A big problem with accepting American Express is that when a client returns an item American Express does not return the transaction fee. With a high average ticket this adds a considerable expense that other credit card companies do not have. We dropped American Express, some clients are disappointed but all of them had the ability to use another credit card. I am not aware that we lost a sale over it. Independent jewellers should pressure American Express to change this policy.

Shanu, Have you checked into the current fees for participating in something like this? As an Internet merchant, I checked into it quite some time ago and the fees were very high...perhaps why no independent jewelers are participating. I will certainly check into it again though, thanks for the tip. Regarding Amex, I think it is important to accept Amex simply because there are so many customers who are loyal to their Amex card. I recently got a call from Amex notifying me they were going to raise our fees due to our Internet volume. When I pointed our extremely low chargeback rate (almost non-existent), they said it didn't matter. All Internet merchants are treated equally regardless of chargeback rate. This is ridiculous in my opinion. I wanted to divorce Amex after that, but realized I would be losing those customers who are loyal to their Amex. On the flip side, Discover called us on their own accord to notify us they are lowering our fees due to our low chargeback rate. My advice would be to offer Amex for those customers who insist, but just don’t promote it. I know several merchants who do this. BTW, I really dislike your security measures on this website. I think there would be more participation if it worked properly. This is my third attempt to submit this comment only to be told I typed the characters wrong after the browser refreshes and shows a new set letters. Argh!