PayPal Australia now [NOT] accepting AmEx [Again!]

[one9]

Bad News.

Seems PayPal won't be adding Amex afterall.

If you have not yet added your Amex card to your account, then you won't be able to. (for at least the immediate future).

Not 100% sure of the reason, but if you call Amex, they now have an update on the issue. PayPal won't allow any new Amex cards to be added, but will allow already added Amex cards to work for the short term future.

[auriga]

Got to be kidding!

I tried yesterday, but got an error message.

[mvjs]

My guess would be that they're not adding any more AMEX cards for a while until the system issues can be sorted out. Then they'll allow AMEX to be added again.

[ChrisCh]

I just got a reply from PayPal, and here is their response which kind of explains the issue, and how to resolve it.

Dear ChrisCh,

Thank you for contacting PayPal, my name is Michelle. I completely
understand the reason for your frustration and rest assured that I will
do my best to provide the proper resolution to address your issue. Thank
you for your patience in this matter.

I understand that you are having difficulty making a payment using your
AMEX card. I can sense the importance of this matter to you. Allow me to
help you get to the bottom of this matter.

ChrisCh, we received a response from your card issuer that is
preventing us from allowing your card to be used in the system. All you
need to do is to contact your card issuer and inform them that you want
to use the card in your PayPal account.

I apologise for the difficulty you've experienced. The credit or debit
card issuer has denied the card you are attempting to add to your
account or use to make a payment.

>>Please note that when you register a card or update your card
information, PayPal requests a temporary authorisation of $1.00 USD. If
that amount is not authorised, the card cannot be used or updated


>>The only information that PayPal receives is that the card provider
has declined usage of this card. We can only advise that you contact the
card's issuing bank for more information regarding the denial, as any
resolution must be sought from that institution

We are only processing transactions that your bank allows, and if they
are not allowing one particular transaction, you would need to get in
touch with them just to be sure that you would know what the problem
exactly is.

After they have given you the go signal, then you may make that purchase
again and it should go through fine.

We once again apologize for the inconvenience caused to you and thank
you for your patience. We do value you and your business; we will
continue to strive to ensure that you have a better experience in the
future.

Thank you for choosing PayPal and please feel free to contact us if you
should have any further questions.

Sincerely,
Michelle
PayPal, an eBay Company

Will call Westpac now... weird that it's now not working after previously working for my test payment to my second account, which has now appeared on Westpac internet banking as 16 Oct 2009 PAYPAL SG Singapore SN AUSTRALIA AU 1.00

UPDATE:

Just got off the phone with Westpac, and they tried to hint that I use MasterCard instead... When I pointed out that the only reason that I was a customer there was because of the Amex and the extra points from it, they were quick to look into it further. They checked with their fraud team, and apparently Westpac isn't blocking it, but American Express is stopping the transaction from being completed... The joy of one more phone call...

FURTHER UPDATE:

Just called Amex, and they said they have "raised a ticket" with PayPal to resolve the issue... yet I bet nothing will be done lol

[one9]

ChrisCh - It seems whoever responded to your email did not have the latest information. When I called the Amex Platinum desk this morning, they said they had only just received an update about PayPal not adding any new cards for the immediate future. She read a short paragraph that basically explained people who had already added their cards would still be able to use them in the immediate future but no new card additions would be allowed. The way the paragraph was worded sounded like possibly people who have already added their cards will have them disabled/deleted in the future.

[zzyss]

ChrisCh - It seems whoever responded to your email did not have the latest information.

I'm not quite so ready to write this off as a Paypal thing just yet, 'coz they're still showing the Amex logo on their site. It wouldn't take a Web guy 5 minutes to get rid of that thing if it really was any kind of serious problem (especially since they site's quite likely to be centrally managed out of the US, and they've only just concluded their Friday).

[one9]

I'm not quite so ready to write this off as a Paypal thing just yet, 'coz they're still showing the Amex logo on their site. It wouldn't take a Web guy 5 minutes to get rid of that thing if it really was any kind of serious problem (especially since they site's quite likely to be centrally managed out of the US, and they've only just concluded their Friday).

I really think we can not be sure what is going to happen without some inside information. But from the statement that was prepared, I think it is not a 1 or 2 day glitch.

My guess is that it could somehow relate to the fees that PayPal charge the sellers. For example my business accepts PayPal and we are charged 1.5% (accepting payments of $15,000+ per month). When Amex was introduced for PayPal there was no change to this fee.

In comparison, for credit card sales (Visa/Mastercard) through our Bank we are charged 0.7% and for Amex sales we are charged 3%. So 1.5% seems just too low for Amex through PayPal.

And to backup my guess, when I click on the "Fees" page of Paypal (after logging in), it comes up with an Error Page. So maybe they are going to increase their seller fees for accepting Amex and then continue to accept Amex. But this could open up a whole new kettle of fish with angry sellers.

[lovestotravel]

I really think we can not be sure what is going to happen without some inside information. But from the statement that was prepared, I think it is not a 1 or 2 day glitch.

In comparison, for credit card sales (Visa/Mastercard) through our Bank we are charged 0.7% and for Amex sales we are charged 3%. So 1.5% seems just too low for Amex through PayPal.

You can get Amex down to around 1.8% quite easily without a excessively high turnover.

A company like Palpay would get a good rate from Amex

After introducing Amex I highly doubt Paypal and turn around and stop it after a few days.

Give it a week or so and then worry about it

[asdfghjkl32]

My QANTAS Amex didn't allow me to register with PayPal... so stupid !!

[dede]

Lucky I added my Amex and deleted the Mastercard before all the kerfuffle started!