Accepting American Express

In this Article:

• OptBlue® From American Express
• For Existing Amex Direct Merchants
• Reporting

OptBlue® From American Express

OptBlue is an American Express (Amex) program that enables you to process American Express Cards through Toast with consolidated statements and fast deposits. With the OptBlue Program, you get:

• Seamless setup: No further setup is required! Amex transactions will be processed through your Toast account, and you will no longer need an Amex account. You do not need to notify Amex of the change.
• One deposit, one statement, one support contact: All transactions, no matter what card brand, will be consolidated into your Toast statement and delivered to your settlement account in one easy deposit. Should you ever have any Amex questions, Toast Customer Care is here for you.
• Consolidated chargebacks: Amex chargebacks will now be processed and can be disputed with Toast exactly as Visa/Mastercard/Discover chargebacks

In order to be eligible for the OptBlue Program, you must be a small business that is estimated to process under $1MM in annual American Express Charge Volume and located in the U.S. only, and transact in USD†.

For Existing Amex Direct Merchants

Merchants that have direct relationships with American Express will be provided with an existing American Express merchant ID to enable acceptance of American Express Cards.

If you do not know your American Express merchant number, please follow the steps outlined below: 
 

1. Gather the following:
   • DBA - "doing business as"
   • EIN - Employer Identification Number
   • Legal business name
   • Business address
   • Phone number
   • Owner's information (name, birthday, home address)
   • Banking information
2. Contact American Express at (800) 528-5200
   • You MUST be the business owner to obtain the Merchant ID
   • The call should only take 10-15 minutes
3. Email your Merchant ID to Toast.
   • Once you have your Amex Merchant ID, email it to .

You can expect to begin processing Amex cards within 2-3 business days after submitting your Merchant ID to Toast.

Reporting

In addition to monthly credit card processing statements, you can view Amex transactions in the Deposit Totals Overview report in Toast Web - the same report you normally use to view all of your V/M/D transactions.

When you use OptBlue, the Deposit Totals Overview report presents a single total for all of your credit card payments, refunds, fees, and the net deposit to your account. The report also consolidates the Visa/MasterCard/Discover section and the American Express section.

Similarly, the Settled Deposits Daily Breakdown report now includes columns for total payments, refunds, fees, and net deposits by default.

To see totals for Visa/Mastercard/Discover separately from American Express, you can use the Show/Hide columns option near the top of the report to add more columns.

For example, you can include columns for the number of credit card payments (# V/MC/D Payments and # Amex Payments) and the credit card payment amounts (V/MC/D Payments and Amex Payments).

^†Terms of individual OptBlue Participant Program Agreements may vary.