American Express payments failing on PayPal

[dangermoose]

I don’t think this has anything to do with the eStore plugin but I wondered if anyone has come across issues for users paying through PayPal with Amex.

We had a site go live recently and have a couple of US based (we are UK based and the default currency is GBP) buyers having issues (Mastercard payments seemed fine). The payment failed once they had filled out their details on PayPal.

I know from using Paypal that it should just convert to your local currency, maybe its just a PayPal issue. Just thought I’d mentioned it in case anyone has any ideas.

[admin]

PayPal doesn’t allow you to accept American express if your business is in their list of “Restricted Merchants”. This has something to do with the type of businesses that Amex doesn’t support. Anyway, you will get a more solid answer if you ask PayPal and provide them your business details.

Here are some example business types that are restricted to give you an idea:

Airlines & Air Carriers

Bail and Bond Payments

Direct Marketing – Inbound Telemarketing (internet – electronic delivery internet – adult entertainment internet – online gambling)

Court Costs

Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies

Debt Collection Agencies

Fines

Railroads (freight)

Betting & Gambling

Government Service

etc.

[wzp]

This seems to be some kind of ongoing Amex/PayPal issue:

https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/amex_faqs

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Fees-Archive/PROBLEMS-WITH-AMERICAN-EXPRESS/td-p/208728

[dangermoose]

Many thanks for the insights, very helpful indeed!

[Author]

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