author: Kathy

If you have ever noticed, we have an "American Express Customer" warning in the payment section of our new account signup form:

And, if you login to your Doteasy Member Zone and click on the Change Credit Card function, you will see this:

In fact, one of the questions our Customer Service and Billing Department get all the time is "why can't we process charges to Amex in US dollars?"

So why can’t we process transactions to your Amex in US dollars?

It’s because of Section 3a in the Terms and Conditions for American Express Card Acceptance.

Currency and Charge Submissions. Your Establishments in Canada must submit Charges and Credits in Canadian dollars. Your Establishments in the U.S, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories must submit Charges and Credits in U.S. dollars.

Because our establishment is in Canada, any transaction requests we send to AMEX must be in Canadian dollars.

In other words, we as merchants need to treat all AMEX cards the same, regardless if it’s a Foreign Currency AMEX or a Canadian AMEX – we can only process charges in Canadian dollars.

As an Internet merchant, we advertise our prices in US rates. Upon the presentation of an AMEX at checkout, we will auto-convert the purchase amount from US dollars to Canadian dollars. American Express will then take care of the currency re-conversion for you, the cardholder.

For more information on Foreign Charges and currency conversion policies on your AMEX, please refer to the Foreign Charges section of your AMEX Cardmember Agreement.

I have just called AMEX Canada and they have re-confirmed this policy is still in effect and there are no foreseeable changes at this time. The last time we called them about this was a couple years ago.

So, if you do not want your Doteasy hosting charges to be affected by an currency conversion rates, we strongly recommend that you use a VISA or a MasterCard and make sure you have selected the US Currency billing option. If you have any questions, you can contact us via this link.