Shopping Cart and ECommerce Software
Solutions from PDG Software, Inc.^®

The following communication was sent from PayPal regarding merchants that currently process American Express payments. Details for accommodating for this change can be found at the bottom of this post.

What’s Changing

PayPal and American Express have entered into a new agreement that will take effect July 2010. As part of this agreement, Website Payments Pro and Virtual Terminal US merchants that desire to continue accepting American Express will need to log into their PayPal accounts to accept American Express terms, or else lose the ability to take American Express payments. Also, merchants processing via Website Payments Pro or Virtual Terminal in certain business categories (listed below) will not be able to continue accepting American Express in July 2010. Merchants within these restricted categories will need to apply and process through American Express directly. ***Please note that merchants within restricted categories currently account for less than 1% of merchants utilizing Website Payments Pro/Virtual Terminal.

Integration Considerations

To support Website Payments Pro merchants that elect not to accept American Express after July 2010, please ensure the following:

· Be sure your merchants can indicate whether or not they accept American Express within your cart configuration.

Merchants that do not accept American Express will need payment flows that:
Do not display American Express logos on the website
Do not offer American Express as a payment option in the checkout flow
Remove American Express as a payment option for Virtual Terminal integrations
If the merchant has elected not to accept Amex, yet the card type is available for buyer selection within the checkout flow, the buyer will receive an error message stating the merchant does not accept this card type.

Restricted Business Categories

· Airlines & Air Carriers

· Bail and Bond Payments

· Direct Marketing – Inbound Telemarketing (internet – electronic delivery internet – adult entertainment internet – online gambling)

· Court Costs

· Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies

· Debt Collection Agencies

· Financial Institutions – Automated Cash Disbursements

· Financial Institutions – Merchandise & Services

· Fines

· Railroads (freight)

· Betting & Gambling (including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting and wagers at race tracks)

· Government Service

· Local & Suburban Commuter Passenger Transportation

· Massage parlors

· Non-financial Institutions – foreign currency, money orders (not wire transfer), script, and travelers’ checks

· Passenger Railways

· Petroleum & Petroleum Products (wholesalers)

· Postal Services – Government

· Securities – Brokers & Dealers

· Dating & Escort Services, Strippers (i.e., anything sexually explicit; payment of potentially sexually related services)

· Tax Payments

· Timeshares

· Tolls & Bridge Fees

· Wire Transfers & Money Orders

Thank you.

For both PDG Shopping Cart and PDG Commerce merchants that no longer wish to accept American Express payments, this change can easily be performed by modifying the “Verify.html” template being used for your PDG storefront. This template, also referred to as the “payment” template, contains an HTML select box that allows the user to specify their card type. Removing American Express is as simple as locating the entry within the select box and deleting it as an option. Merchants with a current Premium Support contracts or merchants who would like to pay a $50.00 ‘per incident’ support fee may contact PDG Software’s technical support team in order to have American Express removed as an option.

For merchants that plan to continue accepting American Express payments via PayPal, please be sure to follow the steps above in order to maintain this capability within your PayPal account. No changes are required within your PDG storefront once you have performed the steps required in order to update your PayPal account.