eBay To Drop American Express Over Fees (cnbc.com) 89
Online marketplace behemoth eBay said it plans to no longer accept American Express, citing what the company says are "unacceptably high fees." CNBC: It's a notable blow to American Express, whose customers are often the most attractive among merchants and spend the most money per month on their cards. But it's not the first time merchants have voiced opposition to AmEx's business practices by walking away, most notably the warehouse chain Costco nearly a decade ago.
[...] Overland said that eBay customers have become aware of new ways to pay for items, making payments more competitive than ever before, and AmEx was no longer a necessary partner for eBay. eBay has increasingly been offering customers buy now, pay later options on purchases through Apple Pay, PayPal and other companies like Klarna and Affirm as well.
[...] Overland said that eBay customers have become aware of new ways to pay for items, making payments more competitive than ever before, and AmEx was no longer a necessary partner for eBay. eBay has increasingly been offering customers buy now, pay later options on purchases through Apple Pay, PayPal and other companies like Klarna and Affirm as well.
Good (Score:5, Interesting)
We all pay for high credit card fees, even if we use cash. Amex is the big outlier here in fees. Get rid of them.
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Yep. Back when I ran a business, it made sense for us to take Visa and MasterCard. Amex was ridiculously more expensive, so we just didn't. I think in all the years we operated, we had maybe one or two customers gripe about not being able to use Amex.
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Most people can't afford to pay off their Credit Cards in full every Month.
I don't know if that is still a requirement for AMEX, but I believe it used to be.
( It's the only way to use a CC imo. Keeps you out of trouble. )
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Amex calls these charge cards now. The credit cards can accrue interest if not paid in full each month. And I agree with you about payment - always pay the cards in full each month, unless it's a 0% / 0 fee offer, but there hasn't been one of those in maybe 15 years.
Re: Good (Score:2)
opposite problem here in Argentina. prices inflated to accommodate for this and everything is in 3 or 6 no-interest installments. this has been the norm for at least 15 years.
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Yes, it has been that way in the US for even longer than 15 years. The contracts between merchant and card issuers prevent them from adding surcharges for credit cards. Some provided a small "cash discount". Or only allowed cash and debit. But they were few and far between. Apparently, the legal landscape changed, and the surcharges are now legal. And many merchants are implementing them, or in reverse, with substantial discounts for using a debit card (or bank account, for online bills/purchases/service).
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I WISH places would offer cash discounts but the only place I see that does this is gas stations. Consequentially, I tend to always pay cash for my gas.
I imagine the two main reasons for not wanting to deal in cash are a) security of the cash and b) it still cost time/money to handle the cash and deposit the cash into a bank.
Still, I always ask places if they off a cash discount and pretty much no one does. Shrugs, since they don't want to give me a 1-2% discount, they can accept my credit card and take the
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I WISH places would offer cash discounts but the only place I see that does this is gas stations. Consequentially, I tend to always pay cash for my gas.
I find that a good gas card always gives back more than the cash discount. And if you tack on the Upside app discount to your gas purchase, you should be able to hit 10%+ off of gas between that and the credit card rewards.
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The costs/risks of handling cash are often higher than the costs of accepting card payments, so why would anyone offer a discount for that?
Paying cash also doesn't benefit the customer in any way, you have the inconvenience of having to get the cash in the first place, plus the inconvenience of ending up with a bunch of small change.
Re: Good (Score:2)
If I were running a successful business I'd offer to pay sales tax if you pay in cash and price everything in multiples of $0.25.
Re: Good (Score:2)
Debit cards have much lower processing fees in the US, and mone of the inconvenient of cash.
The only problem with them is that consumer protections in terms of fraud are not as good. If your credit card is stolen or compromised online, you can generally get a credit right away. With a stolen debit card, it takes a month in my experience.
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As you mention, consumer protection for fraud isn't as good with banks as it is with credit cards. I once had my debit card compromised and while the bank eventually did make me whole, it caused me to change my strategy with regards to spending and how I did it. After that, I decided all my transactions would go through credit cards, more or less. The fewer entities that have access and information about my checking account, the better.
