Why Amex?

[Mojo]

Amazon UK have announced today that as from the new year, they will not accept Visa Credit Cards issued in the UK, due to high fees. They will continue to accept Visa Debit, as well as MasterCard and American Express.

 

[Sm5]

Amazon UK have announced today that as from the new year, they will not accept Visa Credit Cards issued in the UK, due to high fees. They will continue to accept Visa Debit, as well as MasterCard and American Express.

I suspect some where in Visa today, a sales negotiator just lost his job.

 

[najaB]

I suspect some where in Visa today, a sales negotiator just lost his job.

To be replaced by a new negotiator and Amazon announcing in a couple of weeks that they will, in fact, continue to accept Visa-branded credit cards.

 

[philjo]

It may be widely accepted, but I have never come across anywhere that accepts Amex that doesn't accept Visa/Mastercard but have come across plenty the other way around.

I received an email this morning from Amazon informing me that from January they will no longer accept Visa credit cards for payment. Amex and Mastercard credit cards will still be accepted, as will visa debit cards.

 

[Mojo]

I received an email this morning from Amazon informing me that from January they will no longer accept Visa credit cards for payment. Amex and Mastercard credit cards will still be accepted, as will visa debit cards.

Presumably you missed the fact that I had already posted this a few posts above yours?

 

[kristiang85]

It's odd that this is based on cost, yet Amex is known to be the most expensive for retailers (although Amazon have probably negotiated a great deal).

Surely it's more than that - either its something to do with Amazon's own card being Mastercard, or there is some kind of issue going on between Amazon and Visa, which will be overturned in a few weeks.

I'd be surprised if this sticks in all honesty, as Visa is by far the most popular credit card.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Agreed.

Amex rewards tend to seriously scale up the more you spend. Centurion lounge access is very valuable if you fly through airports that have those. Amex rewards are also much more flexible than most other reward cards and provide better bang for your buck if you divest into more than one or two loyalty programs.

Is it the Centurion card that offers a ridiculous amount of benefits? I know someone who has one, obtained as a result of flying London-New York-London every week. He's going out to NY on Sunday evening, arriving late Sunday evening in New York, then everything is charged to the Amex card during his stay (hotels, transfers, restaurants, etc), then he goes back Thursday evening to London. He was telling me that the real benefit of the card is when something goes wrong - for instance, let's say it's 19:00 and he won't make his reservation at a certain restaurant. He'll call Amex, and they almost always manage to sort out later reservations for something comparable, even in places where it's hard to get a reservation.

He reckons that the real power of the card is with the concierge service. For instance, if he's running late, he doesn't call the limo service, he calls Amex, who deal with the limo service company themselves.

 

[Cdd89]

Is it the Centurion card that offers a ridiculous amount of benefits?

Centurion lounge access is a benefit of the Amex Platinum card, which is available to anyone willing to fork out £575 per annum. That’s different from the Centurion card which is invitation only.

(I still don’t see how anyone can make the value work, bearing in mind the far lower cost of other cards from Amex and others offering similar benefits and/or higher rewards earning rates; I’m open to being persuaded, but want to see someone else’s thought process by way of a per-benefit-not-available-on-another-card breakdown of value which adds up to >£575!). Of course it may just be that people emotionally like it.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Of course it may just be that people emotionally like it.

There is a certain element of "I've made it" that can be worth £575 a year. I wouldn't spend it personally, but I know people who spend much more than that on frivolous things just because they can.

 

[matt]

Although interestingly my company which is American is dropping Amex corporate and changing to Mastercard instead. One of the reasons given was lack of acceptance compared to other cards.

 

[antharro]

It's odd that this is based on cost, yet Amex is known to be the most expensive for retailers (although Amazon have probably negotiated a great deal).

I've never understood why. If that is the case then businesses need to talk to their card provider for a better rate. I'm a small business and can take Visa/Mastercard/Amex at 1.69% flat rate. Which is fine by me, I don't qualify for lower rates as I don't turn over enough in a year.

 

[Harpers Tate]

There is a certain element of "I've made it" that can be worth £575 a year. I wouldn't spend it personally, but I know people who spend much more than that on frivolous things just because they can.

Maybe. But I look long and hard at what I spend and chose to take this up simply because in "normal" times - and despite my not being a frequent/business traveller - I reckon I can easily exceed the annual fee with benefits and savings that accrue from holding and/or using it.

 

[nlogax]

Although interestingly my company which is American is dropping Amex corporate and changing to Mastercard instead. One of the reasons given was lack of acceptance compared to other cards.

I hope my American employer does the same at some point. Becoming a little bored of having to resort to my personal Mastercard debit because Amex is a dirty / expensive word.

 

[kristiang85]

I've never understood why. If that is the case then businesses need to talk to their card provider for a better rate. I'm a small business and can take Visa/Mastercard/Amex at 1.69% flat rate. Which is fine by me, I don't qualify for lower rates as I don't turn over enough in a year.

Ah that's interesting to know from your perspective. Because when I try to use amex and they say they don't accept it, it's invariably because their rates are too high.

 

[BluePenguin]

For the rewards. Airline and hotel loyalty scheme points. With the right knowledge you can earn mores worth of these each month than wages.

However there are Visa and Mastercard cards that are far more lucrative than Amex cards.

Please could you send me a message? It won't let me send you one for some reason