the deposit and balance across 2 cards during Shop Small!
It’s back now, at least in the Great Queen St branch. They always told me it was their new payment processor’s fault (they stopped accepting it when the new white card machines popped up), and promised that it would come back – last time it worked again!
Thanks All for your responses! The venue in question that I booked tickets for was the Royal Albert Hall. I was just really surprised when their payment portal showed only Visa and Mastercard especially when I knew they had historically accepted AMEX. I was also surprised considering the status of the venue and the affluence of the South Kensington area. I raised it with them on Twitter and they said that as a charity they had to review their expenditure so I guess to some of the previous points maybe the fee AMEX took was too hard to justify as a charity?
Our local Domino’s Pizza stopped accepting about a year ago, despite their homepage saying they accept Amex. Not sure if it’s a franchise decision thing, or a Domino’s lead group decision, or a website issue.
A gym I have used occasionally for years has always taken AX. The other day the card machine had a “NO AMEX” sign on it. The receptionist explained that the machine would accept AX, but the owner no longer wanted to, due to the charges.
Barclay AVios MC did just as well.
I currently have a pending Platinum AX survey to complete. Perhaps it has the same questions.Went into a new branch of Pets at Home last week and they didn’t accept Amex. Asked if they’d “stopped” and they said it works at other stores, but hasn’t been set up here yet. Seemed a bit odd.
I used to do some consultancy for a small retailer, and Amex were charging them 5%. I persuaded them to stop taking Amex. Their customers suddenly found they had other cards they could use.
Forgive me if this sounds like a very basic stupid question but I don’t understand how Amex can charge 5% when interchange fees are capped at what is it 0.7%? Surely this cap means that there is no difference to a merchant whether they take VISA/MC or Amex as it’s all the same fee on each transaction? What am I missing?
I used to do some consultancy for a small retailer, and Amex were charging them 5%. I persuaded them to stop taking Amex. Their customers suddenly found they had other cards they could use.
Forgive me if this sounds like a very basic stupid question but I don’t understand how Amex can charge 5% when interchange fees are capped at what is it 0.7%? Surely this cap means that there is no difference to a merchant whether they take VISA/MC or Amex as it’s all the same fee on each transaction? What am I missing?
Amex doesn’t charge anything like as much as 5% in the UK and interchange fees are capped at 0.3% but only represents a small part of the total fees a merchant pays which are in the range of 1.5% to 2% for small to mid size businesses. The newer little white devices charge a flat fee for all cards, including debit cards so they are effectively subsidising the use of Amex which may not be tenable for ever. It’s not only about fees for Amex – for traditional users you have to sign a separate contract with them and they take longer to pay than any other card (c. 5 days vs 2 days) plus unless you make a special arrangement, deduct fees from each transaction on the payout/statement rather than sending a monthly bill; a real pain for reconciliations.
Our local Domino’s Pizza stopped accepting about a year ago, despite their homepage saying they accept Amex. Not sure if it’s a franchise decision thing, or a Domino’s lead group decision, or a website issue.
Funny you should mention pizza. Papa John’s don’t take Amex either and they advertise that they do on their site. Again, could a franchise thing but still it’s odd and inconsistent.
I used to do some consultancy for a small retailer, and Amex were charging them 5%. I persuaded them to stop taking Amex. Their customers suddenly found they had other cards they could use.
Forgive me if this sounds like a very basic stupid question but I don’t understand how Amex can charge 5% when interchange fees are capped at what is it 0.7%? Surely this cap means that there is no difference to a merchant whether they take VISA/MC or Amex as it’s all the same fee on each transaction? What am I missing?
Amex doesn’t charge anything like as much as 5% in the UK and interchange fees are capped at 0.3% but only represents a small part of the total fees a merchant pays which are in the range of 1.5% to 2% for small to mid size businesses. The newer little white devices charge a flat fee for all cards, including debit cards so they are effectively subsidising the use of Amex which may not be tenable for ever. It’s not only about fees for Amex – for traditional users you have to sign a separate contract with them and they take longer to pay than any other card (c. 5 days vs 2 days) plus unless you make a special arrangement, deduct fees from each transaction on the payout/statement rather than sending a monthly bill; a real pain for reconciliations.
Thank you for your explanation and some insights as to how it works.
I noticed Cook and Megan’s (restaurant chain in London) stopped taking Amex, as well as a few smaller cafes near me too. My guess is with inflation so high they’re looking to cut costs where they can…
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