You might take card payments from customers in a number ways: in person, online, over the phone or by mail order.

It's important that you and your employees can recognise an American Express Card when presented with one. Even though there are several different types of Card, each one has the following security features:

• Card account numbers begin with "34" or "37" and consist of 15 digits in a four-six-five formation. The digits are embossed.
• Card Identifier Digits (CID) is a four-digit security code printed on the front of the Card, above the account number.

For all In Person Charges, the Card must be presented and you must follow the Card acceptance steps outlined in your Terms and Conditions for Card Acceptance; and obtain an authorisation.

You must not accept a Card that is visibly altered or damaged, or presented by anyone other than the Card member (Cards are not transferable), and if a transaction is declined, you must notify the Card member immediately.

If you do business online, over the phone or by mail order, you can find procedures for Card Not Present Charges in your Terms and Conditions for Card Acceptance.

The number of working days before you receive payment will depend on your individual payment plan. Please refer to your Terms and Conditions for Card Acceptance for details. To avoid any delay in receiving your payment, you should follow these guidelines:

• Transactions submitted after 9pm will be processed on the following working day
• Transactions submitted on non-working days such as Bank Holidays or weekends will be processed on the next working day. Please remember to exclude Bank Holidays and weekends when calculating when you expect to receive your payment
• If your point of sale terminal requires manual reconciliation, please ensure this is completed correctly otherwise payment may be subject to delay
• If you use a third party submission processor and have experienced an unexpected delay in receiving your payment, please check with your processor prior to contacting American Express. Any delay associated with your processor may impact when you receive your payment.

The easiest way to do this is by managing your merchant account online and get notifications when your e-statement is ready to be viewed, however we understand that some merchants prefer to receive paper copies of their statements instead.

Your statement will show the transactions you have submitted to us and the payments we have processed directly into your designated bank account.

Just to remind you, the Discount Rate is the amount we charge your business for accepting the Card which is a which is a percentage of the face amount of the transaction on the Card. This is applied to all payments or purchases made using an American Express Card.

Your Discount Rate can be found in the application form accompanying your Terms and Conditions for Card Acceptance, or alternatively in your agreement confirmation letter where applicable. If you've registered your merchant account online, you'll find your Discount Rate is shown here, and also on paper statements too.

Before your first transaction, test your terminal to make sure it's working properly and you're able to accept American Express Cards.

You will need to complete a test transaction, however this won't affect your end of day reconciliation and we won't credit or debit the amount that you enter.

We have instructions for a range of terminals. Simply locate the one you need, download the PDF, go to the "test transaction" section and follow the steps. If the test transaction doesn't work you will need to complete the earlier step(s) shown in the guide.

If your terminal isn't listed here or if you need any further help, please call us on 0800 032 7216

In order to view PDF documents, you will need to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer, tablet or mobile device.

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