Trouble with an American Express Card

[glassguy]

We are new to Square and have been doing great and like the user friendly ability of the square, but we have had one glitch and are looking for help.  My husband has a client paying wth an American Express card, and had to input it manually.  Unfortunately, the transaction did not go through. He tried several times, so we are looking for help with manually inputting this American Express Card. 

Anyone else having this problem?

[mremele · Accepted solution]

Here's two thoughts:

1)the CVV code for Amex is the 4 digits on the front, not the 3 on back like Visa & MC.

2)The zip code. Are you sure it's right? I don't know how you would verify, but maybe that's it.

[Peaches1234]

Thank You, for your help, with the problem with American Express cards.  I didn't know, your answer was very helpful.   

[Peaches1234]

Thank You, for your help, with the problem with American Express cards.  I didn't know, your answer was very helpful.   

[Kaderprinting]

We are also having issue with American Express transactions with two separate clients.  In both cases we have the four digit cvv from the front and the correct zip code.  Help as this is becoming an issue.

[kellyj]

@Kaderprinting

You'll want to check with your customer and have them speak with AMEX. If you have entered all the relevant information into Square and it's still not being approved - it's most likely the decline is coming AMEX and we'll want to find out the reasons. 

Sometimes there may be limitations on your MCC or a cap that Amex is not authorizing due to security reasons. It's always best the buyer reach out and get information on why the transaction is being declined.

[sswf2020]

I have used American Express several times and I have a customer that has been declined twice? It is a good card and I have all the correct information. This is embarrassing and you have now placed two two holds on her account?

[sswf2020]

My customer is in touch with AMX and they say it's on my end. They have now taken $150.00 out of her account twice but declined it with me twice. Very embarrassed. Please help. She needs this service in the morning. I need these charges OFF HER CARD!

[AshleyK]

@sswf2020 It sounds like the holds on your customer's cards are actually pending charges from the declined payment and they will fall off of their bank account. Unfortunately, we cannot push declined charges through, but you can show your customer their card has been declined under your Transaction Status report in Dashboard. 

I would recommend trying a different card to get this payment to go through.

[TPPlumbing00]

We are having the same problem, only with Amex.  I have entered all the info in right, customer calls and they say there is no issue on their end.  Why won’t Amex works 

[Easypeasyappare]

I ,too, am new to square and accepted an American Express card only to never receive the money . I don't know how to handle this. 

[Chad]

Hello @Easypeasyappare! 

That sounds super weird. Have you tried looking at your Deposit Reports for this payment? If you click on the deposit date you'll get a breakdown of each payment included in the deposit and the card type. 

[Nonajeanne]

We have tried all sorts of ways to get her card accepted.     She called AE to ask about a 4 digit code and their bank doesn't use them on the card.      How can we make this work?       

[nika]

Hi @Nonajeanne! Thanks for posting your question.

This thread has some helpful tips when accepting AMEX. If your customer doesn't have their 4 digit security code on the front of their card, they definitely should be able to contact either AMEX or their bank to get this information.

Another thing I would check to see is if it is a prepaid card. If it is, you should just be able to use the 3 digit security code on the back of the card. But first, your customer would have to register the card with a billing address and zip code. This article on Cards Accepted by Square might be helpful as well.

Hope this helps!

[Tarra32]

We have also had this problem with not being able to manually enter numerous Amex customers cards. So the solution is to have the customer call Amex to see if it's declined??

[Joe]

Hi there, @Tarra32 - that's correct. Kelly stated the best course of action above. You'll want to check with your customer and have them speak with AMEX. If you have entered all the relevant information into Square and it's still not being approved - it's most likely the decline is coming AMEX and we'll want to find out the reasons. 

Sometimes there may be limitations on your MCC or a cap that Amex is not authorizing due to security reasons. It's always best the buyer reach out and get information on why the transaction is being declined.

Hope this is helpful!

[Thermopro]

No that's not the solution. I too am having problems accepting American Express and have dealt with square and Amex. My customer has amxi manually punch it in have been for months $4,000 and thousands of dollars and every time it's been fine . Just yesterday it stopped and declined . Square tells me it's the wrong ZIP code well my customer called me on three way with Amex and they verified that everything is fine and that guy has been with them for 21 years and we've done much business in the past for lots of money . Told me I should call Square so I did , Square keeps telling me it's amex's fault because their thing is the billing zip code isn't right. Well I verified it was and by the third rep I talked to at Square they told me they cannot transfer me to a supervisor or talk to anybody else and by the way we have a right to decline any payment we want at any time. What!? That's the solution I was given. Now I'm embarrassed as hell and I not been able to collect 7 Grand from my customer for 3 days now. Unless this is resolved through Square I'm going elsewhere. Amex says there's absolutely nothing wrong with their end. Sorry I turned your post into a rant session. But no that's not a solution they need to work a little harder or even put somebody on the phone that has been through many many different scenarios and knows more than that person. I'm in the same boat and I'm getting ticked off.

[MayaP]

Hello @Thermopro, oh man I'm sorry you are having issues processing a payment for this customer. I understand this is frustrating! 

To clarify is this happening with every Amex card or just this particular seller? Unfortunately we cannot override transactions, is there another card that the seller can process with? 

[Thermopro]

Hi, thank you for your reply. I don't process very many Amex cards so I'm not sure if it's happening with others. However,  the Visa and Mastercards have processed just fine . I do manually input them because we are a service company and our technicians call in the numbers so they're manually entered. Customer did use his card at another store and it worked just fine. He had a transaction for 4700 just a week ago and it worked fine. They are a multi-million dollar company who we service quite often and he is not being very helpful in finding a solution. He did conference call me with AMEX rep on the line.

[Thermopro]

I do want to throw out there that Monday square head a service interruption for several hours that was finally complete I can't remember what time it was maybe 1:00 p.m. eastern time. And the very next day I'm having this issue so I can't help but think maybe it is a server or issue with their server? LOL

[MayaP]

We did have disruption, but that has been resolved. But also is that when your payment was processed, on Monday? Is this happening with every seller and card brand? Or just with this one seller and Amex? There haven't been reports from other seller community members reporting they can't process payments. We certainly want to make sure this gets resolved if you are experiencing issues actually taking payments, but if this is an isolated incident with one seller we cannot override the payment @Thermopro.