Steam removed Amex as a payment option?

[Silent Storm]

How cheap is Valve? They removed American Express from payment options, (In Canada at least) to make more money. They already charge huge fees for developers selling on their platform, they take Steam tax fees on all community trades. They will lose a good bit of my purchases now, I won't be spending as much money buying games I don't need anymore, I guess that's good for me though...

[UCEY]

I can still pay with American Express. My guess is that it has to do with the Canadian government and not Steam

[IFIYGD]

US can still choose AMEX as a payment option- but it isn't just Canada that has been affected. There is an existing thread about this situation here: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/5595176692467592450/

My suggestion is to contact AMEX via the Help/Support number on your card or account paperwork, to see if someone at the company can explain why AMEX is not available in some regions. I suspect this is something on AMEX's end, and not Valve's, but only Valve or AMEX can confirm or deny- and neither of them will answer you here.

[fluxtorrent]

looks like its everywhere outside of the US, most likely their international agreement ended and amex wanted to raise their fees AGAIN and Valve was like "nah brah"

[JVC]

American Express chooses to charge higher fees from stores than Visa and Mastercard does. That makes accepting those cards less appealing to stores.

OP, mentioned it himself "how cheap is valve"? The correct question is: "why should other customers pay higher prices so someone using an expensive method of payment can get rewards that the other customers don't get?"

[Brian9824]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 JVC：

American Express chooses to charge higher fees from stores than Visa and Mastercard does. That makes accepting those cards less appealing to stores.

OP, mentioned it himself "how cheap is valve"? The correct question is: "why should other customers pay higher prices so someone using an expensive method of payment can get rewards that the other customers don't get?"

Amex charges up to 3.5% the same amount that Paypal charges. Valve can easily pay that 3.5% in their 30% they take.

You could easily pay me 10% of your leftover money after expenses. Should you for no reason?

If Amex is charging them more then other card companies I don't blame them. Valve doesn't need them, and Amex can easily lower their percentage to match the other card companies with the billions they make......

[Brian9824]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 brian9824：

You could easily pay me 10% of your leftover money after expenses. Should you for no reason?

If Amex is charging them more then other card companies I don't blame them. Valve doesn't need them, and Amex can easily lower their percentage to match the other card companies with the billions they make......

Imagine how many more payment processors they would stop using if they didn't want to play more than 2.5% out of the 30% they take, like removing paysafe card, paypal, and many more payment methods around the world, severely decreasing the amount of payments they take.

Valve is being greedy, as per the usual for them.

Again, not really greedy when one payment processor is charging more then the others and not providing any additional services to justify it. Would you pay 1 person $500 and another person $1000 for identical services just because the 2nd person wants more of your money?

[Trixie_I]

Israel, AMEX, can't make any purchase, heck I can't even get PayPal to work, it just says my card couldn't be authorized, what the heck is going on? I've been using this card for years without any issues.

[Brian9824]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 brian9824：

Again, not really greedy when one payment processor is charging more then the others and not providing any additional services to justify it. Would you pay 1 person $500 and another person $1000 for identical services just because the 2nd person wants more of your money?

You mean, would I pay $2.10 on a $60 transaction for customer that uses Amex mean while paying $1.50 on a $60 transaction for a different customer? Yes, I would, more payment options with reasonable fees is a good thing. And if i am willing to pay 3.5% and more for many other payment options, I wouldn't have an issue paying 3.5% for any other payment option.

Well that would be why you don't run a successful business then. $.60 a transaction X tens of millions of transactions equals quite a bit of lost money.

引用自 Trixie_I：

Israel, AMEX, can't make any purchase, heck I can't even get PayPal to work, it just says my card couldn't be authorized, what the heck is going on? I've been using this card for years without any issues.

Sounds like AMEX tried to raise their rates again and steam kicked them to the curb.

[nullable]

Users love to spend Valve's money on their values. But Valve is allowed to operate as they see fit. Disparaging remarks won't change that.

