Ideally, you want to prevent chargebacks in the first place by properly utilizing anti-fraud tools and offering easy cancellations. But sometimes chargebacks happen anyway, and it’s important to know what to expect. In this article, we’ll explain the stages of the dispute process for American Express and Discover. You can also contact your credit c...

The paradigm shift was been prompted by leaps in credit card security and fraud protection, along with consumer trends such as the rise of mobile payments technology (e.g., Apple Pay), and of course the now-ubiquitous chip card. What changed, and does it affect your business? Let’s take a look. What Changed Under the prior signature author...

As of 2018, the International Assessment carries a rate of 0.40% of the total transaction volume. Let’s break that down further and take a look at when this fee is charged. OptBlue Pricing Model Firstly, the International Assessment applies on the Amex OptBlue pricing model for businesses. OptBlue is a pricing program that more closely fol...

Let’s break that down a little further. Defining Card Not Present The term “card not present” can be a little tricky. It covers any transaction where you don't run the card through a credit card machine using the magnetic strip or EMV chip. This means that in addition to ecommerce transactions, any transaction where you “key in” card details is...

Available from American Express, SafeKey provides an addition layer of protection for online transactions made with an American Express card. What is American Express SafeKey? SafeKey is American Express’ version of a 3D Secure authentication tool to help both cardholders and businesses protect against unauthorized online Amex transactions. ...

The court heard arguments in early 2018 and ruled in late June. Let’s look at the arguments on both sides and the results of the case. Ohio v. American Express American Express’ merchant agreement includes an “anti-steering” clause that prohibits businesses from encouraging customers to use a lower cost card when they try to pay with an America...

They’re designed to protect cardholder data, which can improve customer relationships, your profitability, and prevent a costly security breach and damage to your business reputation. There are a few steps to meeting these regulations, which we’ll go over in this article. Make Sure You Are PCI Compliant PCI DSS is an agreed upon set of s...

How is it possible that American Express cards costs cost less than ever to accept, but businesses aren’t paying less? The answer is pretty simple: credit card processors are pocketing the difference. Amex Introduces “OptBlue” In early 2015, American Express decided to tackle two big problems: a reputation among businesses as the “expensive...

If you already take American Express cards or are considering accepting them at your business, you’ll want to make sure your processor charges you with OptBlue. Here’s why: It's Cheaper Well, probably. The OptBlue pricing is a "cost plus" model, so if you’re not on a tiered pricing model and if have a competitive processor markup, you’ll likely sa...

OptBlue provides potential benefits to businesses in the form of transparency and reduced costs over current American Express's old One Point pricing, but it also opens the door for uninformed businesses to overpay. If you're looking for an American Express merchant account, here's what you'll need to look for - and what to avoid. What is...