American Express

Webbs Billiards

Webbs Billiards

Billiards Dealer
Silver Member
Apparently American Express Merchant Services doesn't allow the sale of Collectable or Custom cues via the internet.

Quote: "We don't allow prebilling of custom or collectable cues" "Unless the customer has it in his hand at the time of purchase, we will no approve the funds"

I'm dissolving my American Express Merchant account, I will not be told what I can sell or to whom.

Just thought I'd share my lovely experience ...
 
golubushka said:
I wonder why they are doing that???

And, I assume this would in no way apply to Paypal based AE transactions???
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I agree -- this is *VERY* odd. I can't even take a gander at how many times I've used my AMEX to pay for items that I've not had "in my hands at the time of purchase" and instead had to wait for the item to be built / customized / etc.

A merchant account is a different story, however. I find it very odd though that they'd do this, unless there's another billing entity (e.g. PayPal) involved...?

-Sean
 
I wonder if what they meant was that you can't charge a card today for a cue that isn't in production yet and won't be delivered for months. That would fit the definition of "prebilling", but charging a card when a cue is ready to ship would not be prebilling.


They allow online purchases of cues through web stores (wordplay intentional :) ) and the customer doesn't have it in hand yet then, its just shipping.
 
I don't know if this has anything to do with merchant account rules, but when I order something from QVC, they do not charge my credit card until it is shipped.

IOW, when I initially order it, my card is not charged at that time.
 
I've accepted plenty of American express cards before without any issue. Then a month ago a service member contacted me to order a Meucci Diamond. When the funds never populated my acct, I called to inquire. Something about that transaction made them decide to review, they wanted the invoice. From the invoice, they looked up the cue and decided that it was a custom collectible item, which they will not allow me to bill the customer without delivery conformation.
 
golubushka said:
I was also wondering whether it has anything to do with the potential Ivory content of a cue....
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He's in Florida, so that shouldn't be an issue. But none of this should have been an issue. He even signed the invoice confirming the he understood the terms of the sale.
 
He probably also signed the cardmember agreement. ;)

Could be for any number of reasons, including protecting Amex from fraud. Charges made/accepted for goods/services that have yet to be produced could cause all kinds of headaches, particularly if the person doesn't pay up.

From the above agreement:

Declined transactions

We may decline to authorize a charge. Reasons
we may do this include suspected fraud and our
assessment of your creditworthiness. This may occur
even if your Account is not in default.

We are not responsible for any losses you incur
if we do not authorize a charge. And we are not
responsible if any merchant refuses to accept the
card.

If he's such a big spender with the ability to pay off the card, he should be able to cover it in other ways. Unless, of course, you're willing to do the job Amex won't and extend him credit. :thumbup:
 
His funds have been reversed, I made sure of that. If business was so good that I could extend him credit I would.

I'm more upset for not being able to serve my customer than I am about profit.
 
Webbs Billiards said:
Apparently American Express Merchant Services doesn't allow the sale of Collectable or Custom cues via the internet.

Quote: "We don't allow prebilling of custom or collectable cues" "Unless the customer has it in his hand at the time of purchase, we will no approve the funds"

I'm dissolving my American Express Merchant account, I will not be told what I can sell or to whom.

Just thought I'd share my lovely experience ...
Click to expand...


i made a charge of $145,000 a couple months ago on my AMEX card, I had to sign a document that I received everything and it was in good shape etc etc etc. Which I hadn't, it was in a wearhouse across town. They are just covering their asses. dispute resolution is a very costly thing for credit card companies and they are covering their asses, nothing to do with cues, its on everything now days. Its a joke what its came to. I was in the credit card biz for 12 years, i could write a book on that biz. its a disaster now-thanks to the fraud people and lawyers.
 
Banks said:
He probably also signed the cardmember agreement. ;)

Could be for any number of reasons, including protecting Amex from fraud. Charges made/accepted for goods/services that have yet to be produced could cause all kinds of headaches, particularly if the person doesn't pay up.

From the above agreement:

Declined transactions

We may decline to authorize a charge. Reasons
we may do this include suspected fraud and our
assessment of your creditworthiness. This may occur
even if your Account is not in default.

We are not responsible for any losses you incur
if we do not authorize a charge. And we are not
responsible if any merchant refuses to accept the
card.

