Costco Accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet
 

I read today that Costco's payment terminals now all accept Apple Pay and other NFC style payments like Google Pay (wallet). Does this circumvent using a Visa card only restriction with Costco or would the terminals detect if my default payment card in the app is an AMEX or other? Anyone have experience recently with it?

It does not circumvent using a Visa card only restriction. Any Visa card can be used at Costco, not just the co-branded Costco one.

U.S. American Express Apple Pay FAQs


https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...-pay/faqs.html

From the link

What is Apple Pay and can I participate as an American Express® Card Member?
U.S. American Express Card Members can now use an eligible American Express Card with Apple Pay to pay on the go at merchants who accept American Express contactless payments, in participating merchant apps, and on the web wherever American Express Cards are accepted. As an American Express Card Member, you can also get these features in Apple Pay:

• Real-time notifications and details for your purchases when you use Apple Pay on iPhone® or iPad®. Notifications will be for transactions made with Apple Pay or your plastic Card.
• Seamless connection with the Amex® Mobile app for enhanced account monitoring, servicing on the go and access to rewards and offers.

Apple Pay is still restricted to the merchant's card acceptance policy - for example, I tried using a credit card via Apple Pay at an ARCO gas station and was denied.

I've been doing tap to pay at Costco for two years thanks to Samsung Pay.

It's not just Apple Pay that works, now that the wireless tap to pay has finally been turned on you can just tap your Costco credit card itself!

While this is normally true, there are merchants who actually accept AmEx yet heavily discourage you from using one. NFC would be a workaround for such places--until they realize that's what's happening and have it disabled/stop people from using it, of course.

It's up to the merchant to hard-code card types in their system. Before Apple Pay adoption, two local places I frequent both said no Amex, but after their new POS terminal upgrades, Amex would go through at one while the other is actually hard-coded against it.

When will Costco accept Samsung Pay? Just curious!

They have for a while now thanks to its ability to imitate a magnetic stripe.

The merchant has to have an agreement with AMEX in order to accept the cards which is more than a merchant hard coding card types.

Cool!
Try it on my next purchase.

See post #5 above....

I have to try that!