What American Express Card Fees Cost Your Shop
Square's page prices Amex like its other major cards, and each processor publishes its own rates.
What American Express processing fees are
American Express credit card processing fees are what a US small business pays to take an Amex card. Square's pricing page says you can accept American Express cards for the same processing fees as other major cards. Other processors' pages quoted here list rates by how you take the card, not by card brand.
The pieces that make up an Amex transaction
A processor's pricing page usually breaks card costs into parts. Authorize.net's pricing page describes these pieces.
The percentage part of the cost shifts with the kind of card behind the sale. A flat cent amount rides along on every authorization, even a tiny one. Monthly service or gateway fees pay for payment gateway access and account maintenance. Cross-border or international surcharges are added when the card was issued outside your home country.
On Authorize.net's pricing page, one card sale can carry several charges. They are a percentage, a flat cent amount, part of a monthly fee, and a surcharge for a foreign card. When you compare processors, you need all four pieces, not just the percentage.
Who you actually pay
Visa's page explains who a merchant pays on a Visa card sale.
Visa's page says interchange reimbursement fees are transfer fees between acquiring banks and issuing banks for each Visa card transaction. Visa also says merchants do not pay interchange reimbursement fees. Instead, Visa says merchants negotiate and pay a merchant discount to their financial institution. That merchant discount is the rate you negotiate. The interchange transfer sits underneath it, moving money between banks. Visa's page says merchants can receive a variety of processing services from financial institutions that may be included in their merchant discount rate.
What Square's pricing page says
Square's pricing page says you can accept every major card, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, all for the same processing fees. So on Square, an Amex tap costs the same as a Visa tap.
What is that rate? Square's pricing page says in-person card payments run from 2.6% + 15¢ to 2.4% + 15¢, depending on the plan. Online and invoice card payments run from 3.3% + 30¢ to 2.9% + 30¢, depending on the plan. Manual entry or card on file payments cost 3.5% + 15¢.
The monthly fee per location is $0, $49 or $149, and Square Plus and Square Premium charge it per location. With Square Free there are no monthly subscription costs, and you only pay processing fees when you take a payment. Processing fees vary based on the Square plan you choose.
One more line matters for Amex. Square's pricing page says an extra fee applies to credit or debit cards issued outside the United States. On Square, an Amex issued outside the United States costs more than a domestic one.
What Stripe's pricing page says
Stripe's pricing page charges a per-transaction fee depending on the payment method the end customer uses. It does not list a separate Amex rate.
Stripe's pricing page says its standard online rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards. In-person card payments cost 2.7% + 5¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards. Manually entered cards add 0.5% to the online card rate. International cards add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds 1%.
Stripe's pricing page says its standard plan has no setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees. It also says Stripe does not charge setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees like closure fees.
Stripe's pricing page, as quoted here, gives one rate for domestic cards and does not set Amex apart. On Stripe, an Amex issued abroad adds the 1.5% for international cards.
What PayPal's fee page says
PayPal's fee page says standard credit and debit card payments cost 2.99% plus a fixed fee. The fixed fee for commercial transactions received in US dollars is 0.49 USD.
For sales in person, PayPal's fee page says PayPal Point of Sale card present transactions cost 2.29% + 0.09 USD. Manual card entry transactions cost 3.49% + 0.09 USD.
International commercial transactions add a 1.50% fee. The monthly fee is no fee for Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments and ACH Services.
What Shopify's pricing page says
Shopify's pricing page says the Basic plan is $29 a month and card rates start at 2.9% + 30¢ USD. The Grow plan is $89 a month and card rates start at 2.7% + 30¢ USD. The Advanced plan is $359 a month and card rates start at 2.5% + 30¢ USD. Monthly pricing is $39, $105 or $399 USD, against $29, $89 or $359 when paid yearly.
Shopify's pricing page lists in-person card rates of 2.6% + 10¢ and in-person manual rates of 3.5% + 10¢.
There is also a line that catches store owners off guard. Shopify's pricing page lists third-party transaction fees of 2%. Those may apply when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments. Shopify's pricing page says there are no setup fees on any of its plans.
What Authorize.net's pricing page says
Authorize.net's page says it accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club credit and debit cards. Its gateway also accepts credit cards, debit cards, and eChecks.
Authorize.net's pricing page says it charges a $25 monthly fee for all plans. It charges no setup fees and no early termination fees, and there are no additional fees beyond the prices noted. Authorize.net's pricing page says percentage-based fees are applied to each transaction according to the card type used.
How to weigh these rates against your sales
None of these sheets names a winner, because none can. The right sheet depends on your sales mix.
Start with your average ticket. The flat cent fee weighs more on a $4 coffee than on a $400 order. A lower percentage with a monthly plan fee can beat a higher percentage with no monthly fee, but only above a certain volume. Work the math on your real numbers.
Then look at where your Amex cards come from. If your customers carry foreign-issued cards, the cross-border lines matter. Square adds a fee for cards issued outside the United States. Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards. PayPal adds 1.50% for international commercial transactions.
Then look at how you take cards. On Square's, Stripe's, PayPal's and Shopify's pages, a keyed-in card costs more than one taken in person. If half your sales are keyed in, the manual entry rate is your real rate, not the in-person one.
For a worked example of how a single sale plays out across processors, see a forty dollar sale at the counter. For how extra fees like fast payouts add up, see paying to be paid tonight.
Published prices change
Each number above was read off one company's pricing page at one point in time. Those pages change without much notice. Before you sign up, open each processor's page and confirm the current rate for the way you take cards, in person, online, or keyed in. Ask the processor to confirm in writing what an Amex card will cost you, domestic and foreign. The number you verify the week you sign is the only one that counts.