American Express Membership Rewards - Amex acceptance in Ireland

On a recent trip to Ireland (mainly Cork and Dublin), I noticed that many more shops (even small shops) in Ireland have Amex symbols in their windows than in the UK. The general acceptance of Amex in pubs, restaurants and shops is noticeably higher than in the UK. I began to get the impression that Amex acceptance was perhaps bundled with Visa and MasterCard by the Irish banks. However, I was then surprised that my Amex card was refused by Marks and Spencer in Ireland, given that they have accepted Amex in their UK shops for a few years now. Boots in Ireland also refused my Amex card, but they stopped taking Amex in the UK in 2001 (although rumoured to be accepting it again soon). Given that Amex acceptance is generally higher in Ireland than in the UK and that M&S accepts Amex in the UK, I would therefore expect M&S in Ireland to accept Amex without any problem. Does anyone know why this is?

Given that Amex acceptance is generally higher in Ireland than in the UK and that M&S accepts Amex in the UK, I would therefore expect M&S in Ireland to accept Amex without any problem. Does anyone know why this is?

Probably because they don't want to pay the higher merchant fee for accepting Amex and Amex refuse to lower it to the same level as Visa and MasterCard.

Retailers know that every Amex cardholder has a Visa or MasterCard too and they don't see any reason to pay a premium to Amex.

Probably because they don't want to pay the higher merchant fee for accepting Amex and Amex refuse to lower it to the same level as Visa and MasterCard.

Retailers know that every Amex cardholder has a Visa or MasterCard too and they don't see any reason to pay a premium to Amex.

Yes, state the obvious! My question was not "Why is Amex acceptance generally worse than Visa/MasterCard". My question was specifically about M&S and specifically about Ireland. I'll rephrase my question to make it easier:

1. Why does M&S accept Amex in the UK but not in Ireland?
2. Why does M&S Ireland not accept Amex when most other shops in Ireland do accept Amex?

In other words, given that M&S accepts Amex in the UK, it makes no sense for M&S not to accept Amex in another country where Amex acceptance is generally higher than the UK.

1. Why does M&S accept Amex in the UK but not in Ireland?
2. Why does M&S Ireland not accept Amex when most other shops in Ireland do accept Amex?

1. Probably because they use a different bank and a different currency in Ireland.

2. Probably because M&S are willing to stand up to Amex and refuse to pay the higher merchant fee whereas smaller shops won't.

It wasn't so long ago that M&S didn't accept credit cards AT ALL.

Amex in Ireland is done by a daughter company of Bank of Ireland (BOI) called Centurion Card Services.

If you look at your M&S receipt from the republic you will acutualy see that you don't promisse to pay M&S but rather a daughter company of M&S and that in some cases they even reserve the right to charge you a fee. It's all there on the back of the receipt where usualy you get advertising.

M&S Ireland is a seperate company from M&S UK (we are not part of the UK) and while that might just be a theoretical divider it is a factual too. Tesco Ireland is different from Tesco UK and you can't use your UK tesco points card in Ireland and visa versa.

Just because a company accepts the card in the UK it might not do so in Ireland (especially as that would be in € and not £).

Tesco Ireland is different from Tesco UK and you can't use your UK tesco points card in Ireland and visa versa.

I was wondering whether that would be the case (as Boots Advantage card is not interchangeable between the UK and Ireland), so I gave my Tesco UK Clubcard in Tesco in Cork to see what would happen. To my amazement, the receipt showed my current Clubcard balance and then credited me with one point for each euro spent, which is a significantly better than one point for each pound (GBP) spent.

M&S in the UK also tacks on their own 3% charge, AFAIK.

Steve