@namvet wrote:You have to spend money to Make Money! Not all understand this.
Not entirely applicable to this discussion: there's epending good money, and then there's wasting it. If your business plays in the margins, even a 0.5% differential is non-trivial if you're looking at 3-5% income to begin with on any given trasaction.
There are multiple business models that I and a buddy have kicked around over the years, and most of them would expect credit cards for payment. Everyone has a VISA / MC somewhere, so if it turns out Amex is too expensive on whatever one or two that we pick, we won't accept it; however, we absolutely will do a comparison of the networks, perhaps it as CA stated and my old experience from retail where I had access to the books is no longer applicable.
@Anonymous wrote:The funny thing? Those) who refuse to accept Amex due to 'higher fees' are ignoant and don't realize that it's really less than 1/2 of 1% difference between Amex and Visa. On top of that, Visa is more expensive than MC, so they're hypocrits if they're worried about 'higher costs', because Visa already costs more than MC. And even MORE, if they really cared about the percentage that much, they'd accept nothing BUT cash.
There's a reason why the biggest businesses accept all 4, and it's not because they can "eat the costs', but because they realize the difference between the big 4 is so minimal it's idiotic to throw a fit over it.
My family owns a small business. We accpet Amex. They've not once thought about not accepting it because they realize that its difference is minimal. Either you accept credit cards or you don't.
+1
Starting Score: 760
@bichonmom wrote:It does cost more. You also have to set it up separately with your merchant account/gateway provider. It's more work and more expensive, but when I set up my merchant account, I never even considered *not* taking Amex.
Ironically, the merchant company didn't encourage me to do so, and I had to deal with Amex separately to get it done. Plus, it meant a second credit check! With Discover, the merchant company handled all of the setup, along with MC/Visa. So, in my experience, the merchant company didn't really want me to do Amex. Well, they didn't tell me not to, but they sure didn't make it easy. So, it is possible that other merchants have the same issue.
Personally, I'm in business to make money, and if I want to make money, I have to make it as easy as I can for my customers. One way I do that is by accepting all 4 major CCs. I would hate to lose income because someone wanted to use their Amex, and I didn't take it. I think it's a poor business decision not to take all 4. That said, Amex is a tiny % of the CCs I get, and I don't think I've ever had a Discover sale.
What is your business if you don't mind me asking?
While at the gun store today, a guy whooped out his Green AMEX only to be told that they do not accept amex. Their fees are too high.
@Anonymous wrote:So far, I have yet to shop anywhere that did not take American Express. I live in the Orange County area of Southern California -- maybe that makes a difference?
I think it might. I live in LA county and everywhere takes my goofy Amex pre-paid... lots of people have them here, including what I suspect might be a higher per-capita Amex membership in OC than perhaps anywhere else on the planet.