Processing American Express® OptBlue™
About American Express® OptBlue™
The American Express® OptBlue™ Program is designed to increase acceptance of cards among small merchants without paying higher merchant fees. The program allows participating merchants the benefit of a single statement, one settlement process for all major card brand activity...all while offering wholesale rates to participating clients.
Qualification Criteria
- SMBs processing less than $1MM per year in American Express® transactions
- US Domestic transactions
- Purchase (Pull) payments only and cannot be used for lending or debt repayment programs
Use Cases
- Tipping Industry: Accept cashless tips
- Digital billing: Utility and service payments
- E-commerce programs: Digital goods sale
Benefits
With American Express® OptBlue™, you enjoy:
- Simplified payments: All major card brands in one settlement, in one schedule, in one statement. Reconciliation gets easy!
- Improved rates: Offer affordable rates lowering your cost of acceptance of American Express cards...and letting your customers choose how they want to pay
- Improved user experience: More appealing for your customers when they have extra flexibility with payment options
Getting Started
If you are an existing TabaPay client, there is no amendment to your contract or additional paperwork. There is no setup fee, and the setup is complete in a few business days.
Send an email to help@tabapay.com with the subject line: "Merchant Name_OptBlue setup" to get started.
Data Requirements for American Express® OptBlue™ Setup
Refer to the American Express Network Requirements
Restricted Categories
The following table is a list of restricted categories, or out-of-scope use cases.
| Restricted Categories | Description | MCC |
|---|---|---|
| Airlines & air carriers (including charter airlines) | All airline and air carrier merchants, including charter airlines. Air Charter (MCC 4511) is prohibited except where written permission has been provided by American Express. | 3000-3302 |
| Bail/bail bond | A sum of money paid by a criminal defendant to be released from jail under the condition that they appear for court appearances. This does not include a bail bond fee (MCC 9223). | - |
| Bankruptcy services | A company or agency that is in the business of recovering money owed on delinquent accounts or supporting the bankruptcy process. Examples include: bankruptcy lawyers and bankruptcy debt collection services. | - |
| Bullion (Precious Metals) | Bulk metal in bars or ingots. Examples include: - Gold, silver, platinum, palladium bullion - Gold, silver, platinum, palladium bars - Precious metals | - |
| Car rental agencies | Branded car rental agencies (e.g., Avis, Budget, Hertz). | 3351-3441 |
| Cash at Point of Sale/Cash on Card | Cash-like transactions from financial and non-financial institutions. Examples include: money orders, post offices, funding source for payroll. | 6051 |
| Check cashing/guarantee | A business that provides customers with a way to turn a check into cash without having to rely on a bank account. | - |
| Child pornography | An individual or entity providing or associated with the visual depiction of a minor engaged in obscene or sexually explicit conduct, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means. | - |
| Collection agencies | A company that lenders use to recover funds that are past due. Examples include: debt collection agencies, factoring companies, and liquidators. | 7322 |
| Commercial leasing | A business that conveys land, real estate, equipment, or other property to another for a specified time in return for regular periodic payment. Examples include commercial real estate and commercial vehicles, such as trucks and marine vessels. This does not include residential Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals (MCC 6513). | - |
| Credit financing | A merchant that provides financing to customers, earning revenue on that financing via fees and/or interest. Examples include: credit cards, personal loans, student loans, car loans, mortgage payments, and loan crowdfunding. | 6010 6011 6012 6051 |
| Credit restoration | A service aimed at improving credit ratings by disputing errors and outdated claims with credit bureaus. | - |
| Cryptocurrency | Digital asset recognized as a medium of exchange, unit of account and/or store of value that employs blockchain technology and cryptography to submit, authenticate, and verify Transactions. | - |
| Debt repayment (past due or defaulted) | A company collecting payment of overdue debt. Examples include: payment to a collection agency, factoring company, liquidator, or insolvency practitioner/lawyer. | 7322 |
| Door-to-door sales | Unsolicited individual (who may go from door to door) selling goods and/or services with immediate payment expected. Examples include: magazine subscriptions, satellite dish sales, security systems, and solar panels. | 5963 |
| Escort services | A business, agency, or person who, for a fee, provides or offers to provide a companion. | - |
| Foreign exchange | A business or financial institution that has the legal right to exchange one currency for another currency. Examples include: airport kiosk bank. | 6051 |
