Amex Card Not Present Fee Explained (Amex CNP Surcharge)

Do you see an AMEX CNP FEE or American Express Card Not Present Fee on your merchant account statement? If you’re not sure what this means, you’ve come to the right place.

We’ll explain everything you need to know about the Amex Card Not Present surcharge—including how much it costs and if your business is being charged properly.

What is the Amex Card Not Present Surcharge Fee?

The Amex CNP surcharge is a network assessment fee—meaning it’s initiated at the card network level by American Express, charged to payment processors, and then passed along to the merchants.

It’s a 0.30% fee assessed for each card not present transaction that’s processed using an American Express credit card. 

The term “card not present” is used loosely here, and it can actually apply to several different scenarios (including ones where the card is technically present at the point of sale). Amex considers all of the following to be a “non-swipe” or “card not present” transaction:

• An ecommerce transaction or online purchase
• Card on file, subscription, and recurring billing transactions
• Card details being manually entered into a POS system or virtual terminal
• Payments accepted over the phone

While Amex uses the terms “CNP” and “non-swipe” interchangeably for this particular assessment fee, it’s worth noting that all in-person “dip” and “tap” payments are omitted from the charge. So you shouldn’t be charged the Amex CNP surcharge on any of your in-person contactless transactions—including those made via smartphones and wearables. 

How to Find the Amex CNP Fee On Your Statement

Most merchant account statements contain dozens of different line items with varying codes and numbers, which often makes it difficult to spot certain charges. The name of the fee itself might vary as well, depending on the processor you’re using. 

For example, some statements may say AMEX CNP while others say American Express Card Not Present Surcharge. Other processors may use another variation. 

Here’s one that we found on a statement from Global Payments where the fee is labeled GP FEE – AMEX CNP.

This specific scenario, the “GP FEE” is short for “Global Payments Fee.” Because technically, Amex charges the fee directly to the processor (in this case Global Payments), and then the processor passes it along to the merchant. 

On this particular statement, we see that Global Payments has the Amex CNP surcharge billed at a 0.3000 discount rate—which is the same as 0.30% (the correct amount). 

There were 26 transactions that qualified for the Amex CNP surcharge, totaling $12,390.50. Here’s the math:

$12,390.50 x 0.30% = $37.17

And if we look at the far right line item highlighted on the statement above, we can see that this was billed correctly to the merchant. 

Believe it or not, this isn’t always the case. Some payment processors inflate or “pad” assessment fees to turn a higher profit. While it didn’t happen in this particular situation, Global Payments is actually one of the processors that we’ve caught padding assessments in the past. You can refer to our Global Payments review to see a real-world example, which can help you spot similar offenses on your own statement. 

If you see this fee on your statement and it’s higher than 0.30% it means your processor is overcharging you. This is a red flag, and it should be addressed immediately. 

Our team here at Merchant Cost Consulting can help you spot other overages and padded assessments on your statement. Just reach out for a free audit and consultation if you have any questions. 

You can also use the most up-to-date tables on our Amex interchange rates page and compare those against the rates listed on your monthly merchant statements. 

Does Every Business Have to Pay the Amex Card Not Present Fee?

Like all network assessment fees imposed by the card networks, the Amex CNP surcharge is non-negotiable. So if you accept American Express cards through any means that are not in-person via swipe, dip, or tap, then those transactions will be assessed the American Express Card Not Present Fee.

However, not every processor passes this fee along to the merchant. It depends on the processor and the structure of your merchant agreement. 

Generally speaking, it’s a good sign if you see the Amex CNP fee on your statement. It typically means that you’re on an interchange plus pricing plan and that your processor is being transparent about the fees you’re paying.

But some processors bundle all network assessments into a single line item, which makes it much more difficult to understand what you’re paying—and it could be a sign that your assessment fees are inflated or padded.

You won’t see this fee on your statement if you’re on a qualified, bundled, tiered, or flat-rate pricing structure. In these instances, your processor charges a fixed fee for every transaction, and that fee covers all of the interchange rates and assessments. But it also includes a hefty processor markup, which is why we advise against it. 

If you’re not currently on an interchange plus plan, I strongly recommend switching to one. And you probably won’t have to switch processors to do so (and we rarely think it’s a good idea to switch processors). 

Instead, you just need to re-negotiate your contract structure with your current processor. This is something our team here at MCC can help you with as well.