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Does anyone actually use Amex?
When I was a kid, the advertisements for them used to claim that they were the world's most accepted card, yet even then (40-some-odd years ago) no one's parents that I knew of used it.
So who the hell actually does use it? And how have they managed to stay around?!?
Me - the cash back on the platinum credit card is great!
Smaller retailers tend not to accept it, but larger ones do and I use it for all amazon and PayPal purchases.
I use it. Connected to my amazon and paypal. Also buy as much for the shop as I can using it.
We get lots of airmiles and can turn right on the plane!
We don't accept it in the shop as the charges are so high and they take a long time to send you your money.
Yup, BA airmiles. Most places take it these days, we use it for everything we can inc food and petrol
@zippy I think you mean turn left ?
Yep, bigger benefits but can't have it as an only card as far from being accepted everywhere
Bigger question is what happened to my flexible friend Access? Did money do him over?
Our work credit cards used to be Amex but the number of places that took them dwindled until they were next to useless, so we switched to MasterCard.
I have an Amex charge card from when I used to travel a lot. Nothing quite like racking up expenses on the card that gives you air miles.
I keep meaning to work out if it's actually worth it's cost in benefits - I'm guessing probably not, but it is useful having a card with no spending limit.
Eh? Loads of places take Amex. Basically anywhere you are likely to be spending more than a few quid. I have a MasterCard for smaller purchases. Ridic thread.
I have one for work. I've had it refused in lots of places. It's because they charge a huge fee, so retailers don't want to accept it even though they could.
I think most of their business is corporate clients now. I watched a programme about them once, but I can't remember why they are so popular with companies....
Yep it's got higher fee's so a lot of small retailers won't touch it. Used to have one for FF points but with a MC back up you just used it whenever you didn't know the retailer so supermarket and fuel etc.
I use it. Connected to my amazon and paypal.
This. We have the Nectar version. I use mine for all work expenses and it nets us about £400 of Nectar points every year. Makes for a very nice free Christmas lunch.
I know a few people who use them, or rather were given them to handle work expenses.
'Access' was a Lloyds / NatWest (I think) joint venture to take on Barclaycard but in the end they all sold out to Visa or MasterCard.
I've got one. Very few places don't accept it, in my experience.
We use ours for all our food shopping and fuel etc. Now clocked up enough Avios points for two business class return flights to somewhere sunny in Europe for a winter MTB holiday. The only two places I've found who don't take it are Aldi and B&Q.
I've got the platinum cash back and use it where I can for cash back. We have corporate ones we are meant to use but I get back typically over $1000 a year. Better than flights or nectar for me. Last thing I want are free flights...
Platinum service is very very good, if you need to call them etc.
Corporate is lousy.
I've got a platinum MasterCard from NW as well and Amex service is just much better even though it's accepted in more places ... It's a toss up in some ways, a few places don't take Amex but when something happens they sort stuff out and the person on the other end of the phone (on the platinum cards) is empowered to make stuff happen ... really useful if your abroad and sh1t happens.
I use it for day to day expenses because their website is much better than my bank's website (search for transactions etc) and because it was easier to get a 2nd card for MrsJ from Amex than from my bank. I haven't found many shops that don't accept it.
Best card going if you are into identity theft/card fraud...
i often work in Italy. It is useless there!
I use one. Managed to get 33,000 miles in six months so it's worth it for me, especially with the lounge club membership that comes with it. However, it picks up an annual charge from next year so won't be continuing with it.
They used to cost roughly twice as much to the retailer than mastercard etc which is why lots of shops don't accept Amex.
However, it picks up an annual charge from next year so won't be continuing with it.
Which card exactly ? Note my wife has to pay a charge for her French Amex card - Air France one.
I would say Amex is accepted at vast majority of places we spend money, all petrol stations, all supermarkets. As above just some smaller restaurants and shops don't as fees are high (Rockhopper yes I think thats right and visa debit is even cheaper to the seller)
Debit cards are a fixed charge per transaction and credit cards tend to be a percentage but its been a while since I was in retail so that might have changed as well!
Only one for me
i got fed up being told we dont accept amex.
for the amount of spending i do at national chains who are likely to accept it it wasnt worth it so i canceled it.
I used to have one for the cashback but it was getting harder to use it in some places so switched it for a VISA alternative. Slightly less cashback amount but it works everywhere.
Best card going if you are into identity theft/card fraud...
