spanglysteve

Costco DO take amex but wont take Visa or Mastercard credit cards (although they do take Visa/MC debit cards)

Tiger_lily

But Costco in Canada have stopped taking Amex but accept MC and Visa!😜

Costco UK have a cash back Amex of their own.

ahmetdouas

You have many small stores whose card machines acutally accept American Express, but they say they personally don't accept American Express if you know what I mean.

Once at a laundry store I told the salesman 'I don't know' and played ignorant (straight out of the Alex Cruz playbook!!!) when he asked me if my card was Amex or not. I said let's give it a try and I actually paid contactless Amex with Apple Pay so he couldn't see the card = )
When he saw that the transaction went through and he printed the reciept of the card machine and it said American Express on it, he got angry and said never do that again, the accountant gets very angry!
Needless to say I found another dry cleaner who actually does accept American Express without crying wolf about it.

Leaping_Deere

AMEX has come on leaps and bounds in the UK in terms of who accepts it. A lot of merchants get it standard now when they apply for merchant accounts.

They regularly have promotions to attract small business. IIRC they now have a flat fee of 2.5% for small merchants, which isn't fair off the going rate for credit card fees.

I have a BA Amex but i don't use it as much as perhaps I ought to. I have a business platinum which I do the bulk purchases and just transfer the AMEX points to the private Avois

dddc

When I came over the UK 25 years ago, I had my Australian Amex card. I happened to be in their West End office for some reason and when they found out I was staying for 2 years on my working holiday visa, they offered to transfer my card to UK based one no questions asked. Given that I was contracting at the time, I thought it was fantastic. The only bank to let me open an account was the then Abbey Nat - but only a debit card, not a credit card.

Having the Amex was great, but it was pretty limited then. Sainsburys, car hire and travel agents seem to be it. How times have changed.

Some oddities exist. I was getting lunch at the Japan Centre in the West End today and the hot food counter eftpos machine doesn't accept Amex, but their main shop tills do. Couldn't be bothered to go there to queue and pay so just used my Lloyds Avios Amex.

Barnaby100

Massive north/ south divide, for example Everyman in London take it but not in the north.

Virazuno

And it is really rather good, comparatively.

No Section 75, but you would get whatever protection PayPal provides...I don't know the details on how good that is.

Be aware, though, that merchants can block/disable Amex through PayPal if they wish to (although many do not).

Barnaby100

If Sainsburys took it 25 years ago then only just as I can remember the launch. The office was full of dummy plastic cards for months.

aceman

Unfortunately I have a fair few sizeable transactions coming and all of them say "all major credit cards accepted with the exception of american express"

The majority seem to be interior design related, and its annoying as they amount to tens of thousands of pounds. One supplier will take it but charges 3% + VAT extra. Of the 2 cars I've bought in the last 3 years, despite one having the american express placard on their desk, they would only accept it for £500 of the total transaction.

So yes, its wonderful that I can do my weekly shop on Amex, and buy my £2 espresso, but approximately £70k in cars, and £40k in home hardware has been a big no.

reclusive46

Actually they just accept MasterCard here in Canada. They do take Visa online though. A few Canadian retailers only accept MasterCard though (In fact Tim Hortons only used to take MasterCard but now takes Amex as well). Canada is a bit of a weird market though, I've seen places that only take Debit and Visa and places that only take Debit and AmEx as well. Then some places don't take debit either. You need all 4 (Visa, MC, AmEx and Interac) cards here really!

Its a bit of a weird situation as Costco US only take Visa. So Costco cards from one country can't be used in the other.

When I was living in the UK I rarely ever went anywhere that didn't take Amex. Even Poundland take Amex now!

reclusive46

I was working in Sheffield for a short time and was surprised literally everywhere seemed to take it, even takeaway places and franchises that don't normally take it (like Subway and Premier stores).

Olly-

Isn't the Tim Hortons credit card a Visa?

I still find it amusing they have their own credit card.

popmagnet

Alternative phrasing: 'I certainly think the government should invest in public transport outside London'.

The government spends six times more per person on transport in London than the North. Forgive us for not equipping our hourly bus with contactless to pay our £4 fare.

TProphet

Not anymore in the US, they switched to Visa.

Jagboi

Isn't it only their own Mastercard, not any Mastercard? I'm assuming this is for in store purchases, I know online is different.

My problem with Amex is the annual fee. Last time I looked to get a card with similar benefits to my visa card the Amex annual fee was $700. Absolutely no way I could justify that.