Hi,

I'm wondering how many of you with Merchant accounts
accept Amex and Discover (in addition to MasterCard and Visa)...

I'm debating whether to accept Amex/Discover since such
a small percentage seem to use those cards (and it seems
to me that most people who have Amex//Discover also
have either a Visa or MasterCard account in addition anyhow)...

Thanks!

-B

Well, I'd say that judging by our own merchants at least - most of them have opted to accept Amex and Discover... probably 90% or more. (And of course, we also directly accept those card types as well)

And those that don't initially accept it, usually run into a customer at some point that results in them wanting to add it on later.

I think that there is some validity to the argument that most customers who have an Amex or Discover also likely have a Visa or MasterCard, but the one of the big advantages to allowing credit card sales is the convenience it provides.

If you deal with a lot of consumers, adding Discover would be a plus in my opinion since some folks really like their "Cashback Bonus Reward" and might be miffed if you require them to pay using a non-favored card.

If you deal with a lot of businesses, I'd definitely recommend adding in Amex since many companies like to pay using that card due to the nice reporting it provides and other ancillary benefits.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the costs are minimal for either card type.

With Discover, you're looking at a very small one-time app fee, no monthly costs, free merchant supplies & signage and transaction rates that are relatively on par with Visa/MasterCard.

With Amex, you are looking at no upfront cost, a small $5/month fee that gives you a 0% discount rate for your first $5,000 in sales volume and only thereafter, higher discount rates but no monthly cost if/once you exceed it.

Overall, on a processing level, Amex & Discover represent about 15% of your approximately CC volume. So in my opinion, it is usually worth accepting these card types especially given the very small incremental cost that you're looking at to do so.

We do.

I think it is a good idea to accept it, as clients may want to use it. The cost of accepting them is low that, for me, it makes no sense in possibly loosing a client if I do not offer Discover or AmEX.

We do....AMEX is used more by companies than consumers in our experience....but that is due to the large corporate base AMEX has. Discover accounts for maybe 10% of our volume which makes it worth accepting to us.

We accept AmEx because usually the consumers tend to spend more and be more loyal actually.

When we are out, we tend to use AmEx more because of the extra benefits that the card gives us (the consumer). And yes - we tend to go to the same places, shop at the same places, etc

We accept AmEx No Discover.

Most of our clients pay with Visa and MasterCard, but despite the small percentage of clients using American Express and Discover, I have always felt its important to accept all of them and maximize your reach.

Why wouldn't you accept American Express and Discover cards? For us all it took was about 30 minutes on the phone total setting up accounts with them and then we just put our account numbers into our merchant account and we were all set.