Did you think you had a flat rate fee for your American Express merchant account? I did too. But, there are circumstances where they can charge you more. Key entering a transaction at the point of sale is probably the most common.

Per the American Express April 2010 merchant guidelines PDF, “there are instances when Merchants will need to key-enter an In-Person Transaction. This occurs  most often when the POS System cannot read the Magnetic Stripe. There may be a fee assessed for Charges that are key-entered. See subsection 12.2.2,  “authorization fees.”
Transaction  fee - A fee applied to any Charge for which we did not receive the full Magnetic Stripe from the Card and the indicator as to whether the Card was swiped.
0.30% of the face amount of the Charge.

This should not come as a surprise. Visa and MasterCard have long had a different rate for key entered transactions on a RETAIL or swipe merchant account.

” One of the requirements of a key-entered Transaction is to validate the Card’s presence. Failure to
validate the Card’s presence can render the Merchant liable for Chargebacks if the Cardmember
disputes the Charge. “  This doesn’t change for any type of card and we’ve reported on this before.

AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY CONTRIBUTES $250,000 TO HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF AND WAIVES DISCOUNT RATE FOR CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

NEW YORK, January 14, 2010 — In response to the devastation caused by Tuesday’s massive earthquake in Haiti, American Express Company today announced that it will donate $250,000 to assist the following organizations with their relief efforts: the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee and the United Nations’ Friends of the World Food program. American Express will also match employee donations for relief efforts.

In addition, American Express will rebate the merchant discount rate for charitable contributions made on the American Express Card directly to any of the non-profit organizations listed on the USAID website in support of Haiti relief. The rebate is effective retroactively from January 12 through February 28, 2010.

American Express Company (www.americanexpress.com) is a leading global payments, network and travel company founded in 1850.

Podcast on the high cost of American Express for both American Express cardholders and the merchants that accept them. What is the impact on the cost of goods and services we buy?

 

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