[Brian9824]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 brian9824：

Well that would be why you don't run a successful business then. $.60 a transaction X tens of millions of transactions equals quite a bit of lost money.





Sounds like AMEX tried to raise their rates again and steam kicked them to the curb.

They already accept payment methods that are equal to or greater than that, so yeah. Valve can more than enough afford it out if the 30% they take. Valve already takes a ridiculous amount of money from developers, they shouldn't be removing options without lowering their revenue take, if anything they need to add a lot more for charging 30%.

Suggest you research your facts as they are woefully wrong

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/why-american-express-isnt-universally-accepted/

Its pretty common for AMEX to not be accepted in a lot of businesses and outside the US do their draconian fees compared to other cards.

[Brian9824]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 brian9824：

Suggest you research your facts as they are woefully wrong

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/why-american-express-isnt-universally-accepted/

Its pretty common for AMEX to not be accepted in a lot of businesses and outside the US do their draconian fees compared to other cards.

Nothing in that link disproved any facts I stated at all.

Cool, next time it helps if you read it then. It explains why AMEX is not accepted outside the US by many businesses which is exactly the point of this thread. So if you want to waste your time feel free. I'll stick to the ignore function since you refuse to read.

[Brian9824]

引用自 Silent Storm：

How cheap is Valve? They removed American Express from payment options, (In Canada at least) to make more money. They already charge huge fees for developers selling on their platform, they take Steam tax fees on all community trades. They will lose a good bit of my purchases now, I won't be spending as much money buying games I don't need anymore, I guess that's good for me though...

Hope the link I posted helps you at least understand OP.

[Aahzmandias]

引用自 WolfEisberg：

引用自 JVC：

American Express chooses to charge higher fees from stores than Visa and Mastercard does. That makes accepting those cards less appealing to stores.

OP, mentioned it himself "how cheap is valve"? The correct question is: "why should other customers pay higher prices so someone using an expensive method of payment can get rewards that the other customers don't get?"

Amex charges up to 3.5% the same amount that Paypal charges. Valve can easily pay that 3.5% in their 30% they take.

Why should they? What is their advantage to accept that penalty?

Right. There is no advantage for them.

People can just use PayPal, or any other payment method and be done with it. Even Steam cards exist, that you can buy and use.

Steam invented and distributed their own payment system! They do not need credit cards and their additional fees.

[fluxtorrent]

And? Gift cards give them access to a market credit cards do not. Amex doesn't.

additionally amex doesn't charge "3.5%" it charges a LOT more outside the US,up to 5%per transaction in the UK for example, plus the merchant account fee, plus additional service charges.

Additionally as of July 1st they added a flat $.10 additional fee on top for each transaction, which can easily amount to MORE than 10% for some steam transactions

[Brian9824]

引用自 fluxtorrent：

And? Gift cards give them access to a market credit cards do not. Amex doesn't.

additionally amex doesn't charge "3.5%" it charges a LOT more outside the US,up to 5%per transaction in the UK for example, plus the merchant account fee, plus additional service charges.

Additionally as of July 1st they added a flat $.10 additional fee on top for each transaction, which can easily amount to MORE than 10% for some steam transactions

Yep, all of which was mentioned in that article that was clearly not read

Amex merchant fees: How expensive are they?
American Express outlines its fees for merchants in its American Express Merchant Reference Guide. Merchants must pay to use its electronic payment network, it notes, and it will automatically pay merchants the money they’re due via an ACH transfer unless the merchant wants to pay a fee to receive a check.

There are quite a few fees that can be imposed on merchants for accepting American Express cards, but the primary one is the Discount, notes Amex. This amount varies, but typical merchant fees fall between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent.

Other merchant fees that may apply can include non-swiped transaction fees (when a credit card isn’t present and the number is keyed in), voice authorization fees, check fees, paper statement fees and more.

Quite a few different fees that get a bit ridiculous.