I'd much rather argue about me owing the credit card company money as op
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I believe the reason the credit companies can make you whole faster is not just regulations, but also that the higher processing fees are enough to cover the fraud overall. They don't really have as big of an incentive to improve security, since the losses are all passed on to the customers through fees. That is not the case for debit cards.
I also get a lot of rewards from credit cards. They are also covered by processing fees, and from cardholders who pay interest.
In European countries, the processing fees
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That's pretty interesting about Europe. I think the reason credit is so abundant in America has to do with the fact that we have fewer consumer protection laws. We'll gladly let a moron put themselves in debt.
I'll be the first to say we should have a mandatory finance class in high school that teaches people how money works, including credit, interest, loans, stocks and so on. I was lucky (I guess) to grow up on the poorer side and learned very early how money worked and how to live within my means.
Way to m
gas & cash (Score:2)
>Consequentially, I tend to always pay cash for my gas.
I used to. But with the standard 10c difference, when gas is over $3/gal, my 3% back more than covers the difference. And I don't have to go inside twice to fill the tank.
Re: Good (Score:2)
A nitpick, but I think these were always called charge cards. Charge cards came first, and were introduced by Diner's Club. Credit cards came a bit later, introduced by Bank of America (eventually spun off as Visa). This newer type of card introduced the "revolving credit" line.
Re: Good (Score:2)
I did mention charge cards earlier in the thread. Those still had a grace period, even though you would pay them in full.
Debit cards work differently - money is deducted from your bank account for each purchase, at the time they are made. It's much more likely the merchant will get paid as the transaction will be rejected if you don't have enough money in your bank account. Whereas you could draw your entire credit line on a charge card or credit card, and then default.
Re: Good (Score:2)
Sorry for the previous reply. I could barely read your response in the sun in my hot tub. My phone high brightness setting is no match for the sun. And thus I did in fact misread it..
Re:Good (Score:4, Interesting)
I think it still is. Back when Costco took Amex only, we ordered a heatpump system to be installed. Three days later Amex calls us asking when we'd pay our bill. We answered when the bill says we need to pay it. The Amex guy then asks "so that's next week, right?" No, we'll pay it by the deadline on the bill. "Can we do it next week Monday?" No, on the deadline. "I can put you down for Monday, yes?"
We promptly told him to cancel the card - 25 years of usage with no problems, then demanding we pay immediately. In the end, due to a scheduling conflict they couldn't do the install and the Costco special offer was gone, so we cancelled the contract.
But screw Amex. Their fees are high on purpose - to give them "exclusivity" to show people who wield the card are in the upper echelons economically and the Amex is a spenders card. Their fees are generally 1-2% higher than Visa or MasterCard
Anyhow, Amex is called that because they were a parcel delivery firm - think like FedEx but for everyone, not federal employees. They got into the charge card game after Bank of America released their BankAmericard (now known today as Visa). It was the parcel delivery service that gave them the travellers cheques business as a way to easy send money around
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Re: Good (Score:2)
Different experiences might be due to different banks issuing the card.
Also, whenever I've disputed on MC, they assume I'm right and request proof from the merchant.
Re: (Score:2)
You are right on. Calling for early payment has not, does not, and will not happen with Amex. In fact, if you have a charge cad, which is by contract expected to be paid monthly or on some other schedule by contract (which you agreed to), you can often convert a purchase, balance, or the entire account to revolving credit.
Amex can offer you buy now pay later and installment agreements on a purchase by purchase basis, can even make business loans based on your relationship as much as anything.
But more to the
Re: (Score:3)
If you can't afford to pay off your credit card every month, you are using it wrong! Then again, this doesn't surprise me in the least. On my discover card account, there is a link to check your FICO score and it shows how you rank compared based on age and credit score. Needless to say, I'm exceptionally ranked because I pay the card off every single pay day and I have all my transactions (more or less) going through that account to build up points. They also offer better fraud protection then my bank AND
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Why would I want to pay interest? I'm going to make the purchase anyway, so I may as well get any benefit I can for making said purchase. Paying interest effectively makes everything cost that much more. Getting a fraction of it back makes it that much less.
I'm going to make these purchases regardless though.
Also, I don't understand what you mean by " inability to count money".
