AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[ChrisFlyer]

As the end of the financial year draws close, should you need any last-minute deductions, just a reminder that Amex is accepted by the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Red Cross (and no doubt a few other charities too) for online donations!

 

[JohnK]

Lincraft does not accept Amex.

 

[ftm]

I wonder if the IGA stores changing to not accepting Amex has anything to do with how Amex have just 'enhanced' their membership rewards points structure on the IGA Amex cards most stores use to buy their stock?

In any case, it would be rather cheeky if an IGA store owner wanted to reap the benefits of the MR points from stock purchases but refused to accept the card from customers!

FTM

Sent from my GT-P7510 using AustFreqFly

 

[Mal]

SYD Tax and Duty Free no surcharge when I purchased tobacco the other day. Was this a mistake or have they genuinely removed the surcharge for Amex?

Same experience about 2 weeks ago ... So does appear to have been removed (until it comes back again!!)

 

[lovestotravel]

I wonder if the IGA stores changing to not accepting Amex has anything to do with how Amex have just 'enhanced' their membership rewards points structure on the IGA Amex cards most stores use to buy their stock?

In any case, it would be rather cheeky if an IGA store owner wanted to reap the benefits of the MR points from stock purchases but refused to accept the card from customers!

Funny you say that.... One business owner I know is considering stopping accepting Amex because of a very similar reason

Amex have "enhanced" their points earning from 1.5 to 0.5 and will cause the loss of 5 Million PLUS points per year which is worth about $50,000 a year to this owner

As a result and due to the extra accounting for Amex he's very close to not accepting Amex anymore

Well done AMEX

 

[zzyss]

Hmm... starting to wonder whether this RBA stance on surcharging is going to work out badly for Amex. Just got an SMS from Vodafone saying that in a few weeks the surcharge for Amex will go up from 1% to 2.15%. Seems like "passing on the costs" is going to be used as the excuse.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Hmm... starting to wonder whether this RBA stance on surcharging is going to work out badly for Amex. Just got an SMS from Vodafone saying that in a few weeks the surcharge for Amex will go up from 1% to 2.15%. Seems like "passing on the costs" is going to be used as the excuse.

Have been in Spain, Sweden and Denmark for last 2.5wks - used AMEX and Select combined maybe 200 transactions - not once - NOT ONCE - has any vendor requested surcharge.

Australians be critically aware - primary vent should not be aimed at the vendor who chooses to add surcharge - he / she / they are secondary culprits - primary villians for any CC surcharge are the <redacted> quasi public servents who originally gave them the ability to do - a.k.a known as Reserve Bank board members - they should all be publically stoned.

 

[Moopere]

I'd be pretty surprised if surcharging CC's was illegal all over the world except here. My guess, and its a total guess, is that fierce competition at the retail end keeps such silliness in check. In this country I think its retail just gouging customers.

If the RBA made surcharging illegal tomorrow, would the surcharging companies go broke overnight because they suddenly dip below sustainable profit margins? I doubt it. They'd whinge and complain and suck it up.

Its such an obvious annoyance to us here at AFF. All FF points chasers would be aware and annoyed by the practise, but I wonder what the stats say about consumers in general? You'd think that savy business people everywhere would be eating their competitors lunch by simply accepting all cards and not surcharging if Ma and Pa actually cared ... even a little bit, about the practice.

 

[Flashback]

I'd be pretty surprised if surcharging CC's was illegal all over the world except here. My guess, and its a total guess, is that fierce competition at the retail end keeps such silliness in check. In this country I think its retail just gouging customers.

If the RBA made surcharging illegal tomorrow, would the surcharging companies go broke overnight because they suddenly dip below sustainable profit margins? I doubt it. They'd whinge and complain and suck it up.

Its such an obvious annoyance to us here at AFF. All FF points chasers would be aware and annoyed by the practise, but I wonder what the stats say about consumers in general? You'd think that savy business people everywhere would be eating their competitors lunch by simply accepting all cards and not surcharging if Ma and Pa actually cared ... even a little bit, about the practice.

There's a few cases of it here in the UK, but they're very few and far between...

 

[docjames]

At a home wares store last week - 3% surcharge. The cashier stated "that's only half of what they charge us - 6%".

I don't know where to start - the cannot be any way they're paying 6% - should I be reporting this to Amex?

 

[sparoz]

Only if you are a bonus partner. And not you obviously cant and won't charge a surcharge. I would say name and shame.

 

[AV8]

At a home wares store last week - 3% surcharge. The cashier stated "that's only half of what they charge us - 6%".

I don't know where to start - the cannot be any way they're paying 6% - should I be reporting this to Amex?

I've had a similar experience with a car purchase and reported the dealer to Amex who advised that the merchant was able to set what ever surcharge rate they wanted - Amex was powerless & could do nothing except discuss the matter with the merchant.

 

[JohnK]

Same experience about 2 weeks ago ... So does appear to have been removed (until it comes back again!!)

It is back again! :shock: Bought some duty free tobacco yesterday and handed Amex card to pay.

"There is 1.5% surcharge for using Amex!"

What can you say? They must be losing money....

