If a place doesn't accept amex

[Anonymous]

So far, this is an interesting shift from when this sort of question has been asked in the past.  Certainly a few years ago, there were many responses that they would walk away, taking Amex (with higher fees at the time at least) is the cost of doing business and .....

So maybe people have become less brand (specifically Amex) loyal, or hard-core Amex users are too busy to check the forums over the Thanksgiving holiday!

[Kforce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So far, this is an interesting shift from when this sort of question has been asked in the past.  Certainly a few years ago, there were many responses that they would walk away, taking Amex (with higher fees at the time at least) is the cost of doing business and .....

So maybe people have become less brand (specifically Amex) loyal, or hard-core Amex users are too busy to check the forums over the Thanksgiving holiday!

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^^^^ This

Big shift from 5-10 years ago.

[NoHardLimits]

In my case, I usually try to optimize rewards no matter the card network.  If a merchant didn't accept my preferred card choice, then I would have to evaluate the importance of that merchant to my well being.  If the merchant is easily interchangeable with another equally convenient provider, then I would likely move my business.  If the merchant is important (like a specific doctor or my favorite restaurant), then I would just use a different card.  I tend to always carry 3 cards (from 3 banks on 3 payment networks) in my wallet.

[okurosetta]

Off-topic start, but I love Sichuan food. Especially when I am traveling solo + am somewhere with a strong scene, I will go far out of my way to incorporate these restaurants in my journey.

It is somewhat common, especially in NYC, for some of the best Sichuan restaurants to:

• not take Amex
• charge a fee to use a credit card
• not accept credit cards at all (cash only)

As a credit card hobbyist, of course I would love to use any card without a fee, across the board. But credit cards aren't my only hobby, and carrying a variety of credit cards + Schwab debit card (unlimited ATM fees refunded worldwide + no FTF) + being willing to take cash out and *gasp!* actually use cash = my credit card hobby doesn't get in the way of my other interests.

Expanding on this, I find having some cash on me to be practical, especially when traveling in cities, great to be in a park and walk right by someone selling bottles of water. You don't have to travel out of your way to a store, but you do need to pay cash (typically $1).

And, yes, if there are two otherwise compareable stores/restaurants/services/whatever and one charges a fee or is picky about which card while the other is no fee and whatever card, I'm going to opt for the latter. But I want to be ready to pay however I need to in order to go wherever I want to go.

[swankytiger]

When I am on my AMEX kick, if they dont take AMEX, I just use a Visa Infinite card.  If you are going to complain about the swipe fees of AMEX ill just use the Visa that is usually more expensive in swipe fees.

[NoMoreDebt]

Not a huge deal for me and I  mostly have and use Amex. My water utility doesn't take Amex and recently Ebay stopped taking it. I use the same work around for both of them, PayPal. For anything else which I rarely encounter that I cant use Amex on I will just use my Fidelity Visa.

[MrDuck]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So far, this is an interesting shift from when this sort of question has been asked in the past.  Certainly a few years ago, there were many responses that they would walk away, taking Amex (with higher fees at the time at least) is the cost of doing business and .....

So maybe people have become less brand (specifically Amex) loyal, or hard-core Amex users are too busy to check the forums over the Thanksgiving holiday!

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Count me in this as a prior big time Platinum and Gold card carrier I was only going to places that accepted Amex. However last year I switched to the Venture X and Savior combo. Even though I might be leaving a few points behind, I don't have to worry about finding places to spend money that I wouldn't to begin with. Like the streaming credit is worthless if you buy during the black Friday deals. UberEATS worked but it was a pain a few months out of the year when if look and see i hadn't used the credit and it was the last day of the month.

$200 airline was just put in United but if not for that credit I'd never fly united.

I spent way too long helping Amex when I should've been helping myself much much more.

Granted if I do shop online I'll check my Capitol One portal to see if there are any extra bonus points after I find what I want to buy.

[NoMoreE46]

Fun fact: Neiman Marcus used to only accept Amex issued cards (or cash) until Nov. 2011.    

[markbeiser]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

i remember many years ago (showing my age) Discover cards were not widely accepted .

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It wasn't THAT long ago!👨‍🦳