Re: Good (Score:2)
What I'm getting at is that if you pay it off every month, you don't need credit. You could use cash, but you'd have to go through the onerous process of counting money. By avoiding counting money, you are also increasing the cost of goods by 1-2% for everyone who shops there.
The issue isn't that you (and me) aren't making a rational choice for yourself, but that your use of credit is increasing costs for everyone.
There are varying levels of this. If you use a basic Visa/MC with no rewards, then maybe it's
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Ahh I get what you are saying. I'd be all for changing this to be more fair but since it's not, I'm going to take any advantage I can find that's legal. Since credit card companies do give me a small percentage back AND no one wants to give me a cash discount, I'm essentially forced to take advantage of not needing to count money.
Of course, I make sure to live within my means, so I'm still counting my money but a lot of people are really bad with money, otherwise credit card companies likely wouldn't be sti
Re: (Score:2)
We all pay for high credit card fees, even if we use cash.
That might be changing for two reasons.
In March, Mastercard and Visa agreed to cut and cap credit card processing fees. This comes after years of litigation against the credit card companies for excessive processing fees. Most credit cards charge about 2% processing fee, plus whatever reward program the individual card includes. This causes some processing fees to approach 5% of the total, meaning that when the retailer submitted a payment of $100 they might only receive $95 from the card provider. To c
Re: (Score:2)
That makes sense for a car dealership to charge that fee since you are talking big dollar amounts. I pay rent and if I were to use a CC, they have a hefty fee for that as well. I've never considered putting a down payment on a car with a CC though if you have the cash, it makes sense to get all those yummy points on money you were spending anyway.
I haven't seen any other business that charges extra for CC usage, that I can recall. Not saying it's not happening, just that the places I spend money, I have yet
Re: Good (Score:2)
I haven't seen any other business that charges extra for CC usage, that I can recall.
Fast food restaurant in the late 2010s in the DC area (US). Had a small paper sign on the register. I think they tacked on a 3% fee for credit cards. Switched to cash and vowed to never visit that location ever again.
The public does not know this (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
> Its main market is jetsetters and hotel travelers who try to play the points game.
In the very first year that it was possible to pay the IRS with credit cards, the WSJ ran an article that calculated that paying the fees on a large ($25k? $100k?) IRS payment with the card rather than cash produced airline rewards worth more than the fees! They used a hypothetical first class ticket.
The following year, the rewards were rather significantly reduced for IRS purchases.
Re: (Score:2)
My company used Amex Travel Services to track business expenses. Part of that was we were given Amex Corporate Cards.
When I traveled, I found many businesses wouldn't accept Amex cards. I then had to use my personal card and jump through hoops to get reimbursed. PITA.
"unacceptably high fees" (Score:5, Interesting)
I dropped eBay for the same reasons.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you sell your used items on Ali Express ?
I find that eBay still does the best job for this, despite the high fees. And those fees are mainly because of eyeballs, not because of actual costs incurred.
Amazon is not particularly usable for a garage sale due to far too many restrictions on which items can be listed. In the name of preventing counterfeit sales, individuals are prevented from listing a very large number of used items from specific brands, even if they were previously bought from Amazon ! And
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but the alternatives generally aren't better. At least for auction stuff - I don't know why people sell new products "buy it now" on eBay like a store.
But for auctions and stuff well, the smaller sites get less customers so they generally get the bargain hunters who will lowball you - sure it takes less fees, but it also attracts less people and the people who go there do it so resell on eBay to make a profit. Or as a customer, sellers expect eBay pricing and thus m
Re:"unacceptably high fees" (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you mind sharing what you use now, assuming you are selling and not just buying ?
I have probably 500 pieces of outdated surplus electronics and cables, worth perhaps $5 - $10 each, if that. Just sorting through everything will take a long time, to determine which pieces are least likely to ever be needed again.
