While American Express cards are accepted in more than 100 countries worldwide, Amex is still lagging behind Discover, Visa and Mastercard.
American Express is not accepted everywhere because American Express charges merchants higher fees than Visa, Mastercard. This makes retailers like Costco, independently owned boutiques, and many family stores shy away from accepting your American Express card.
Why Isn't American Express Accepted Everywhere? ... The reason has to do with the interchange fees charged by the credit card payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. These fees are a percentage of each credit card transaction that a merchant has to pay to the payment network.
Yes. American Express cards can be used in Europe to a limited extent. ... Although American Express cards will sometimes work, Visa and Mastercard are much more widely accepted internationally. Merchants that accept credit cards will almost always accept these two networks.
Winner: Visa
American Express has long charged higher credit card processing fees than other payment networks. To avoid those more expensive fees, some merchants have opted not to accept American Express cards. It's accepted in over 170 countries; however, Visa is accepted in over 200 countries.
Why is American Express hard to use? American Express-issued cards are not as widely accepted as cards operating under the MasterCard or Visa schemes. While millions of retailers will take American Express across the world, you'll come across quite a few which don't in the UK.
According to an American Express representative, 99% of U.S. merchants who accept credit cards also now accept American Express. Thanks to an initiative to increase its acceptance rates among U.S. merchants, AmEx announced that it has achieved “virtual parity” with Visa and Mastercard, according to its internal data.
American Express is the first, and currently the only foreign payments network licensed to process renminbi transactions in China.
They are the best service provider and have special promotions and discount offers for the traveler or the customer who belongs to different countries throughout the world. They are best in providing on-time service and queries handlings. That's why they are accepted by customers globally.
Unsurprisingly, American Express also has an excellent customer service and customer satisfaction record. The top level American Express cards have cashback offers of around 5% on purchases made, on top of giving you Nectar Points and Airmiles.
In the past few years, American Express has worked diligently to work with merchants in the U.S. to increase acceptance. A Feb. 2020 Nilson Report claims that American Express is now accepted at 10.6 million merchants in the United States, equating to a 99% acceptance rate.
McDonald's accepts American Express both in-store and through the drive-thru at all locations. Additionally, McDonald's accepts all major credit cards and with Mobile Order & Pay, you can pay before you even get to the restaurant.
Amazon Business accepts all major credit and debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and more.
Larger hotel chains do tend to accept it, as do many restaurants, but Visa or MasterCard are a much safer bet. And London is slightly better than the rest of the country, but not much. Amex will be pointless. (It's not even ubiquitously accepted in London amongst smaller retailers).
Winner: Citi undeniably has the better travel credit, but Amex wins in just about every category. From Centurion Lounge and Delta Sky Club access to statement credits for Uber and Saks Fifth Avenue, the Platinum card is chock full of benefits.
Fortunately, American Express is accepted throughout Canada at a variety of stores, restaurants, and service providers: over 90,000 places in Canada started accepting American Express® Cards in 2019 alone.
What makes American Express different is that it is both a card issuer and a card network. ... Amex also charges higher interchange fees, better known as swipe fees, than the other major card networks.
Germany has a relatively low acceptance of Mastercard/Visa and very low acceptance of Amex.
International purchases, whether you're traveling abroad or shopping online from foreign merchants, won't cost you extra with Amex Gold, thanks to its 0% foreign fee. The average credit card adds 1.48% to every international charge. And many American Express credit cards charge a foreign transaction fee of 2.7%.
Probably because Amex isn't as popular in the UK, therefore it isn't widely accepted. Any semi decent guidebook would have told you that. Most travellers aren't "dismayed" because they have done their research before they travel. The card is simply not beneficial to the retailer.
Walmart.com accepts the following payment methods:
Credit cards, including American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa. ATM / Debit / Check Cards, including Walmart MoneyCard Opens in new window. ... Walmart Gift Cards and eGift Cards (gift cards cannot be used to purchase other gift cards) PayPal.
Most major gas station chains (like BP, Exxon, Shell, Texaco, Gulf, and Murphy USA) will accept American Express, but you may find a handful of independent gas stations that will only accept Visa/Mastercard. That happens because American Express charges the merchants higher processing fees.
The grocery chain Food Lion LLC has agreed to accept American Express Co. cards at its 1,200 stores. ... Its brands include Food Lion, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys, and Reid's.