Accepting Amex

[Aegean]

I recently began a contract with a US company to supply them with monthly content on an ongoing basis.

They have a corporate credit card, American Express, which they insist on using for payment. I had to route through paypal for the first payment as I had no other way of accepting this card. However, when I received the first payment, paypal took £245 from the total just for processing it.

Does anyone else have any ideas on another way I could accept this card? For me it's a pain in the backside.

 

[AssetDomains]

I briefly looked at sagepay for a project I think they process amex might be worth a look

 

[diablo]

I recently began a contract with a US company to supply them with monthly content on an ongoing basis.

They have a corporate credit card, American Express, which they insist on using for payment. I had to route through paypal for the first payment as I had no other way of accepting this card. However, when I received the first payment, paypal took £245 from the total just for processing it.

Does anyone else have any ideas on another way I could accept this card? For me it's a pain in the backside.

£245 for processing? How much was the invoice for?!

"PayPal charges sellers a fee of between 1.4% and 3.4% on the total sale amount plus a fixed fee of 20p per transaction."

 

[martin-s]

Sounds like a nice contract if you lost £245 in fees?

Why not just sign up to Cardsave and get a merchant account?

 

[ian]

I accept most payment methods but not amex. Found the commission charges to be very high and it isn't as secure a method of payment as visa/mastercard.

 

[Aegean]

£245 for processing? How much was the invoice for?!

"PayPal charges sellers a fee of between 1.4% and 3.4% on the total sale amount plus a fixed fee of 20p per transaction."

I'm supplying them with 4000 unique product descriptions per month, thats why. Obviously I don't want to lose a large amount every time, and thats before I pay my writers.

I used to have an Amex card years ago, it was a pain in the backside. I was in Baku for 2 months once as part of an inspection team on rigs. When I went to pay the hotel they informed me they wouldn't take amex. they refused to give my passport back and luckily my boss at the time had enough credit on his visa to cover me. I ran into a lot of places that wouldn't take it, so in the end i chopped it in two.

 

[diablo]

I'm supplying them with 4000 unique product descriptions per month, thats why. Obviously I don't want to lose a large amount every time, and thats before I pay my writers.

I used to have an Amex card years ago, it was a pain in the backside. I was in Baku for 2 months once as part of an inspection team on rigs. When I went to pay the hotel they informed me they wouldn't take amex. they refused to give my passport back and luckily my boss at the time had enough credit on his visa to cover me. I ran into a lot of places that wouldn't take it, so in the end i chopped it in two.

I don't think the Paypal charges would have been any less if they had used a different card - and other processors will charge you a percentage too. Best bet is to look around for a processor with lower fees and no commitment to a long contract with monthly fees.

Or explain to your customer that you were charged £245 just to accept their payment - and offer an alternative (bank transfer) or add the transaction charge to their invoice.

You are right though - Amex isn't as widely accepted as Visa / Mastercard outside of the USA.

 

[Skinner]

As I recall Amex charge over double the commission even on PDQ machines, which is why most shops won't take it, because there profit margins won't allow this extra percentage.

I also found getting an amex card to be a ballache, unlike most providers, who issue platinum to any monkey who applies, amex do fully check your details, so if someone pulls out a platinum/black/titanium/centurion amex the odds are good they are loaded.

 

[foz]

As Skinner pointed out Amex notoriously charge a higher commission on transactions (over others). So through Paypal or your own merchant facility Amex will get the higher cut from you.

 

[Aegean]

As Skinner pointed out Amex notoriously charge a higher commission on transactions (over others). So through Paypal or your own merchant facility Amex will get the higher cut from you.

Thats exactly the problem.

I used to have an amex platinum card, but "loaded" I certainly was/am not! Its not a good card to have as far as I'm concerned. High charges and hard to use realistically, especially in Europe.

 

[Aegean]

Whether it is of value depends on ones type of spend. Some of their cards can enable a very good way of accruing rewards. I won't bore people here about all of that because it's not necessary and there are other forums about it. Charge cards work differently to credit cards and suit the needs of some people better than others. The black "centurion" is the invitation only one with a £2k annual fee for a host of benefits (but only worth it if they are the sort of benefits one actually needs!) and is by invitation only. With chip and pin much of the performance of presenting a card to someone to settle a bill has disappeared therefore a black coloured titanium charge card won't be noticed like it would have been once. It can also can get jammed in some ATM's.


(from iPhone)

Absolutely, I use my Visa Debit card to pay for almost everything now. Plus, since my daughter was ill, I tend to live by the "if I don't have the money don't do it" ethos.

 

[max_rk]

try stripe.com

 

[Aegean]

try stripe.com

Good call, I shall investigate this further, thankyou.

 

[max_rk]

Good call, I shall investigate this further, thankyou.

You welcome. I don’t have personal experience with them but I heard they are disrupting the merchant account space with their one fee service.

 

[Retired_Member38]

I'm supplying them with 4000 unique product descriptions per month, thats why. Obviously I don't want to lose a large amount every time, and thats before I pay my writers.

I used to have an Amex card years ago, it was a pain in the backside. I was in Baku for 2 months once as part of an inspection team on rigs. When I went to pay the hotel they informed me they wouldn't take amex. they refused to give my passport back and luckily my boss at the time had enough credit on his visa to cover me. I ran into a lot of places that wouldn't take it, so in the end i chopped it in two.

If you're supplying 4000+ articles then the charges don't look that bad really?

I would be wary of causing too many problems... content mills churning out search engine spider food are 10 a penny. Customers ordering 4k+ articles a month aren't. You need them more than they need you... when they say 'im sending the Amex payment now' I'd be saying 'thanks sir' :lol:

I'd probably offer to let them pay by bank transfer and split the Paypal fee 50/50, minus their bank transfer fee. So it'll probably leave an extra £100 of pure profit in your pocket every month. I definitely wouldn't push it if they don't fancy it though...

 

[Aegean]

If you're supplying 4000+ articles then the charges don't look that bad really?

I would be wary of causing too many problems... content mills churning out search engine spider food are 10 a penny. Customers ordering 4k+ articles a month aren't. You need them more than they need you... when they say 'im sending the Amex payment now' I'd be saying 'thanks sir' :lol:

I'd probably offer to let them pay by bank transfer and split the Paypal fee 50/50, minus their bank transfer fee. So it'll probably leave an extra £100 of pure profit in your pocket every month. I definitely wouldn't push it if they don't fancy it though...

Allow me to address a couple of your comments:

If you're supplying 4000+ articles then the charges don't look that bad really?

Possibly true, but most of the money we charge goes to my writers.

content mills churning out search engine spider food are 10 a penny.

they are paying for unique product descriptions at their request - that's what my business does. Its an integral part of the clients web strategy.

I'd probably offer to let them pay by bank transfer and split the Paypal fee 50/50, minus their bank transfer fee.

They insist on using their corporate Amex card. I have never mentioned my paypal fees to them.

 

[Retired_Member38]

Yes but my point is they hold all the cards here - if they're insisting on Amex then there really is very little you can do about it, other than offer a discount to settle it by bank transfer.