You just never know when you'll need that odd VHDCI SCSI cable, ISA bus SB16, Covox Speech thing 8-bit parallel port DAC, s-video cables, Sun workstation to PS/2 converter, noisy but working 36GB 15k RPM SCSI drive, a couple of non-working FDD interface floppy drives, AZERTY keyboards well past their prime, low profile brackets for countless SATA/SAS/NIC cards I'm never going to use, proprietary data cables for various phone models of the pre-smartphone era, a broken Juicebox EV charger 3 PS121 USB/Ethernet print servers, coax network cable for Ethernet (but also can be used as clock sync for audio ADCs/DACs), so many X10 pieces - serial interfaces, various remotes, appliances modules, wall switches (replaced with Z-Wave), noise filters, at least 5 models of obsolete KVM switches, a big stack of obsolete KVM cables, a drawer full of about 50 DC power adapters with various current/voltage/tips, but absolutely no label indicating which device they are for. Numerous compact fancy IDE and even FDD cables that light up. A few 220V transformers. A huge stack of audio cables, from RCA, optical, XLR, mini-XLR, 1/4ni and 1/8 TS/TRS, conversion XLR/TRS cables, MIDI cables, adapters like AT to PS/2 keyboard, at least 4 PS/2 to USB, a stack of remotes for many devices that have failed and I don't own anymore, like Dish remotes, satellite signal switches and diplexers, a working Odroid XU4, a broken Odroid N2+, 2 broken Audiofire 12 Firewire interfaces, extension cords grounded and ungrounded, a working Enphase Envoy-R solar gateway, at least 5 power cables to connect the monitor on one side, and PC PSU on the other. The list just won't end. And yet I'll probably end up keeping some of the stuff in that list as I may use it again. This is all just to think of a some off the top of my head without going into the garage to look at the various drawers and open to see everything that's inside.
I'm really not sure how to dispose of it all without ending as e-waste, or spending countless hours photographing, describing, listing, negotiating, packing, shipping. Ebay used to have this concierge service where you could ship all your items, and they would take care of all these things for you. It probably never worked for low-value items. And that service was long discontinued.
There has to be a better way, but I haven't found it yet.
I certainly wouldn't use craigslist as there are too many flaky people on there who waste people's time by making ridiculous offers, not showing up, showing but short of cash for the agreed price, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
about 50 DC power adapters with various current/voltage/tips, but absolutely no label indicating which device they are for.
As long as the voltage, current/power capacity, and whether it's tip-positive or tip-negative are clearly labeled, they will come in handy. When you need a DC power supply in a pinch having a bunch of them around is really useful, especially since it's so easy to just cut the connector off and attach a new one with less than 5 minutes of soldering (or just twist the wires together if it's temporary).
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, and they have come in handy on several occasions, which is why I haven't thrown any of them away. It's getting quite hard to read the characteristics with the naked eye, though, due to PPS maculopathy. I have to take a picture with a flash or there is no reading it. It's usually engravings rather than labels - really hard to read when it's black and in a poorly lit garage. My vision issues pretty much precludes any soldering. nowadays. Even before I had those, I was very clumsy with a soldering iron. I
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ebay is a great marketplace, even if you don't actually buy through them. The search is decent, the diversity of items available and the quality of the reviews/feedback is superior to amazon IMO, and once you've found what you're looking for, you just go on the seller's own website (which they nearly always have if they're just selling new items buy-it-now) and buy the item minus ebay fees. Amazon is full of mislabeled items, items with the wrong picture, and a ton of obviously fake reviews, ebay has much
Snap! (Score:2)
I never knew I had so much in common with eBay.
The biggest disruption.. (Score:3)
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When we stop using credit cards and their rent-seeking, predatory lending bullshit and payment gateways, and replace them with a nonprofit payment network run by and for credit unions that can handle ACH debit, contactless, chip, swipe, and card-not-present payments with sensible, micropayment-sized transaction fees.
This is a fantasy. Who's going to pay for this magical money network?
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When we stop using credit cards and their rent-seeking, predatory lending bullshit and payment gateways, and replace them with a nonprofit payment network run by and for credit unions that can handle ACH debit, contactless, chip, swipe, and card-not-present payments with sensible, micropayment-sized transaction fees.
This is a fantasy. Who's going to pay for this magical money network?
You'll find the above is how it works with most countries and the networks pay for themselves even with a per transaction fee of a few cents (probably less than that once the initial investment is paid off). Most countries run interbank electronic payment systems as a corporatised public entity (a company with one shareholder, the government and a mandate to run at a minimal profit). Amazing how cheap these systems are when the profit motive is removed, even whilst paying competitive wages to employees.