 

[Deleted member]

Surcharge is offensive.
I suggested to one restaurant owner that lifting his prices by say 2.5 % or even 5% and offering a discount for cash was a better way to go.
A $200 meal bill would become $190.00 For cash. (5% discount)
But they don't get it.
Having said that , restaurants are struggling at present. Mind you I reckon there are too many.
Fine dining used to be a treat, now it is in danger of becoming commonplace.

 

[Mal]

It is back again! :shock: Bought some duty free tobacco yesterday and handed Amex card to pay.

"There is 1.5% surcharge for using Amex!"

What can you say? They must be losing money....

Weird... On again, off again. Very strange.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[Foreigner]

Having said that , restaurants are struggling at present. Mind you I reckon there are too many.
Fine dining used to be a treat, now it is in danger of becoming commonplace.

I haven't quite understood all this. There are too many restaurants...yes. Fine dining can be and still is a treat. If restaurateurs lift their game, there will be more fine dining options. The danger I see is survival (which you suggest in the struggling bit).

 

[lovestotravel]

At a home wares store last week - 3% surcharge. The cashier stated "that's only half of what they charge us - 6%".

I don't know where to start - the cannot be any way they're paying 6% - should I be reporting this to Amex?

Just take your business elsewhere, if possible!

I've had a similar experience with a car purchase and reported the dealer to Amex who advised that the merchant was able to set what ever surcharge rate they wanted - Amex was powerless & could do nothing except discuss the matter with the merchant.

Pretty much, however, some retailers get a "very good" Amex rate but ONLY if they don't surcharge any extra for Amex

One business I know had this "deal" from Amex, 1.8% and VI/MC is about 0.7% now, but they charge a 1% surcharge for VI/MC and 2.2% for Amex.

Again, take your business elsewhere. I have walked out of a car dealership before because they would not accept Amex for the majority of the car purchase price.

Another dealership was happy to take the $80K on Amex over a few days transactions, with a 1% surcharge which I was happy with

 

[sparoz]

Just take your business elsewhere, if possible!



Pretty much, however, some retailers get a "very good" Amex rate but ONLY if they don't surcharge any extra for Amex

One business I know had this "deal" from Amex, 1.8% and VI/MC is about 0.7% now, but they charge a 1% surcharge for VI/MC and 2.2% for Amex.

Again, take your business elsewhere. I have walked out of a car dealership before because they would not accept Amex for the majority of the car purchase price.

Another dealership was happy to take the $80K on Amex over a few days transactions, with a 1% surcharge which I was happy with

Well I don't think car dealer is not a good example. Can't exactly push them to the limit with price and also expect them to not have a surcharge to cover their cost. If you are going to use your Amex I think you will have to let them know up front before negotiations.

There is no advantage to put it over a few days apart from a company policy.

 

[wafliron]

I've had a similar experience with a car purchase and reported the dealer to Amex who advised that the merchant was able to set what ever surcharge rate they wanted - Amex was powerless & could do nothing except discuss the matter with the merchant.

Interestingly, when we recently added Amex to our merchant facilities at work Amex would only allow it if we signed an agreement stating we would not charge a higher surcharge for Amex than for Visa/MC (which we did). Pretty creative tactic from them, at least for new merchants signing up. Not sure how well it would work in general though - we don't put much $$ through our merchant facility and hence have no real bargaining power, and I'd imagine it might not work so well if Amex tried to pull this on a larger merchant.

This tactic of Amex's highlights one of the difficulties re CC surcharges for businesses, too - if they don't have a blended rate on Visa/MC (or if they add Amex to the mix on the above agreement) it makes it pretty much impossible to predict what surcharge is needed to (genuinely) cover costs. e.g. in our case we genuinely only try to cover costs with CC surcharges, but don't have a blended Visa/MC rate and now have Amex in the mix (which we can't charge a higher surcharge on), so we could go from one transaction costing us 0.70% to the next one costing us > 2.5% and have no real way to predict what the overall cost to us over the course of a month/quarter/year is going to be. I'm not suggesting businesses aren't profiteering on CC surcharges - clearly many are - but the way the system works also makes it very hard for businesses to genuinely only cover their costs.

Well I don't think car dealer is not a good example. Can't exactly push them to the limit with price and also expect them to not have a surcharge to cover their cost. If you are going to use your Amex I think you will have to let them know up front before negotiations.

You're assuming the buyer really has pushed the car dealer "to the limit" on the price of the car though - there's a general perception that all cars are sold on razor-fine margins nowadays, but it's far from true.

Personally, if I wanted to pay for a car on credit card I'd negotiate to the point of a "deal" without mentioning the card payment, but I'd be accepting of some sort of reasonable surcharge being introduced once it's brought up if I felt the dealer would "walk" from the deal without it.

 

[Deleted member]

I haven't quite understood all this. There are too many restaurants...yes. Fine dining can be and still is a treat. If restaurateurs lift their game, there will be more fine dining options. The danger I see is survival (which you suggest in the struggling bit).

By too many I really mean too many in the space. The TAL issue with some of these top eateries is rental cost some places pay in rent what it would cost to buy a nice suburban home. On the other hand places like the spirit house in yandina flourish and are nearly 2 hours from Brisbane and 40 mins from noosa. I would feel ill paying the overheads some of these places have to deal with.