| The wagering of money or something of value on an event with an uncertain outcome, with the primary intent of winning money or material goods. Examples include: - Regulated (real money) betting, including casino, poker, sports betting, lottery tickets -Advance-deposit wagering, including horse/dog racing - Fantasy sports - Skill-based, pay-to-play games that award monetary prizes - Games of chance that are not free to enter and award monetary prizes - Government-owned and other lotteries - Gambling chips - Gambling credits | 7800 7802 7995 9406 | |
| Indirect acceptor models | A payment intermediary that contracts with American Express to facilitate payments to multiple, eligible third-party End Beneficiaries. The Indirect Acceptor accepts the Card, but does not send Card information to the End Beneficiary and pays eligible End Beneficiaries using another method, such as bank transfer, check, or wire. Examples include: - Digital Wallet Operator offering any of the following payment functionality to allow Cardmembers to make purchases or transfer funds through one or more methods: - Staged Back-to-Back Transaction - Peer to Peer (P2P) Transaction - Stored Value Transaction (sometimes called Top Up) - Bill Payment Provider - Marketplaces - Installment Payment Transactions (sometimes called Buy Now Pay Later) (that do not meet the eligibility requirements set forth in Chapter 8, "Specific Industries"). | - |
| Investments | A purchase made for speculative purposes, or with the intent of future profit or appreciation. Examples include, but are not limited to, securities (stocks, bonds, commodities, and mutual funds), wine with delivery that exceeds one (1) year from purchase, investment on futures, and equity crowdfunding. | - |
| Licensed insolvency practitioners | A professional intermediary in insolvency procedures. | - |
| Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts (including "branded" Central Reservation Services) | Branded lodging establishments (e.g., Best Western, Hilton, Marriott). | 3501-3999 |
| Marijuana-related businesses | Any individual or entity that manufactures, processes, distributes, or dispenses marijuana, or byproducts or derivatives of marijuana, whether for recreational or medicinal purposes, and whether or not subject to a governmental licensing regime. | - |
| Multi-level marketing / pyramid selling (also referred to as Direct Marketing – Inbound/Outbound Telemarketing) | Merchants that are otherwise not eligible to be assigned MCC 5969 and are engaging in (i) direct marketing employing both outbound and/or inbound methods, and/or (ii) any form of multi-level marketing or pyramid selling. In outbound telemarketing, the merchant initiates contact with potential customers via telephone or mailing, while inbound marketing involves selling information, content services, or goods accessible to customers via telephone, fax, or online channels. This is also inclusive of a sales system that uses one or more of the following practices: - Individuals participating in the marketing or selling campaign pay money for the right to receive compensation for recruiting new participants. - A participant in the marketing or selling campaign is required to buy a specific quantity of products, other than at cost price for the purpose of advertising, before the participant is allowed to join the plan or advance within the plan. - A participant in the marketing or selling campaign is knowingly engaged in selling commercially unreasonable quantities of the product or products (this practice is called inventory loading). - A participant in the marketing or selling campaign is not allowed to return products on reasonable commercial terms. | 5966 5967 |
| Online adult entertainment | A business or entity that provides internet adult digital content. | - |
| Payday lending | A company that lends customers money at high interest rates on the agreement that the loan will be repaid when the borrower receives their next pay check. | - |
| Person-to-Person Payments | A service that allows customers to transfer funds from their bank account or credit card to another individual's account via the Internet or a mobile device. | 6538 |
| Postal Services – Government Only | Government-owned postal offices that provide a variety of services such as accepting and processing packages and mail for delivery and selling postage stamps. | 9402 |
| Prostitution | A person or business providing sexual services in return for payment. | - |
| Real Estate Down Payments | An initial payment when the real estate is purchased on credit. | 6012 6051 |
| Steamships & cruise lines (incl. onboard cruise shops) | Steamship and cruise line merchants. | 4411 |
| Telemarketing – travel related | A business that telemarkets travel related products or services or other travel arrangements. | 5962 |
| Timeshares | Selling partial ownership of a property for use as a holiday home, whereby a Cardmember can buy the rights to use the property for the same fixed period annually. | 7012 |
| Virtual currency | Digital money not authorized or adopted by a government. Issued and controlled by its developers and used and accepted among members of a specific virtual community. | 6051 |
| Wire transfers in-person (not online) | A business that specializes in the transfer of money from one location to another. | 4829 |
Updated 21 days ago