T
American Express sucks (Score:3)
American Express sucks for merchants because 99.999999999999999999999% of the time they'll side with the card holder, no matter how egregious the fraud or the nonsensical bullshit reason claimed for wanting a chargeback.
"I ordered a blue one and I got a blue one but I don't want a blue one so I wanna charge it back", and sure as shit they will.
Now you're out the money AND the product, hooray! But it gets worse.
They never side with the merchant, and even in the extremely rare event that they do, you'll STILL get stuck with an "chargeback fee". That's right, win or lose you have to pay American Express for the privilege of getting defrauded.
I dropped AMEX from all of my sites because their attitude is "fuck you, and fuck you again, bitch".
Stripe isn't any better; they'll blatantly ignore their own built-in anti-fraud detection checks and allow blatantly bogus charges to come in.
Like the pukebag shitweasels at AMEX, Stripe will also bill you for chargebacks whether you win or lose. No exceptions.
They could, in theory, make some real money on the side just by making fraudulent charges themselves and then billing you for it. Win or lose, you pay a fee. (Honestly, how would you ever know?) It's a racket either way, really.
Stripe: "See, the way it works is that we put you out in this field and people shoot at you, and if they hit you, you have to pay a fee for 'Interfering With A Bullet's Path'."
Re:American Express sucks (Score:5, Interesting)
I had the opposite problems as a previous card holder.
I cancelled a business Amex card and closed the account.
Months later I get a bill from Amex. Apparently some dodgy USA firm decided autobill for some software service I had no recollection of ordering.
Instead of rejecting the payment, they just revived my closed account and said it's my problem to deal with.
I've never used Amex again.
Re:American Express sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah at that point, your well within your rights to say to them "Aint my problem. I'm not your customer. Leave me alone and stay the fuck away from my credit record or the FTC is getting involved" (or whoever it is you americans have that goes after companies for anti-consumer shit)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
There are actually several federal agencies as well as independent state ones. Do you live here?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah at that point, your well within your rights to say to them "Aint my problem. I'm not your customer. Leave me alone and stay the fuck away from my credit record or the FTC is getting involved" (or whoever it is you americans have that goes after companies for anti-consumer shit)
I gather that like me, you're not an American.
The US doesn't have a consumer protection agency or ombudsman (like Australia's ACCC). They're expected to sue the company involved and the US legal system is set up to protect people who already have money. So in this case, AMEX can just turn around and say "we'll go fuck yourself and your credit record too".
Re: (Score:2)
I'm in Australia where we have decent consumer protection, but often these companies just sell the debt to third party who then doesn't care about your story anymore as they get a percentage of any money recovered.
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I know why they did that, A 3 minute phone call to Amex would have solved it. The magic words, 'recurring billing', and tell AmEx you did indeed cancel and they should not permit the merchant to rebill you, period. It gets fixed.
For every 'I cancelled, stop this!' complaint, there are hundreds of subscriptions that survive a card replacement or expiration and the card member doesn't even realize they were spared the trouble of fixing it. But, but, the mistakes should not happen. It's the merchant not giving
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I closed my Amex card, after 30 years, because of a fraudulent $2.50 charge that they refused to reverse.
My experience does not align with yours.
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That is one way to look at AmEx, another way is that from the cardholder's perspective, they actually deliver a level of customer service that their competitors don't. Siding with the cardholder sucks for the vendor sometimes, but I have been fucked by vendors so often I don't actually care if they get the short end of the stick off and on anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
That is one way to look at AmEx, another way is that from the cardholder's perspective, they actually deliver a level of customer service that their competitors don't.
Yes, by letting people steal at will from merchants with no repercussions, they certainly *are* offering a level of service that competitors don't expect. The best part is that the merchant gets punished for being defrauded. Sweet!
So yeah, AMEX can suck my balls.
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As a longtime Amex card holder. I ONLY use my Amex because of the fraud protection. In the last 5 years, both Kohls and Amazon tried to fuck me over.
Kohls just sent the entire wrong item, then, refused to accept it as a return because "it wasn't on the receipt". Okay then.... Contacted Amex, got my money back and got to keep the random shit Kohls didn't want.
