What is American Express OptBlue?

OptBlue is a program where merchant acquirers can offer essentially wholesale rates to payment processors. The processors charge merchants their own markup on top of Amex’s rates, the same way they do for Visa and MasterCard.
​For merchants, as long as your processor offers OptBlue pricing, the only requirement is that you process less than $1 million in Amex transactions annually. If you’re above that volume, or if your business grows and you cross that threshold, you’ll need to strike an Amex merchant fee agreement with American Express independently.

What are the OptBlue Rates?

OptBlue pricing isn’t simple, per se, but the basic concept is easy enough to understand. There’s a rate (percentage) plus a transaction fee ($0.10). What you pay depends on three factors:

1. The merchant category code (MCC) for the transaction.
2. The ticket size.
3. Whether the transaction is card-present (swiped) or card-not-present (keyed-in or e-commerce).

The first consideration defines the basic nature of the transaction — retail, services, lodging, etc. There are slight variances in each, and you’ll pay more for a transaction that falls under “lodging” than you would for a retail or restaurant transaction.The amount of the transaction affects the cost as well, with larger transactions leading to higher rates. Also, for Card Not Present transactions, Amex will add an additional markup to the rate — 0.30%
Unfortunately, American Express tacks on additional costs to those base rates, instead of just including them. There’s a 0.15% network fee for all transactions, and an additional 0.30% for the acquirer buyrate, also applied to every transaction.

Now, Take the Next Step!

​OptBlue is an easy way for merchants to start accepting American Express, with lower rates than Amex has previously offered. You might already be benefiting from the American Express OptBlue program, but if you’re not sure, it’s time to ask your processor. If you’re not able to accept American Express or you’re not getting the lower rates through American Express OptBlue, it’s time to start now!