eBay announced Wednesday that starting August 17, it will no longer accept American Express for payment. It blamed the change on “unacceptably high fees” for American Express credit card transactions.
“Lack of meaningful competition, credit card transaction fees continue unabated,” eBay wrote in a notice to customers. “Stronger regulation is needed to drive greater competition among credit card networks and help reduce transaction processing costs.” eBay still accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover and other payment methods such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Venmo.
American Express disagrees with eBay’s move and said on its website that its fees are similar to other cards accepted by eBay. “We find eBay’s decision to abandon American Express as a payment option for consumers inconsistent with their stated desire to increase competition at the point of sale,” the company wrote. The company said eBay accounts for less than 0.2% of its network.
