Hopefully some of you have heard about this...

As of 1/1/04 American Express is placing all internet/phone merchants on their new "Full recourse" policy. They will immediately chargeback any disputed amount under $250 and the merchant will have no opportunity to respond to the dispute. Amex says that the merchant must then deal directly with the "customer" for payment.

I don't know how amex will verify the validity of the initial charge - i am not sure of that process. But I guess amex would rather loose the business of these types of merchants than deal with the disputes.

If you want to check this, call amex merchant support and ask. They will tell you just as I have above.

Anyone been affected by this new policy yet?

They are probably starting this because they are going to be implementing a program similar to Verified by Visa / MasterCard Secure Code. This way - it will ensure the AmEx merchants enroll in the program

Amex has always been known for chargeback first and ask questions later... This is why many merchants dont accept Amex and why many serious business owners only use Amex...

I think Corey may be right though, amex is trying to completely mitigate risk by "forcing" their merchants to enroll in their verification program...

Cargoyle, are you high? :P

This new information aside, I have always preferred Amex's policies to the way MC/VISA merchant banks handle charge-backs.

When a dispute comes in from Amex, I get a letter in the mail asking whether I am disputing it, will issue a refund, or want them to go ahead and debit my bank account. They've never taken the money back first, they always wait until after they make a decision on who to favor in the dispute. That's one of the reasons I PREFER taking them over MC/VISA.

With the MC/VISA merchants, they take the money out of your bank account immediately and a few days letter you get a letter saying who and why. Then you have to fight tooth and nail to get it back.

It sucks that Amex is moving to a "more MC/VISA-like" policy. But I can imagine it probably costs them a lot with all of the paperwork and everything else.

Actually Indy4, some CC processors - depending on your business, will issue a retrieval request when a customer has requested a refund & most do not charge for this. It all depends on the processor & the type of business.

exactly, i have never seen a instance where Amex chargesback first and then asks later

Amex is imo alot more equal compared to VM

Originally posted by Indy4
Cargoyle, are you high? :P

This new information aside, I have always preferred Amex's policies to the way MC/VISA merchant banks handle charge-backs.

When a dispute comes in from Amex, I get a letter in the mail asking whether I am disputing it, will issue a refund, or want them to go ahead and debit my bank account. They've never taken the money back first, they always wait until after they make a decision on who to favor in the dispute. That's one of the reasons I PREFER taking them over MC/VISA.

With the MC/VISA merchants, they take the money out of your bank account immediately and a few days letter you get a letter saying who and why. Then you have to fight tooth and nail to get it back.

It sucks that Amex is moving to a "more MC/VISA-like" policy. But I can imagine it probably costs them a lot with all of the paperwork and everything else.

Originally posted by Indy4
With the MC/VISA merchants, they take the money out of your bank account immediately and a few days letter you get a letter saying who and why. Then you have to fight tooth and nail to get it back.

It sucks that Amex is moving to a "more MC/VISA-like" policy. But I can imagine it probably costs them a lot with all of the paperwork and everything else.


And what amex is saying is that you will not be able to get it back at all. They simply will charge it back and that will be the end of it. You dont get a chance to present your side. You dont get to do anything other than try to have the customer submit his payment again (hopefully by not using an amex card).

Full recourse means full recourse for Amex and not for the merchant. It provides no incentive at all for the average shared web hosting provider to accept the card.

do you have a url of such policy change? Or did Joe Bubba tell John Bubba and John told you?

Originally posted by AlaskanWolf
do you have a url of such policy change? Or did Joe Bubba tell John Bubba and John told you?

Received a letter directly from Amex.

Also called Amex merchant support twice and confirmed with two different reps about some of the specifics.