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This article appears in the July 9, 2009, edition of ISO&Agent Weekly.
American Express Co. has seven third-party acquirers in its OnePoint acceptance program that bundles a merchant's multiple card accounts into one statement.
Long Island, N.Y.-based Evo Merchant Services, a Melville, N.Y.-based ISO, is the latest acquirer to join the program. Others in it are Pittsburgh-based PNC Merchant Services, Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data Corp., Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland Payment Systems Inc., Atlanta-based Elavon Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Innovative Merchant Solutions and Calabasas, Calif.-based iPayment Inc.
First Data, Heartland and Elavon already are selling AmEx acceptance to merchants using the OnePoint program, and AmEx expects the other four to launch later this year and early next year, an AmEx spokesperson tells ISO&Agent Weekly. AmEx opened its network to third-party acquirers in 2007.
Other third-party acquirers could be added, but AmEx is being "very selective" about the acquirers with which it works, the spokesperson says.
The agreements with AmEx enable third-party acquirers to bundle a merchant's transactions onto a single statement. Acquirers also can service accounts, not unlike the third-party acquiring deals Discover Financial Services also began signing in the past couple of years (ISO&Agent Weekly, 7/19/2006).
Though similar in some ways to Discover's deals, the AmEx deals differ in that AmEx retains the merchant contract and sets pricing. Discover allows acquirers to bundle rates for Discover transactions into a single rate that also applies to Visa and MasterCard transactions.
The Specifics
For some, that difference in pricing and contract retention is a sticking point.
"It's a good program for American Express," James G. Kelly, president and chief operating officer of Global Payments Inc., tells ISO&Agent Weekly.
Kelly, however, says Atlanta-based Global Payments continues to evaluate AmEx's third-party acquiring efforts but has yet to sign on. "If you look at the specifics, it's not the same offering as the Discover program and nothing like Visa and MasterCard," Kelly says.
Instead, the AmEx program needs to "mirror what's in the market place today" in that ownership of the relationship with the merchant and the pricing liability rests with the acquirer, Kelly says.
OnePoint feedback to date does not indicate the structure is a hurdle, notes the AmEx spokesperson. AmEx would not comment on pricing. "As long as there's choice, everyone wins," she says. The single statement is especially valuable to smaller merchants because the convenience can save them time, she adds.
Open Access
Just as Discover has boosted efforts to help sales agents and acquirers sell Discover acceptance (ISO&Agent Weekly, 6/25), so, too, has AmEx. In May, the AmEx360 Web site opened for participants in the OnePoint and External Sales Agent program to use. The External Sales Agent program, now more than 10 years old, is for resellers of AmEx acceptance.
Once in the Web site, which is not yet open to ISOs but may be early next year, users have access to such sales tools as marketing guidelines, merchant supplies and a tip sheet on handling merchant objections, says the spokesperson.
AmEx used to e-mail material to resellers but now it only is available on the Web site. AmEx found the documents sometimes became trapped in e-mail systems because of their size.
Other sales materials include a quick-reference list on pricing, a list of franchises and their rates, and a list of merchant categories that AmEx will not allow on its network.
