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Merchant Services & Credit Card Processing For Small Businesses
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American Express can be accepted at 99% of places in the US that accept credit cards.
Based off the Feb 2024 Nilson Report.
Here’s what it means to say yes.
ONE FAST PAYMENT
Get paid at the same time as your other card brands, so all your card payments come to you at once.
ONE SIMPLE STATEMENT
Receive a single statement from your provider for all the credit cards you accept.
ONE SERVICE CONTACT
Your provider can answer questions for every card you accept through them.
Rates may be lower than you think
With OptBlue, you have options. Because your provider sets your American Express Rate—just like they do for the other card brands you accept.
Contact a provider to get started directly or give us a call at 1-833-213-0511 to learn more.
Contact a participating provider
This is not a comprehensive list of participating providers. American Express Card payments can also be accepted through Third Party Service providers and/or Payment Facilitators registered for the OptBlue program under a Participant with a certified Payment Facilitator sales channel (marked with a *).
American Express aims to support small businesses by encouraging spending by consumers at small, independently-owned retailers or restaurants on Small Business Saturday® and during other Shop Small campaigns.
Explore free marketing resources, cost-saving offers, and more for your business.
Help Keep Your Business Running Safely and Efficiently
Resources for tips on managing core business challenges related to cleaner payments, disputes, fraud prevention and more.
Cleaner Payments Webinar
View this webinar to learn more about a cleaner payment experience with contactless payments.
Learn more about the payments products we have to help you protect, grow and
manage your business.
Hear from your peers.
Watch what business owners like you have to say about the powerful backing of American Express.
Meet OptBlue Merchants Across America
Frequently Asked Questions
With OptBlue, American Express has changed the way we do business. Third-party providers sign a contract directly with eligible businesses to enable American Express® Card acceptance. The program also acts as an all-in-one solution with one statement, one deposit and one servicing contact for all the major card brands you accept. That means less paperwork and a simplified back-end process.
U.S. small businesses that have an estimated American Express charge volume of less than $1MM per year* can be eligible to accept through OptBlue. Certain industry and franchise restrictions apply. To learn more and sign up, you can call a participating provider. If your business is not eligible for OptBlue or is interested in accepting American Express Cards directly with American Express, please call 1-866-847-0890.
*As of October 2022, American Express is permitting OptBlue Participants to enable merchants in Education, Charities, Government, Healthcare, Insurance, Online Gambling, Residential Rent and Utilities whose Estimated Annual Charge Volume (ECV) is greater than $1MM. Please refer to Appendix A of the October 2022 U.S. OptBlue Operating Regulations for details.
When it comes to accepting credit cards, some businesses believe that American Express is always more expensive, and they believe they can get a better rate from other card brands. However, with OptBlue®, the rate is set by the provider (not American Express). So you may have more rate options than you may have had before.
With OptBlue, your provider sets your American Express rate just like they do for the other card brands you accept, so you have more rate options. View the list of participating providers here. When you reach out to the provider, they will be able to tell you your rate for American Express Card acceptance.
Do you have signage posted to let Card Members know they can use their Card at your business? If there isn’t signage expressing American Express acceptance, Card Members could assume the Card isn’t welcome. American Express offers you free signage and supplies. You can visit americanexpress.com/signage to browse the online store.
Keeping customers happy is the key to keeping customers. Our Card Members have our Card for a reason—whether it’s the rewards or customer service—so we want to ensure that they can use their Card wherever they want to shop.
At the same time, accepting their card of choice may help you grow your business. Data from the February 2024 Nilson Report supports that American Express Card members are valuable customers who tend to spend more and could bring revenue to your business. We found that annual spend of American Express Card Members was, on average, 2.9X that of non-Card Members[1] and the average transaction size of American Express Card Members was 60% higher than that of non-Card Members[2].
More and more businesses are welcoming American Express Cards. Based on the Feb 2024 Nilson report, American Express can now be accepted at 99% of the places in the US that accept credit cards. To learn more about acceptance, you can contact us.
We understand that resolving disputes hasn’t always been easy. We have heard this from businesses before, and because of this feedback, American Express has made many policy enhancements that will result in simpler disputes management for you and fewer Chargebacks. For example, we have limited the number of times a dispute can be raised on the same charge to two times and reduced the number of low-dollar Chargebacks you’ll see. To read about these changes in detail, you can download the Disputes Reference Guide.
American Express cares about businesses and wants them to succeed, so we invest in traffic drivers like these:
- Merchant Recommendations: When you welcome American Express® Cards, we could encourage Card Members to shop with you. In 2023, over 8 million small businesses were promoted to nearly 36 million Card Members across email, their Americanexpress.com online account, and the American Express® Map.[3]
- Free American Express signage: Show potential customers you want their business by displaying signage that could drive more sales.
Our thing? Helping you do your thing.
Get started by giving your customers the choice to pay the way they want.
[1] Nilson Report #1,257, February 2024. Spend per card derived from U.S. year-end purchase volume divided by year-end cards in force (CIF), not from individual consumer-level data. CIF represents the number of cards issued and outstanding with cardholders. Average Non-American Express spend per card includes Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit and charge card volume and CIF and excludes debit and prepaid volume and CIF.
[2] Nilson Report #1,257, February 2024. Transaction Size derived from U.S. year-end purchase volume divided by year-end purchase transactions, not from individual consumer-level data. Average Non-American Express transaction size includes Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit and charge cards and excludes debit and prepaid volume and transactions.
[3] Source: 2023 Internal Amex Recommendations Data. Amex cannot guarantee your business will appear in a search on American Express Maps. Merchants are displayed via the American Express Maps, Americanexpress.com, and email.