I ordered a $300 keyboard (I know... it was a celebration buy) well... What amazon sent me was an empty keyboard box. I did the normal amazon return pr
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American Express sucks for merchants because 99.999999999999999999999% of the time they'll side with the card holder, no matter how egregious the fraud or the nonsensical bullshit reason claimed for wanting a chargeback.
The problem is that fraud goes both ways; merchants have gotten a bit comfortable with not-honoring returns, or making the process a huge amount of hassle. While I get the vibe that you're the kind of merchant who *wants* to do right by customers wherever possible while also being able to protect your customers from losses due to abuse and fraud...in the same way you've had to deal with troublemaking customers, your customers have had to deal with troublemaking merchants.
As a cardholder, what you're describ
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"If I am at the point where I need to do a chargeback, "
That's just it, they were *never* at the point where the needed to do a chargeback. They got the item, decided they didn't want to pay for it for whatever reason (or no reason at all) and then immediately charge it back.
They wouldn't even bother to call and ask for a refund, they'd just say, "Fuck it, I don't want to pay" and call their card company.
AMEX was the worst of the worst of worst. No matter what proof or evidence you offered, they're respons
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That's just it, they were *never* at the point where the needed to do a chargeback. They got the item, decided they didn't want to pay for it for whatever reason (or no reason at all) and then immediately charge it back.
And on this, we 100% agree, those customers were assholes, and you didn't deserve to be stuck with the check for their selfishness. They abused the system, and American Express stood behind them in the process. I really am sorry you had to deal with that.
AMEX was the worst of the worst of worst. No matter what proof or evidence you offered, they're response was basically, "Sucks to be you!" and reverse the charge.
On this, we also agree...American Express *could* be a bit better about taking the merchant's side in cases like yours in particular, where there was clear abuse of the chargeback system.
But in the same way it was unreasonable for AmEx to waste your time an
Cue that Visa ad voice from the 90s: (Score:2)
So if you're a geek who's headed to eBay to score some dirt cheap generic Chinese components, remember to bring your Googling skills *and* your Visa card.
Because the eBay vendors don't provide you with comprehensible documentation, and they don't take American Express.
Visa. It's everywhere you want to be.
Karma... (Score:2)
Karma for Amex, as eBay is experiencing what a friend with student loans did.
All the fees, surcharges, fees on surcharges added to the principal of the student loan debt, and nearly doubled the amount.
JoshK.
Spend per month (Score:2)
Curious where and how those stats apply. Ebay is a global company. American Express is barely used outside of America, and Americans infamously often have multiple credit cards. I'm curious as to if the statement saying American express customers spending the most per month takes into account the majority of the world's population who cannot spend anything on American Express.
AmEx is really about Stockholm Syndrome (Score:2)
AmEx cardholders pay an annual premium just for the allure of bragging to their friends, Hey look guys! I have so much extra money floating around that I'll gladly spend $600-$1000 per year just for the privilege of showing off my Platinum-tinted plastic credit card!. And once you've made that commitment, you're hooked. You have virtue-signaled to everybody that you are a big spender.
AmEx cards have no distinct credit l
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This isn't true: my wife has a free British Airways AmEx. She gets a flight voucher out of it just by spending money that she was going to spend anyway. Incidentally, Platinum BA AmEx's annual fee might also make sense because the flight voucher it provides is more flexible we do some significant long haul travel because distance family and is a lot less than the cost of buying a ticket.
Your point about the fees is irrelevant to the cardholders, although they're socialised so that everybody else pays them
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Your statement about "spending money that she was going to spend anyway" is a general argum
Re: AmEx is really about Stockholm Syndrome (Score:2)
So youâ(TM)re anti-credit cards in general, not just Amex. Got it.
I addressed fees elsewhere: https://m.slashdot.org/thread/... [slashdot.org]
Remember though that cash also isnâ(TM)t free for businesses to handle.
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So you're anti-credit cards in general, not just Amex. Got it.
Quite the obsequious conclusion, no matter how false it is. As you could not infer from the obvious statement, allow me repeat it: "Savvy consumers are very much in control of their finances and readily exploit (read: "maximize") their perks/benefits to their own advantage."
