How to boost your Amex spend by using PayPal for online purchases – like BA First Class crockery

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• Baji Nahid says:

  28 Nov28 November 05:18

  I buy from a lot of obscure retailers that dont take Amex, so paying with Amex/Paypal is really a god send. (Looking at you tefal).

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Nov28 November 18:06

    While Tefal might not cause an issue buyer beware there is next to no protection with buying via PayPal

• Mouse says:

  28 Nov28 November 05:27

  My experience of PayPal Buyer Protection was not good. Many emails and phone calls over two months to get my money back from a supplier who failed to send my order. Would recommend only using PayPal when you know and trust the supplier.

  • BuildTheWall says:

    28 Nov28 November 07:07

    Agreed. PayPal most often side with the retailer and ignore the arguments from customers.

    • meta says:

      28 Nov28 November 07:30

      +1
      During pandemic they are even worse. It’s hard to reach a human to deal with. A few years back they were fair, but since they introduced bots to deal with disputes it’s been a nightmare. I try to avoid it now. There is no S75 protection either.

    • Lady London says:

      28 Nov28 November 14:57

      +1 they have a really bad rep for that. But to be fair to them it seems to be more due to poor training, absence of suitable procedure, and English comprehesion skills than actually wanting not to be helpful.

  • Bigmaggot says:

    28 Nov28 November 07:26

    Agreed, avoid PayPal please at all costs! Any issues you will get burnt!

    • planeconcorde says:

      28 Nov28 November 07:49

      +1

    • Jimbo says:

      28 Nov28 November 08:23

      Agree!

  • Craig says:

    28 Nov28 November 07:34

    +1, dreadful when it goes wrong.

  • Jon says:

    28 Nov28 November 07:41

    Not my experience with PayPal. Their resolution times are long, but then if you have been through a dispute with Amex, they will tell you it can take weeks too (about a month last time I did it). As for siding with the retailer, the onus is on the retailer to prove that goods were delivered. If a retailer goes radio silent then it will take a long time as PayPal have long timeouts in their dispute resolution process. So I think Amex manage it better and have a lovely call centre who are super-friendly, whereas PayPal prefer automation.

    • KBuffett says:

      28 Nov28 November 08:04

      The issue is that there isn’t a signature requirement due to Covid, so the buyer is more than likely to fail to win any dispute.

    • meta says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:46

      @Jon the issue is that retailers can provide any fake tracking number for any item and dispute is closed in retailer’s favour. I had it happened to me back in Spring. Never using Paypal again.

      You can pay on Ebay directly with the card, no need for Paypal. And elsewhere half of retailers who say that they don’t take an Amex, actually do. Just put in the first three Amex security numbers in CVV and it will usually pass.

      • The real John says:

        29 Nov29 November 17:37

        Sellers could put a fake tracking number on ebay too.

  • Jonathan says:

    28 Nov28 November 07:55

    The sooner eBay get rid of them the better. I sometimes sell stuff there, and they must charge about 10x times the amount it costs them to process a transaction. That plus you’ll get charged if the customer wants to cancel their purchase when they’ve already paid you !

    • KBuffett says:

      28 Nov28 November 08:08

      Don’t eBay own PayPal (or vice versa)?

      • BSI1978 says:

        28 Nov28 November 08:26

        Not any longer, spun out a while back so technically separate entities albeit would imagine there’s a degree of common ownership.

      • Jonathan says:

        28 Nov28 November 08:33

        That ended in 2014. They announced in January 2018 that PayPal wasn’t going to be the main preferred choice for payments

        When it happens is a different matter, and it could’ve been eBay US, not eBay UK, which are technically different websites, a bit similar to Amazon US and Amazon UK being in nearly the exact same position, those are just examples, it applies to all countries both companies operate in

        • The real John says:

          29 Nov29 November 17:39

          Many UK ebay business sellers have already been forced onto Adyen, it’s not necessarily better for all sellers and adyen don’t accept payments in several categories that are popular on ebay so not sure how they will deal with that.

          If you pay on ebay with your CC directly it may already be going through adyen rather than paypal

• Andrew Lockhart says:

  28 Nov28 November 06:01

  I think you need to be careful here. I seem to remember that if you pay for things via PayPal you don’t get the usual credit card protections if a retailer goes bankrupt and doesn’t deliver the service you paid for.

  • Jonathan says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:36

    Rob has mentioned above about when things don’t go as planned that legal options are much more limited

  • Alex W says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:08

    It literally says that in the article.

• James says:

  28 Nov28 November 07:13

  Slow news day? Lol

• Jimbo says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:24

  It’s same old tat restocked. No chance to buy FIRST tea service in full.

  • Polly says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:27

    Bought a set of F tea cups and saucers late last night. And more flutes.

    • Alex Sm says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:05

      OMG, it’s dirt cheap! Will make great Christmas stockings fillers. Going to shop at once! Paying with PayPal of course!

• Julian says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:44

  Some retailers who offer payment by Paypal have ticked a box that tells Paypal not to offer Paypal as a payment option.

