Hi all,
Just have a question in regards to a $5,000 transaction incurring a 5% Amex fee.
Would just like to know if this fee would be worth it points wise? Or not to bother? We got the card to help us get points for our honeymoon and am using it on most transactions however haven’t been hit with a 5% fee before - normally at 2% or similar. So just wanted to get some opinions before purchasing.
Not worth it in my books.
Assuming it’s earning Amex points at 2 pt per $, $5000 earns you 10,000 Amex points, which converts to 5,000 Velocity points or 3,333 Krisflyer miles.
Paying 5% fee means paying $250 for the above points.
Works out to be 5 cents per point (cpp) for Velocity or 7.5cpp for Krisflyer.
There will be very little chance of you redeeming 5-7.5cpp on a flight, even if you use the full costs of the premium cabin flight.
If you are willing to pay 5% consistently, it’s better off paying for your flights. Heck, even buying points/miles is cheaper. How to buy a Velocity Points Booster - Point Hacks
On another note, I’m interested to find out who has the gall to charge 5% fee? Would you be able to share the vendor?
It’s a private accomodation site on the mid north coast. We were going to go through Airbnb but through their site it was cheaper.
This would be a one off payment. Would hopefully not pay this high of a fee again aha. We are going to America so was going to use it for whatever flights we could or accom when over there.
Thankyou for your response! Quite helpful 
I believe it is actually illegal to charge more than what the business itself is being charged.
The ACCC website seems to confirm this but unfortunately it looks like AMEX isn’t covered! Thats disappointing. 
Yeah I thought it was quite high. I’ve asked the same question on a Facebook group and one of the comments I’ve received states that Amex are exempt for whatever reason! Unfortunate. And annoying.
I actually thought about this hence asked about the vendor. Nothing the toothless tiger can do especially if it’s not a vendor that has a Aussie presence.
Nonetheless, it’s interesting the ban on excessive charges just covers Eftpos, master & visa.
Saw this new article pop up and thought of your question.
That’s an interesting website. Thank you for the share.