You should bite the bullet and sign up for American Express acceptance. If nobody uses it, it doesn’t cost you a penny. Then, if a customer only has that card, you can readily accept it and have another happy customer.
I take V/MC, AmEx & Discover at my store. I also accepted Diners Club when it was a stand-alone card. Several years ago, IBM changed from AmEx to Diners for their corporate card. Having a large IBM facility as a rather large customer was always a plus for me and the idea of not being able to accept their cards was never an option. I called my processor and had Diners Club acceptance within a couple of days. Didn’t cost me anything if they didn’t use it, but it was a plus if they did.
We are in a location with a large office/manufacturing/warehouse district within 2 miles of my store. I do a lot of large orders with these businesses and it’s always a plus when I tell them I accept AmEx. In January & February of 2008, I have done $3500 in AmEx alone. Would they have ordered from me if I didn’t accept AmEx? Possibly not, if that was
the only company card available.
Just another way to be one up on your competition in my opinion.