I've been receiving the Amex bill for one of the previous residents of my flat for the last 4 years. Despite returning the bills to sender and even phoning them three times to say he no longer lives there I now have his new card, PIN and even a refund cheque of his after he got into credit on it! He's still using it occasionally so it's fully active, I could easily go bike shopping without any problems.
had one with a Visa card in some Barclaycard hybrid but they stopped it - shame as the cash back was bigger. But only used it for big retailers, didn't even bother with smaller ones as knew the res were way higher.
i got fed up being told we dont accept amex.
Use mine at ...
Sainsbury's
Tesco
Waitrose (although usually use our JL mastercard)
All petrol stations
Amazon
Eurotunnel
BA (obviously)
Loads of place didn't accept it so I binned mine off. There are loads of other cash back cards out there.
Oddly it's much more widely accepted in America.
I have one as my work card.
It's a right pain in the arse if you travel in Europe and don't want to stay/eat in a chain place.
and who could forget this -
Wife's got a BA one that she uses for Business spends.
£10k a year gets you a 2 for 1 companion voucher combine that with the accumulated Avios points and turning left becomes almost reasonable.
We usually pay around £1k (mostly in taxes) for a pair of return business long haul flights whereas they should be around £8k!!!
very good jamba but i try for the most part to shop local (butchers and fishmongers etc) , aldi for the big shop and especially eating out. even my local bike shop doesnt take amex as it costs so much.
so i reitterate i got fed up being told we dont accept amex.
good that it works for you but i didnt want to be tied to chain clone stores.
it was also nice you partially quoted me and then listed a list of places that contradict the second half of my post.
The energy company I used to work at several years ago didnt accept AMEX, used to be called American Excuse, never was sure why!
we do a lot of work for them, it all seems to be mainly business to business. Tracking expenses, offering services for business travellers etc.. Apparently they are the 3rd largest travel agent.
A normal credit card costs us 0.65 % to process an Amex is 1.95%.
Mastercard World is also 1.95 and business credit cards are as well.
We get maybe 3 business cards a month whereas we must turn down 2 Amex a day. Everyone always has a normal card as well.
If you want the benefits of an Amex everyhere, get yourself a [url= https://www.imaginecurve.com/ ]Curve card[/url]..
You can use it anywhere that acceptas mastercard, but 'make it' be your Amex card for all the benefits...
This is a moot point, as technically I've an amex card, but as I can't remember my log in, and it's registered at my old address, and Amex won't switch it, I had to cancel the card and though I have an account, I've no working card...
DrP
On a related issue - it amazes me how many places in the UK don't accept cards AT ALL. Sure - it costs the merchant a small percentage, but how much business do they lose from people simply not shopping there?
whereas we must turn down 2 Amex a day
Serious question - how do you think that makes your customers really feel? I know they've then paid with another card, but it wasn't the one that they really wanted to use.
How much do you spend on customer service - training your staff, providing a coffee machine, putting on club rides, club discounts etc, all of which cost money.
Obviously I don't know if you do all of these things, but if it was me I'd be adding "letting the customer pay with the card they want to use" to the list of things that add up to good customer service.
Just my 2 penneth 🙂
Obviously I don't know if you do all of these things, but if it was me I'd be adding "letting the customer pay with the card they want to use" to the list of things that add up to good customer service.Just my 2 penneth
Yes, but on anything expensive, say a new bike costing £3k it's £60 (or a saturday job for 2 weeks) Vs pennies for a debit card. A bit more than your 2 penneth.
And everyone expects AMEX to be declined so would the customer even remember (Vs being served the aforementioned coffee by the aforementioned saturday kid rather than not at all)?
My local garage takes credit cards for small stuff but not big stuff, doesn't bother me as at the end of the day he'd just put his prices up by 2% if everyone was able to use credit.
On a related issue - it amazes me how many places in the UK don't accept cards AT ALL. Sure - it costs the merchant a small percentage, but how much business do they lose from people simply not shopping there?
I completely agree - My wife runs a business from home, and it was a no brainer to get an iZettle to accept card payments as loads of places just take cash, and by accepting card i KNOW people are more likely to pay more/get more, and also rely on credit etc for treatments (bad for them if they are in debt, but good for the business)..
I wanted to buy an ice cream and coffee from TWO (yeah, TWO goddammit) little ice cream places on the south coast sea front..nil took card, so they missed out on my business. I can't help wondering if LOADS of people just walk on by due to the "sorry, cash only" sign..
iZettle (and others..) are SO easy to set up and use, it's jsut bloddy mindedness if you don;t have one.
