Paypal have now enabled American Express cards to be added to your account for online payments with any business who accept Paypal.
This has been a long-term bugbear for me with Paypal – the lack of Amex acceptance has meant that any Paypal transactions through eBay, and the increasing number of businesses that now accept Paypal, have had to be funded by Visa or MasterCard.
I had assumed this was probably due to Amex’s higher processing fees, but one or both of Paypal and Amex must have come to the party to make this possible.
Those of you with dual American Express and Visa/Mastercard accounts should add your Amex ASAP to make use of the higher points earn rates, while those of us (like me) who use a Membership Rewards Amex should consider if this is the account you want to use primarily with Paypal.
I’ve added my Amex regardless so it’s an option for payment for me in future.
Hi – if i use my AMEX as the primary card in paypal – will it incur any fees the merchant would usually charge when using AMEX (e.g. 3.5%) or is that void by using paypal/is there a different rate?
The price you see when paying with Paypal is what you pay – there’s no extra fees to the consumer, the merchant would absorb them. Now the merchant may add the fees into the price of the goods of course (as with all card processing fees), but I think that Paypal actually prohibit merchants from adding on a ‘paypal fee’ into your basket.
so paying bills with paypal would therefore earn 1point/1$ instead of 0.5?
Can you earn points on PayPal purchases? What category does it fall under? (and therefore how many points/$1?)
You do indeed earn points when purchasing with Paypal. No set category I know of, just normal spend.
I have a CBA Amex and just added it – will now get 3 points per $1 🙂
I have a CBA Amex so I don’t think this will work for me. I think CBA have excluded PayPal as an eligible vendor for points earn, which is highly irritating. Which bank irritates regularly?
Interesting to know – would be worth trying a small transaction to confirm though.
Works for me Robert
Works for me Robert
Just tried now but cannot see the Amex option.
Still working for me, just checked. I have a Premier account, maybe that makes a difference?
Just tried again and it’s now showing! My account is also premier.
Is there any extra fees using AMEX via paypal? 2.5% surcharged or anything of that nature?
Nope. It’s a bit weird when making US$ transactions, in that they force it into USD (so incurring an overseas credit fee surcharge). Other than that, all as per Mastercard/Visa.
Thanks, and I just confirmed it using my AMEX via paypal to buy a new 1440p monitor =)