1. American Express Opt Blue
Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time out of your schedules today to join us for this training. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Danielle Rourke and am our Vice President of Business Development. Also on the call is Josh Herrick, our Sales Support Manager. The presentation itself is going to be very short so we have plenty of time for questions. Please type in any questions that you have to the bottom right hand panel of the GoToMeeting pane and we will read them at the end.
presented by: Danielle Rourke

2. OptBlue Training Overview ESA vs OptBlue New Pricing Structure
Merchant Eligibility
Today we are going to give a quick overview of ESA vs OptBlue, the new pricing structure, merchant eligibility, and the way OptBlue info appears on the statement.
One Statement (two deposits)

3. ESA
OptBlue vs
Two statements Fees charged directly by American Express Typically a higher fee structure Deposit times not always the same as the other card brands
One Statement Fees charged by Nationwide Lower fee structure for most merchants Still two separate debits and deposits, but deposited same day as Visa/MasterCard/Bankcard Discover
So with the American Express ESA program, a merchant got two statements (one from us and one directly from American Express), the fees charged were typically a little bit higher, and the deposit times were slower than the other card brands. American Express did speed up their settlement times recently for the ESA program, but we don’t have confirmation that this is happening for all merchants.
With OptBlue, the merchants have American Express transaction data on our statement, their fees are charged by Nationwide, and there is a lower fee structure for most merchants. There are still two separate debits and deposits, but the deposit time is the same as Visa/MasterCard/Bankcard Discover.

4. ESA
Rates
Where do they order this?

5. OptBlue Pricing Structure
Pass through Fees: 0.25% Network Participation Fee, 0.30% Card Not Present Fee, 0.40% Inbound Fee (non US issued cards)

6. Eligible merchants, per American Express:
Merchant Eligibility
Merchants boarded on the Nationwide (TPS) network not currently enrolled in ESA
Eligible merchants, per American Express:
Exclusions
Under $1 million in annual American Express Charge Volume
Located in the U.S., but not Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, or any other U.S. territory or possession
Transact in USD only
Prohibited industries (listed in American Express Program Operating Regulations)
Franchises
Existing American Express PSP relationships

7. Caterers/Drinking Places
Merchant Categories
Merchants will be classified under one of the following industry categories:
Retail
Restaurant
Service
Caterers/Drinking Places
Mail Order/eCommerce
Healthcare
B2B / Wholesale
T&E
Lodging
Other

8. Online Merchant Statement

9. Printed Merchant Statement
Where do they order this?

10. Equipment Compatibility

11. Remaining Phases of Roll Out
Global, TSYS, & Paymentech Networks
Existing American Express ESA acceptors
Unfortunately we do not have an ETA at this time

12. Do an analysis
The marketing campaign for OptBlue out there is heavy and aggressive. We encourage you to do a full analysis for each merchant who comes to you being quoted OptBlue rates. We have had several instances where merchants saved very little money (we did have a merchant who will pay more with OptBlue rates). We also found out that the monitoring of the 1million threshold on ESA was basically non existent. Due to the lost profit margin, American Express is monitoring this threshold every 30 days and taking accounts that process 1 million or more as direct amex accounts. We had a very large account that we almost lost, and when we went to Amex for special pricing, they advised us this merchant will be taken and boarded on Amex direct within 30 days of OptBlue. Their rate is going to be higher with Amex direct than it is with ESA. Amex recommended this merchant stay on ESA as long as possible.