DrP
My wife and I have BA Amex Cards and do 90% of our monthly spending on it as most places do take it these days. Haven't paid more than £25 each for a business class flight in europe since and have just booked two first class tickets to New York for our wedding anniversary in January for £500 each instead of £4.5k!
I've got the 'proper' amex platinum card (not the cashback one).
£450 a year, but unlimited travel insurance, unlimited lounge access for me, my wife, and 2 guests each (including their centurion lounges) and concierge makes it worthwhile for my man-maths.
It's very widely accepted for hotels & food, particularly at the higher end of the market. for cheaper, independent places, the fee (which I believe is negotiable) puts some merchants off.
I probably put 90% of my spending through it - only things that won't take it go on the debit card
On a related issue - it amazes me how many places in the UK don't accept cards AT ALL. Sure - it costs the merchant a small percentage, but how much business do they lose from people simply not shopping there?
This, I don't carry cash as a rule, I haven't for years now.
I get pretty annoyed at the "50p charge for things under £5" thing, I don't think there's been a flat fee for card services for years.
"Cash only" just screams "tax avoidance" to me, ffs even my window cleaner takes PayPal.
Oh and coins for trolleys. I keep meaning to buy one of those token things, but I haven't seen them in a while.
It's interesting that people think Amex is more expensive than visa or MasterCard as a merchant.
In some instances that may be true - but what merchants don't always understand, because it's hidden deep in the manuals for visa and MasterCard... is that "premium" cards attract a premium interchange. And guess what? More and more of their cards are run on premium rails.
So - the headline rate may be one amount - but once the murky operational costs are added on, there's not as big a difference as people believe.
Amex is also making big strides in coverage - but still falls short in some markets admittedly.
What gets me about American Express, is that you think it would be good for USD transactions. But no a massive fee of 3%! Halifax clarity card is much better for USD transactions and other overseas transactions.
It's very widely accepted for hotels & food, particularly at the higher end of the market. for cheaper, independent places, the fee (which I believe is negotiable) puts some merchants off.
is that like a wee subtle brag right there 😉
The flat interchange fee for debit went recently - last couple of years from memory. The issuers hated it - max of 50p and you could buy a Ferrari.
Issuers rates are capped at 30bps credit and 20bps for debit across the EU and EEA
Bps?
is that like a wee subtle brag right there
ha, not these days. I go to the occasional posh place, and lots of cheap places, I use instinct as to which card to pull out and I'm normally right 🙂
As per most others I have one for the cashback, which is pretty good.
Its accepted in most large places, but you couldnt have one as your only credit card, you need a mastercard or visa as a fallback.
Bps?
Basis Points - 30bps=0.30%
mccraque is obviously in the business ;o)
My mate worked for two years on the rules for calculating fees on card transactions. There are a lot of rules!
We are on 0.65% credit card and 0.25% debit card with a 1p transaction fee .
That's as low as I could find and haggle. If the numbers mccraque quotes are correct How do World pay and everyone else manage to charge more?
Is that the costs the Worldpay are paying someone?
How many people are involved between a customer putting their card in the machine and me receiving the money?
by the way - if you find somewhere you want to use the card but can't, put the details here and the Amex merchant team follows them up
zippykona - the 0.30% cap is the cap on the level of fee that is paid to the bank that has issued the card (ie Barclaycard, Nat West, TSB, HSBC etc). WP are then making approx 0.35%, less some fees that they might be paying to Visa/MC (the schemes), plus any monthly fees they are charging you for your card machine etc.
There are four parties involved - you (the merchant), the cardholder, the issuing bank and the acquirer (WP). Unless it's an Amex transaction, then there are three as Amex are the issuer and acquirer.
So Amex should be cheaper really.
Anyway our costs are lower than a year ago.
Another 3 cheers for the eu.
As for not taking Amex our machine simply won't accept them.
On a related issue - it amazes me how many places in the UK don't accept cards AT ALL. Sure - it costs the merchant a small percentage, but how much business do they lose from people simply not shopping there?
I was doing some work in London last, in a civil service building a stone's throw from parliament. I had no food or water with me - why would I when I'm surrounded by the biggest city in the UK? The little Costa franchise in the hall would only take cash. I starved all day because I only had 37p in my pocket. (I needed to be escorted in and out of the building, v high security, so once I was in I wasn't moving.) 🙄
I starved all day because I only had 37p in my pocket. (I needed to be escorted in and out of the building, v high security, so once I was in I wasn't moving.)
If only some one would invent a way of easily getting cash in big city - some sort of vending device would possibly do the job. But we can only dream of such a time!