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We don’t take Amex

Here, in South East Asia, you will commonly be charged 3% extra when paying by credit card. This appears silly, keeping in mind that bargaining is part of many cultures of the area. Three percent is such a small amount after all, but it is annoying to be punished for using the card. I would imagine that the possibility to use credit cards increases the amount tourists spend and therefore the vendors should think of the 3% as part of their marketing costs and include it in the price. Normal tourists – I’m not talking about Russian money launderers – do not walk around with enough cash for ad hoc spending sprees.

American Express cards are usually refused completely. I find it quite embarrassing to be frowned upon when I wave my expensive Platinum Card. What makes it even worse is that many stores display the Amex sticker on the door to pull in customers, but don’t accept the card at check out.

amex

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 16:06 and is filed under Shopping, Travelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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