To improve your reading comprehension, this implies that I am in favor of RESPONSIBLE credit card usage. This pattern, however, is NOT the ideal nor majority customer for credit/lending businesses! These businesses are not designed to
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Credit cards that help auto-save for investment or retirement accounts is good and sensible -- but it doesn't really help the spend
For me as consumer Amex is out since many years (Score:2)
Once home I went to my (Dutch) bank and asked for a credit card, they had no experience with any but after a few days they offered Amex.
In the day my company paid the annual fee and years later, in the 1990's my bank started their own card on the back of Mastercard.
Around that time the company decided Amex' annual charges where ridiculous but they would pay for the Mastercard (something l
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I had taken a vacation to Japan, and stupidly thought my debit card would work ( It had performed flawlessly in Thailand). Well, none of the banks would accept it, I had around 10,000 yen cash, and that was it. For a week.
I tried a cash advance from from my cards to tide me over until the trip ended in a week. I called the following
Mastercard: Sorry, we can't help
Visa: Sorry, we can't help
Discover: Tried, but in the end couldn't help.
Amex: The agen
Opaque fees (Score:3)
The problem with the merchant paying the fees is that the costs are opaque to the consumers. There's no cost to the purchasers and they're incentivised through schemes such as airline points or store discounts to pick the cards with the highest fees. We see it occasionally when big companies make a stink such as this case or Amazon with Visa a year or so ago, or when a merchant doesn't accept Amex, or if we run a business. What can little businesses do though? They don't have the power to push for better rates and can't afford to reject credit cards. The credit card companies have such a sweet deal, which probably made sense in the early days as way to kickstart the system. It is a transaction tax on everything we do though, pushing up prices more than necessary. Nowadays I think it would be better if the card holders paid the fees instead. The merchants would be free to support any card and consumers would be able to shop around for the card with the most competitive fees.
"Small Business Saturday" is a joke (Score:2)
I've been doing this for years (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
You're losing out on all the tap to pay transactions, not just Apple Pay. Just me but I don't get picky about who I take money from, especially when approximately 50% of the population has one and is wiling to spend their disposable income with it.
Re: (Score:2)
Amex have a bunch of card options with no annual fee.
The ones which do have annual fees generally offer you something in exchange for the fee, wether it's worth it or not depends on the offer and your circumstances. Other card providers also have offerings with fees as well as ones without.
Apple fanboys clearly have money because apple products are expensive, you're saying you don't want customers who have and are willing to spend money? That's a very weird way to run a business.
Our company did the same thing. (Score:2)
Good riddance, AmEx (Score:4, Informative)
I was thrilled when Costco stopped accepting AmEx. It was the ONLY reason I had that card. Their preferred Visa still has awful interest rates, but if you can keep it paid off monthly, at least it's usable in more locations than the AmEx was.
Re: (Score:2)
ATM card wouldn't work, via, mastercard, discover wasn't accepted anywhere. I had 10K yen to my name for a week.
No other card would cash advance me through a Japanese bank.
AMEX did, though, and followed up. They cost more because, traditionally, they do more.
I almost exclusively use them at this point, if I can.
AmEx pot calls eBay kettle black .... (Score:3)
I'm no fan of American Express. Like everyone else is commenting, their merchant fees have always been higher than others. Plus, I have a personal "beef" with them that goes back decades now. (Long time ago, I was in the middle of a messy divorce where my ex-wife ran up several of my credit cards using those free courtesy checks they send out. She intercepted the mail, took them, and wrote checks to herself that maxed them out.) After all of that was over (had to file for bankruptcy and all that fun stuff), I took a job where they issued all of us in I.T. AmEx corporate cards. Except they couldn't give me one because AmEx blacklisted me. Mind you, this was a card my workplace paid off in full on each billing period so I was nothing more than their authorized user on the account, really. Still, HR tried to work with them and they wouldn't budge, causing major issues for me when I was trying to do travel for the company.
The company President wound up giving me a corporate VISA card that was in his name (and made me promise not to tell anyone there he did it!), just to get past the problem. Ridiculous!
Fees (Score:2)
Funny, EBay's high fees are exactly why I dropped EBay. :)