Accepting American Express or PayPal

[Olly]

Hi,

I just wondered if US Car Hire had any plans to accept American Express cards or PayPal as a payment method?

[florida4sun]

I doubt it very much, I know over on the ticket side it is very expensive to accept either, so not really viable.

[Olly]

I doubt it very much, I know over on the ticket side it is very expensive to accept either, so not really viable.

Really? Amex have recently changed their fees so it might be worth investigating further - our merchant fee dropped from 2.9% to 1.5% a few months ago!

[Katys Grandad]

I understand it is very expensive for smaller traders so it's very understandable that US Car Hire don't accept it. Unfortunately, I have travel insurance through an Amex card and 1 of the conditions is that I use it for all my travel spend so it's a bit of a problem for me.

[PeteF]

I understand it is very expensive for smaller traders so it's very understandable that US Car Hire don't accept it. Unfortunately, I have travel insurance through an Amex card and 1 of the conditions is that I use it for all my travel spend so it's a bit of a problem for me.

Interesting - but how could they possibly know if you didn't?

[Katys Grandad]

Interesting - but how could they possibly know if you didn't?

Sorry, my post wasn't as clear as it should have been. What I was trying to say that the insurance only covers those travel elements that have been purchased on the card. If Amex don't see the spend on the card, it isn't covered.

[PeteF]

Sorry, my post wasn't as clear as it should have been. What I was trying to say that the insurance only covers those travel elements that have been purchased on the card. If Amex don't see the spend on the card, it isn't covered.

Ah ha - I thought for a minute that Amex had gone into the surveillance business (not that anything the banks do should surprise us!)

[florida4sun]

2.9%!!! and I thought were had bad originally! 1.5% is the standard rate for domestic purchases. Overseas, customer not present will be higher. For domestic you can get them down from 1.5%.

Really? Amex have recently changed their fees so it might be worth investigating further - our merchant fee dropped from 2.9% to 1.5% a few months ago!

[florida4sun]

You do have a way with words KG. I would not class either business to be as a small business. Figures wise I can only speak for Park Tickets, which is definately outside what constitutes a small business. That said
what you said makes no sense, small or large, bottom line is the same, treating costs differently just because you are a large company is very dangerous. We originally took Amex and for overseas, customer not present transactions it was very expensive. It accounted for only 1% of turnover, hardly anyone uses it. If we were losing sales then we would be forced to take it. Dropping it made no difference, except for profit margin increasing!
We are in a very strong position were we can negotiate the best rates from merchant services but amex's best is still around 3/4% to 1.5% (depending on transaction) higher than anyone else. Simply not acceptable, as they bring nothing to the table.
We did take it for The Management Company, which was classed as small business but had higher margins. Even then sales were so low via amex it made little difference and certainly had no advantage.
'Turnover is vanity and profit is sanity'. A very good principal to work by.

I understand it is very expensive for smaller traders so it's very understandable that US Car Hire don't accept it. Unfortunately, I have travel insurance through an Amex card and 1 of the conditions is that I use it for all my travel spend so it's a bit of a problem for me.

[Katys Grandad]

No offense intended and my comment was general rather than aimed at any specific business. Please accept my apologies if I have been insensitive to your feelings.

I've been an Amex customer for many years and have found that a lot of major nationals and internationals take it but there are a lot of relatively large concerns that don't. I think even B & Q stopped accepting it a couple of years ago and it's rare to find it taken at individual restaurants and hotels. Most retailers in that category tell me that the commission they have to pay is too high for them to carry. I think it's also rare for public bodies and utility companies to allow Amex payments - my local authority certainly doesn't.

All major airline and hotel chains take it but, contrary to what you might expect, it isn't universally accepted in the US. I like it because it best suits my regular travel needs but I always carry a back-up.