ExpressPay Acceptance: Technical Guidelines for Merchants and No-Signature Policy

Technical Requirements:

• Only certified contactless readers may be used to accept ExpressPay.
• The merchant must be enabled to accept American Express transactions with an active American Express 10-digit merchant account number.
• Merchants must pass unedited track one and/or track two data as part of the authorization request. ExpressPay transactions are processed just like magnetic stripe transactions, in that no additional data elements are passed to the American Express host system.
• ExpressPay transactions must be submitted as swiped transactions, rather than manually keyed.
• CID prompt must be suppressed for all ExpressPay transactions, as ExpressPay does not support this functionality. ExpressPay already has a built-in security feature: transactions are protected by a unique cryptogram that generates a digital signature for each transaction, ensuring the integrity of ExpressPay transactions and minimizing the risk of fraud.

Technical Recommendations:

• Both magstripe and ExpressPay transactions should be integrated with the POS to eliminate double entry of the transaction amount by the cashier (please note that stand alone readers can support this).

ExpressPay and Magstripe: No-Signature Policy

For merchants accepting ExpressPay, signature requirements follow the same rules as traditional magstripe acceptance. Signatures are not required for transactions under $25 for magstripe or contactless transactions in the following industries:

4111 Local Commuter/Passenger Transport
4121 Taxi Companies, Limo
5499 Convenience Store
5814 Fast Food Restaurants
5912 Drug Store/Pharmacy
7523 Parking lot/Garages
7832 Movie Theater

Note: MCC codes subject to change. Refer to most recent American Express Policy Mailings for updated information.
Exceptions may apply.