American Express is accepted at more places than ever before. In fact, American Express can now be accepted at 99% of places in the US that accept credit cards, according to the Feb 2020 Nilson Report. 

Internationally, we are working to expand coverage over the next few years where American Express Card Members live, work and travel. This will continue to be a focus for American Express in key cities around the world.

List of U.S. American Express Card-accepting physical businesses. 

List of U.S. American Express Card-accepting online businesses. 

To learn how to accept American Express cards at your business, click here. 

To accept American Express Card payments, you will need to set up a merchant account. There are two ways to set up a merchant account with American Express, either directly with American Express or with a Payment Provider. Learn more about the two ways to accept card payments at your business and get started today. 

There are two ways to accept American Express Card payments online and in stores.

1. Accept though your Payment Provider

 Eligible Small Businesses can accept through your provider, which sets the rate for card acceptance. Plus receive a single statement and deposit, the same way you do for all card brands you accept at your business. Call 1-833-213-0511 or visit americanexpress.com/optblue to learn more. 

2. Accept through American Express

National and Regional Businesses or Small Businesses who prefer to accept directly through American Express can take advantage of competitive pricing opportunities, plus 24/7 expert support and protection to help your business thrive. Call 1-866-847-0890 or visit americanexpress.com/acceptdirect.

There are many reasons why accepting American Express Card payments can benefit your business. 

Access to over 112+ Million Card Members

American Express Card Members seek out businesses where they can use their American Express Card and on average, they spend 3.1X more than other card brands, opening your business to valuable card members.²  

Free Marketing Materials 

We’re here to help your business thrive by providing you with free signage and supplies so you can attract card members to your business. Check out all that we have to offer. 

Through our Recommendations program, your business could get recommended to card members through email or their online accounts. To learn more about Recommendations.

To hear more from business like yours on why they accept American Express Cards.

Shop Small

American Express is proud to back Small Businesses all year long. From providing customizable materials for businesses to use in marketing to advice from other small business owners, we have resources to help you promote your business. Learn more about the Shop Small Movement.

No. Once you are registered for payments or disputes online, statements and disputes notifications will be sent by email. 

Your online profile lets you update a wide range of information including email address, communication preferences, your password, business details and payment and dispute notification preferences.

You can live chat to a customer service rep or use our interactive online assistant. You can also call our Merchant customer service team. For client-managed Merchant Accounts, you can have a one-on-one training session with the online technical help desk.

You can easily retrieve your user ID or reset your password online. Head to the Merchant Home Page and click the 'Forgot User ID or Password' link. You will be asked to confirm your user ID in order to reset password.  To retrieve your user ID, you will need to confirm the email address that you provided to us when you registered for the Account.

Yes. On the Payments page, you’ll see a list titled ‘Pending’ which will include pending settlements. Pending settlements will only be displayed after we’ve processed payments.  

Yes, you can view and download transaction details for one location at a time. To do so, click the ‘Search’ icon and choose ‘Transactions’ from the drop-down menu. Then select the date range you need (max. 35 days).

For Merchants on a net pay set up, fees are taken just before settlement/depositing to your Account. The best area to view fees is in the settlements report. Here you will find 3 columns: Merchant fees and incentives and adjustments. See below a brief description of each.
• Merchant fees: a percentage of each transaction is paid to American Express in exchange for processing. The Merchant fees is the total dollar amount of the discount rate % applied to transactions, submissions or settlements.
• Adjustments: financial debits and/or credits to your bank Account due to invalid charges, customer disputes and promotional rebates.

If you are on a gross pay set up fees will be taken as a direct debit each month. In this case, the Merchant servicing fees, incentives and adjustments will appear as 0 on each settlement in the current month, and a direct debit line item will appear as a separate settlement once the gross pay amount has been deducted.

You can see payments information for up to 16 months, but can only view up to 35 days financial data at any one time. 

There are 2 options when it comes to managing disputes across multiple locations: Central and local. A central set up means that both the corporate headquarters and individual locations/Merchant Accounts can view and respond to disputes. Alternatively in a local set up the headquarters can see the disputes but cannot respond. The individual location/Merchant Account must respond the dispute. 

To contest a dispute, there is an option to enter a refund amount to the Card Member when you're responding to an inquiry, not if the Chargeback has already been issued. If you need to respond to a Chargeback, there is only an attach file and comments section. 

To contest a dispute, there is an option to enter a refund amount to the Card Member when you're responding to an inquiry, not if the Chargeback has already been issued. If you need to respond to a Chargeback, there is only an attach file and comments section. 

Once you are registered for online disputes management, please make sure to visit the website regularly to keep track of your disputes and avoid to no-reply Chargebacks. Additionally, ensure you opt-in to all disputes e-mail notifications to be notified about new inquiries, new Chargebacks, case updates, and to be alerted 7 days before your response is due. Lastly, please check that a current, accessible email address is included in your communication preferences. 

A list of acceptable documents and file formats is available on the response page on the left hand side of the screen.  

Once you submit online the information is sent to our American Express dispute team who assess all of the information and supporting documents to make a decision on the case. You will be notified by email once a decision is made (if you have ‘case updates’ notifications turned on) and the case can then move to a different status. 

You will then be charged back for the transaction. We will take the disputed amount from your settlements and will refund the Card Member. This is called a no-reply Chargeback.

Since April 2018, American Express does not require merchants to collect signatures from customers for Card-Present, point of sale Card transactions. This change applies globally to all American Express-accepting merchants.

Merchants will still have the option to collect Card Members’ signatures at the point of sale if they choose to do so.

To contest a dispute, there is an option to enter a refund amount to the Card Member when you're responding to an inquiry, not if the Chargeback has already been issued. If you need to respond to a Chargeback, there is only an attach file and comments section. 

No. The signature requirement has been eliminated for all Card Present, point of sale Card transactions regardless of the point of sale terminal.

No, you can still make signature optional. However, you should continue with your current policies and procedures to obtain a separate consent of the customer in writing if your current terms cannot be printed on the receipt or clearly shown to the Card Member during checkout.

No. The signature requirement is being eliminated for all Card Present point of sale Card transactions regardless of the point of sale terminal or the method of capturing the transaction. However, please note that if you are presented with a Chip Card and manually key in the Transaction, you may be subject to counterfeit, lost/ stolen and/or non-received fraud Chargebacks.

Our policy will still require you to obtain the Card Member’s express consent for them to bill the Card before submitting the first Recurring Billing Charge. This could be in the form of a signature or other electronic means (e.g., email, web site check out process).

A signature will no longer be required for the in-store Transaction. Obtaining a signature at pick-up is not specifically required in policy today. However, a signature and identification check of the person picking up the goods is considered "Compelling Evidence" under our policies for resolving “goods not received” disputes. This helps prove that the Card Member or an authorized 3rd party picked up the goods.

Given the nature of this Transaction, you may consider obtaining the optional signature of the Card Member during the purchase to show that the Card Member is picking up the goods at a later date.

 A signature will no longer be required for the in-store Transaction. However, you may continue to obtain a signature during the sale as part of a separate agreement with the Card Member such as delivery terms and conditions. In addition, if a Disputed Chargeoccurs for “goods not received”, you would need to provide Proof of Delivery (note: in the U.S. a signature from the Card Member or an authorized signer of the Card is not required).