Support and Resources for Merchants in Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Last updated: 6/23/2020 4:30pm EST

We value your health, your safety, and your partnership. We too are closely monitoring the unprecedented Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and recognize that it is changing day by day. We understand that there may be challenges for your business. Our goal is to support your business, as best we can, as we all navigate this crisis.

We pulled together resources to help you and your business stay safe, informed, and connected. If you are also an American Express Card Member, be sure to check out the Coronavirus Support page for Card Members.

Policy Changes

Business Trends and Tools

Services and Savings

Supporting Small Businesses

Government Resources

FAQs

Policy Changes

If you accept American Express Cards from a third-party payment provider,

please check with your payment provider to see if the policy changes below apply to your business.

If you accept American Express Cards directly through us, we are adjusting certain policies for our merchants around the world to provide needed relief including:

Raising contactless transaction thresholds to reduce physical contact at the point of sale in a number of countries, with plans for additional countries over the next month. View all countries and the new contactless thresholds. If you are not set up to accept contactless transactions, please visit the contactless payments page for more information on how to get started.
Reminding merchants globally that American Express does not require them to collect Card Members’ signatures at the point of sale.

As the current situation evolves, we will continue to keep you informed of any helpful policy changes.

Business Trends and Tools

We created a hub of curated tips, trends and tools from industry thought leaders to help merchants manage and protect their business, as well as innovate their business strategies and tactics in the face of COVID-19 and beyond. See our latest posts.

Services and Savings

Explore savings on curated business services from our third-party partners to help you attract and retain customers and streamline your operations. Sign up and save here.

Supporting Small Businesses

Encouraging Card Members to Shop Small with a special offer

We’re offering eligible American Express® Card Members who spend $10+ directly at an eligible U.S. small business, $5 back as a statement credit, up to 10X after they shop in-store or online. For Card Members who enrolled by 8/23/20 and spend by 9/20/20. Terms apply.

Download the shop small materials to let your customers know: now is the time to shop small.

Visit our Merchant Shop Small page to learn more.

Stand For Small

When small businesses thrive, we all do. That’s why we’re proud to partner with a growing group of companies that Stand For Small. By sharing our valuable resources, offers, tools, and expert advice, we can help small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. And beyond. See all the resources.

#StayHome and #ShopSmall

We also created ready-to-use social posts, in-store signage, and more to help you keep your customers informed about your business operations and to encourage your customers to take the pledge to #StayHome and #ShopSmall. Download the materials on your laptop or desktop.

Government Resources

Be sure to check out the resources below to stay informed on COVID-19 and its impacts:

FAQs

We are adjusting our policies where we can to provide needed relief. Please see the policy changes that may apply to your business.

We partnered with third parties to create curated offers to help support your business now and in the future. Take advantage of valuable tools and services to help you keep in touch, keep up productivity, and keep selling. See curated offers.

We created a hub of curated tips, trends and tools from industry thought leaders to help merchants manage and protect their business, as well as innovate their business strategies and tactics in the face of COVID-19 and beyond. See our latest posts.

Cardmembers are encouraged to contact the Merchant directly to resolve an issue before initiating a dispute. We will continue to follow our normal dispute handling and chargeback procedures in the event a Cardmember raises a dispute. Our normal dispute procedure takes into account a merchant’s terms and conditions that were disclosed to the Cardmember at the time of the original transaction, and our Card Acceptance Agreements require merchants to comply with the laws applicable to their businesses.

To reduce physical contact at the point of sale, we raised the contactless transaction thresholds in a number of countries, with plans for additional countries over the next month. View all countries and new thresholds.

If you accept American Express Cards through a third-party payment provider and are not set up to accept contactless payments, please reach out to your payment provider to get started.

If you accept American Express Cards directly through us and are not set up to accept contactless payments, please visit the contactless payments page for more info on how to start accepting contactless transactions.

We also want to remind you that American Express does not require any merchants globally to collect Card Members’ signatures for any purchase transactions at the point of sale.

Please reach out to your POS terminal provider to make sure your POS terminal is updated with the new thresholds. For more information on contactless payments, please visit the contactless payments page.

If you accept American Express Cards through a third-party payment provider, please reach out to your payment provider for their payment processing status.

If you accept American Express Cards directly through us, we don’t anticipate any interruptions at this time and are processing payments at normal levels. We are monitoring this global situation very closely and will communicate with merchants should there be any changes to our business practices.

Contact Us

We understand that access to your merchant account information is critical and your questions and concerns are important to us.

If you accept American Express Cards through a third-party payment provider, please reach out to your payment provider for help with your merchant account.

If you accept American Express Cards directly through us, we want to remind you that you can manage your merchant account online. Here are a few things you can do on our Merchant Website to help you stay on top of your account:

View Payments: Access your settlements, submissions and transaction information on a daily basis.
Manage Disputes: Get notified about new disputes; easily respond and upload support documents online.
Update your Business details: Update business, contact and owner information without having to make a call.

If you are not registered to manage your merchant account online, you can do so today in three easy steps. Register now.

Need help managing your Merchant account online? From quick tips to step-by-step videos, find tools to help navigate your online account with confidence. See Our Tools.

Our customer care specialists are here to assist with any questions and concerns. Please feel free to contact us Monday to Friday, 8AM to 8PM EST.

Chat with us: Simply log in and click the blue ‘Chat’ button at the bottom right of your screen.
Call us: Call 1-800-528-5200.

Support and Resources for Merchants in Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Policy Changes

If you accept American Express Cards from a third-party payment provider,

Business Trends and Tools

Services and Savings

Supporting Small Businesses

Government Resources

FAQs

How will the POS terminals be updated with the new threshold for contactless transactions? Please reach out to your POS terminal provider to make sure your POS terminal is updated with the new thresholds. For more information on contactless payments, please visit the contactless payments page.

Contact Us

Please reach out to your POS terminal provider to make sure your POS terminal is updated with the new thresholds. For more information on contactless payments, please visit the contactless payments page.