If he's such a big spender with the ability to pay off the card, he should be able to cover it in other ways. Unless, of course, you're willing to do the job Amex won't and extend him credit. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Its not just AMEX protecting themselves, its also them protecting their cardholders. Its impossible to for AMEX or VISA or MC to offer their members protection in event of non-delivery or dissatisfaction if the ownership of goods didn't pass within the charge-back period. Deposits or purchases of future goods leave the buyers at risk and the Credit Card Companies are trying to remain in a position whereby they can offer to guarantee the buyer's satisfaction.

Deposits against future transfers are really, in the bank's eyes, cash-advances, and the protections are far different (as are also rate structures and limits in many cases).

Kevin
 
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Fatboy said:
i made a charge of $145,000 a couple months ago on my AMEX card, I had to sign a document that I received everything and it was in good shape etc etc etc. Which I hadn't, it was in a wearhouse across town. They are just covering their asses. dispute resolution is a very costly thing for credit card companies and they are covering their asses, nothing to do with cues, its on everything now days. Its a joke what its came to. I was in the credit card biz for 12 years, i could write a book on that biz. its a disaster now-thanks to the fraud people and lawyers.
Click to expand...

That's the 3rd time this month I've heard a similar story. Once you sign away your right to dispute for non delivery, then its all good to the bank. They just get their fees with no risk or assurances.145K must have been a nice couch.

Kevin
 
kvinbrwr said:
That's the 3rd time this month I've heard a similar story. Once you sign away your right to dispute for non delivery, then its all good to the bank. They just get their fees with no risk or assurances.145K must have been a nice couch.

Kevin
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LOL you got spies? thats exactly what it was....a couch. wow!!!!:thumbup::thumbup:
 
Switch Merchant Services. Sam's has a nice program that allows us to take AMEX and I run transactions for prepayment all the time. It could be business or AMEX based but more likely its how invasive the merchant service provider is.

We started with another service and were constantly having funds held up as they investigate what seemed like every 10th transaction. Drove me crazy. Years ago I was actually 10 days late on rent when they held up 5k on on a random transaction then decided to hold every subsequent charge until that original 5k transaction cleared 14 days later.
 
Fatboy said:
LOL you got spies? thats exactly what it was....a couch. wow!!!!:thumbup::thumbup:
Click to expand...

My people are everywhere. You should have stepped to the plate and full-popped to 180K and gotten the leather, but I know, times are tough and you gotta economize.
 
kvinbrwr said:
That's the 3rd time this month I've heard a similar story. Once you sign away your right to dispute for non delivery, then its all good to the bank. They just get their fees with no risk or assurances.145K must have been a nice couch.

Kevin
Click to expand...


yeah i never ever had seen that before, the biggest Amex charge I ever made was $450,000 on my platinum card, not the black card. With Dell for computers, in fact just to see how it would go I had my CFO call it in-i was curious if they would call or not. Never heard a word, it went thru like a tank of gas, i was very surprised. That was in 06 i think, I still have 2 cards one plat one black. I still have a higher limit on my plat than black cause i use the plat for biz and black for personal stuff. I really dont use that much $ on them, I dont even have a visa or mc.

Kevin you'll like this one:

I only ever had one beef with Amex, a hotel charged me $13,XXX.00 for a 3 night stay, they said it was a annual standing reservation, which it was except i had cancelled it 2 years prior. the hotel was going broke. Amex took their side-initally, I'm the wrong guy to mess with in the credit card biz. I dont know how to send a pay-pal or buy on ebay, but I know charge/credit/merchant cards well. The mistake they (amex) was they gave my new account number to the hotel to charge my card, i hadnt stayed there in 3 years-i got sick and stopped going. That move was a violation of the privacy policy on Amex's part, See I wrote the T & C's that kept my merchant card biz legal for 12 years-with the assistance of lawyers and millions in legal fees. So they were playing in my world. I pointed that out to Amex-the privacy policy violation(they cant give my new account number to a merchant), after 3 or 4 months of dispute resolution process shit(should have thought of it sooner), game over-they almost sent me flowers. the lesson is change your account numbers often even if you dont lose your card. not when it expires in 3 or 4 years.
 
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