American Express card refused in Spar ??

reclusive46

nidO wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure about that - I've had a similar experience to the OP in a Range store with my amex, I put the card in, the machine asked for the pin, I gave it, then the machine came up with transaction declined or similar, the cashier noticed, and told me they don't take amex and that's what their machines do if an amex card is tried.
(and for avoidance of doubt i've no reason to believe that they do take amex and that amex refused the transaction at their end, as the card has continued working fine ever since)

The range is rolling out Amex acceptance throughout their stores. It could be something to do with that.

MisterBaxter

Welcome to the world of Amex. It is less well accepted than Visa or MasterCard. It definitely works with PayPal though as I use mine all the time with it.

It is also worth trying the card even if there is no indication that the store takes Amex; some don't have the symbol but the card is still accepted. Contactless payments with Amex can also be a bit hit and miss at some places. My local Costa takes Amex if used with Chip & Pin but the contactless never works, The machine is OK as Barclaycard works with contactless and my Amex card is OK as it works contactless in other places.

Larger outlets are more likely to accept Amex and in larger cities I find more places accept it.

Biggles

stylus360 wrote: »

I have just been to my local Spar shop and tried it on a purchase, entered pin and it accepted it, then it asked for it to be swiped

I was asked to swipe my AmEx a couple of times recently (both in Dublin). Very odd, as no PIN, no signature, so no authorisation; I just swiped it and was told 'that's done'. I've not had that happen with MC or Visa cards.

planteria

my local Spar certainly accepts Amex, but as above, they are often franchise stores so it is up to the individual retailer whether they want to accept Amex or not.
fwiw i use Amex almost everywhere. and with CapitalOne dropping cashback i have now reached the stage, with so few 'no Amex' retailers around, that i'm not sure i'd even bother with a backup.

eagle

Why not tell Amex where you'd like to use their card?

https://www316.americanexpress.com/iFormsSecure/un/iforms.do?cuid=rapid_en_GB&evttype=0&evtsrc=link&face=en_GB&prod=Rapid&todo=view&appsrc=IFM

InsideInsurance

PayPal do accept AmEx generally but I know on occasions AmEx is missing from my list of available cards when paying certain merchants. Presumably some bigger organisations with more bargaining power with PayPal can therefore potentially negotiate AmEx out of the list of accepted cards.

The problem with Franchise stores is that normally each one makes their own payment arrangements and so there is inconsistency across what cards are and arent accepted. KFC are similar and seems to be about 50/50 on ones that do and dont accept them with big cities and motorway service stations being much more common than little town ones.