  Unless things have changed the last time I checked British Airways flights website was one of the quite small number of retailers who accept payment by Paypal where Paypal won’t let you select payment by Amex but will let you select Visa or Mastercard.
  On the other hand strangely BA does offer Amex as an option to pay them directly. So can only presume accepting Amex via Paypal costs BA more given the clearly close relationship between BA and Amex over the two credit cards they offer with them.

  I have come across several other firms selling online that take Paypal where the Amex option was not offered but British Airways is the only really major one that is firmly lodged in my brain……..

  • Julian says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:49

    Sorry I meant the retailers have ticked a box telling Paypal not to offer Amex as a payment option as this option with Paypal clearly does exist, I can only assume because Amex costs the retailer more to take than Visa or Mastercard even if the extra is not very much.

    Clearly Amex don’t charge some very big firms that much more than Visa or Mastercard if they negotiate or Lidl and Aldi would not now be accepting it but some firms like B&Q, B&M Stores and Saga Motor Insurance have such an ingrained prejudice against Amex from the past that they don’t even seem prepared to even try renegotiating with them.

    I believe Amex is also known for being quite a tardy settler of payments due to merchants compared to Visa or Mastercard and can keep them waiting for many weeks or months. Several small retailers who don’t take Amex any more but once did have mentioned this as their experience of Amex to me.

    • RussellH says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:14

      Unless things have changed significantly, the normal time for Visa/MCard payments to appear in my bank a/c was two days; for Amex it was three days. Not really significant.

      The difference is in how the card fees are handled. Visa/MCard credit you with the full value of the transaction, then you get a bill for all the card fees at the end of the month. Amex deduct the card fee from each transaction before paying you.

• Keiths says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:08

  Niave question here.
  If I pay a sole trader for a service, by Amex via paypal, are there any charges for either me or the sole trader?
  If I pay them £10k will they receive £10k?

  • Alex says:

    28 Nov28 November 09:40

    If they send you an invoice then it’ll cost them money, 2.9% I think, but won’t cost you anything. This will also give you PayPal protection.

    If you send the money as family and friend, you get no protection and I don’t think you can use amex, must be a bank transfer. Although I’m not 100% sure on that last bit.

    • DANi says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:09

      Believe it or not, you can use an amex to pay a friend…I pay rent directly and pay as a friend, billing it to my amex.

      Paypal take the hit…

      • John says:

        28 Nov28 November 10:18

        And the sole traders account gets closed for violating t&cs

    • Polly says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:30

      Yes same w my daughter, plenty of options to use amex already.

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:06

    If you mark it as ‘paying friends and family’, no. If you mark it as ‘paying for a product or service’ then yes. You only get Paypal protection on the latter though.

• Claire says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:09

  I think my husband will love the 6 x first class tea cups and saucers I got for £5 as he is a flying nut. Christmas sorted 😉 the champagne flutes will work out well as he can pretend he has just boarded a flight and the starter plates are going to be great with prawn cocktail on Christmas day – very happy customer (assuming they arrive ofcourse ….)

  • Andrew says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:03

    The champagne “flutes” are the micro ones they use in Club which hold a mouthful for champagne – good for parties I guess as your bottles last longer! How did you get tea cups and saucers for £5? The saucers are £5 and the cups are £25?

    • Alex Sm says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:07

      It’s still very cheap! Now I understand why a lovely lady in Club World so easily gave me a cup last year. It’s £1.20, cheaper than IKEA

    • Claire says:

      28 Nov28 November 13:52

      OMG you are right, what an idiot I am – hubby here are 6 useless saucers for Christmas but they are BA first class lol In the photos it showed the teacup too so I made a stupid assumption. Thanks for letting me know. I flew Club Sep 2018 and was happy with the champagne flute, would that have been the same one?

      • Andrew says:

        28 Nov28 November 14:09

        Yes you’ll need to order the set of teacups to accompany the saucers. And I think they may have changed the Club World glasses now to a more normal size now, but the ones for sale are certainly the ones they use in Club Europe and World Traveller Plus.

    • Polly says:

      28 Nov28 November 23:48

      They separated the cups from the saucers during the night l think. Definitely sold together when l ordered just before midnight. Checked my order after reading Claire’s info, and l have the full set , 6 of each..well, Hope l have.

      • Claire says:

        29 Nov29 November 07:46

        1 x 380@EC2012@A+ – William Edwards First Tea Cup Saucer (Set of 6)

        Thats how it shows on the invoice. I thought it was cups & saucers at the time but i’m not sure now .. Polly did you pay £5 for the set?

      • Andrew says:

        29 Nov29 November 10:27

        I ordered within an hour of the sale going live – saucers separate from tea cups. Nothing has changed since then – they are separate items and you need to buy 6 or each if you want a set. The saucers are incredibly cheap compared to the side plates which are the same size. But really – 6 bone china cups and saucers for £5?!

        • Claire says:

          29 Nov29 November 18:34

          Rob has said they had made errors ie dinner plates for £5 – I thought it was like that .. also are these items used or brand new?

        • Andrew says:

          29 Nov29 November 22:44

          The dinner plates were the only error. And yes everything is brand new, in factory packaging.

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