Where to Use Amex in Belgium, and Where It Is Still Refused

An American Express works in the big retailers the bank names and on most online shops, but no Belgian merchant has to accept it, and Amex itself writes that acceptance is not guaranteed in franchised outlets. No public, dated list says where it works today.

I found none.

Amex says everywhere, names Delhaize and dates its figures to 2021

On its « Où utiliser ma Carte » page, Amex Belgium writes: « Votre Carte American Express® est acceptée en ligne, au coin de votre rue et dans le monde entier » (your card is accepted online, around the corner and worldwide). The page highlights AVA and H&M, announces a growing network, then points at the bottom to a note setting the reference period: between January 2021 and December 2021, for acceptance in general and for hospitality, retail and distribution. No percentage goes with it.

A page read in October 2026 that relies on 2021 without publishing a single figure does not say whether the Belgian network is dense or sparse. That is thin. I do not know whether the figure is missing because it flatters little or because it summarises badly, and nothing on the page settles it.

Two warnings close the page. The first says coverage information is given « à titre indicatif uniquement » and is « sujettes à modifications régulières » (for guidance only, subject to regular change). The second is one line:

« L'acceptation de la Carte n'est pas garantie dans les établissements franchisés. » (Acceptance of the card is not guaranteed in franchised establishments.)

The Green and Gold pages, re-read the same day, speak of « plus en plus de magasins » (more and more shops) and name Delhaize, Ikea, Decathlon, Mango, Zalando, Multipharma and Amazon. The Gold adds Uber, Netflix and Amazon Prime, and both announce contactless up to €50, a ceiling our guide to contactless payment puts in context. Our page on the Amex range and its fees repeats these retailers without saying how many there are either.

None of these sources puts a number on the network.

This silence has a practical consequence for anyone comparing. A cardholder who reads « around the corner » cannot tell whether their bakery, neighbourhood pharmacy or morning café is part of it, and the page gives no way to check before reaching the till. A national retailer named in the shop window is not a commitment for each of its outlets either, and I found no sentence anywhere that says so. In the table below, I therefore separated what each document states from what it does not document.

Delhaize is on the list, and Delhaize is a network of franchisees

On 7 March 2023, Delhaize's management decided to franchise all 128 of its integrated supermarkets. A year later, L'Avenir counted 45 stores already converted, 636 others long operating under franchise, and placed the end of the process in September or October 2024. I found no confirmation that this deadline was met.

Set Amex's warning beside this list of retailers: a card named for Delhaize, excluded from the guarantees in franchises, and a network where franchising has become the norm. Amex's page does not say which of the two messages wins at your neighbourhood till.

A calendar detail deepens the doubt. The page's reference period, 2021, comes more than a year before the decision to franchise the 128 integrated supermarkets, so the figures it does not publish would describe a network that predates the very change it warns about.

The retailer has already rolled out a payment method in two stages depending on store status. According to Bancontact's announcement of 18 May 2021, Payconiq was arriving the following summer in the 128 integrated supermarkets, then « later » in participating affiliated stores (AD Delhaize, Proxy Delhaize and Shop&Go). I found no Delhaize page listing the cards taken at the till, so I do not claim to know whether your store accepts Amex. In a Delhaize I do not know, I would take out another card first.

The same doubt applies to every card less widespread than Visa and Mastercard, and our pillar on paying without a credit card in Belgium sorts the fallback options by use.

A locator tool I could not find

Our page on the range points readers to a merchant locator in the Amex app. The Belgian app page, re-read on 2 October 2026, describes transaction search, card replacement, supplementary cards, statements and a live chat, but no merchant map, and the « Où utiliser ma Carte » page offers neither a list nor a search engine. I did not open the app itself: I therefore file this pointer under reservations, not under proven errors. The tool may exist; its Belgian documentation does not mention it.

The retailer lists in French that I went through describe the French network. They help a Belgian cardholder little.

Can a Belgian merchant refuse American Express?

Yes. Since 1 July 2022, a Belgian business must offer at least one digital payment method to its private customers, and it is the business that chooses: the Febelfin leaflet writes that the merchant « pourra déterminer elle/lui-même la méthode de paiement numérique qu'elle/il proposera » (may itself determine the digital payment method it will offer). A baker with only Bancontact complies with the law. So does a restaurateur taking Visa and Mastercard without Amex, and our comparison Visa or Mastercard in Belgium shows why those two work almost everywhere.

European law points the same way. Article 10 of Regulation 2015/751 forbids card schemes from requiring a merchant that accepts one card to accept others, except for cards of the same category and the same brand. Accepting a Visa therefore commits nothing for an Amex.

The rule changes as soon as the merchant says yes. Febelfin writes that consumers may not be charged for using an electronic payment method, and Amex's contract sets the same ban on the merchant side. A « card » surcharge asked at the till is therefore irregular, whatever the card.

Refusing a brand is tolerated, a surcharge is punished

Refusing a brand, offering no electronic payment at all and demanding a surcharge fall under different rules. The first case is legal, as we just saw. The second has not been since 1 July 2022. The third never was for an electronic payment, according to the Febelfin leaflet.

What remains is what counts as a digital method. According to the review published one year after entry into force on the Forum for the Future blog, fixed or portable terminals, contactless payment by smartphone or watch, QR codes and transfer numbers qualify. Meal vouchers, eco-vouchers and cryptocurrencies do not. A merchant that only displays a transfer QR code therefore complies with the law, and you will not pay with your Amex there.

The contract the merchant signs

The general acceptance terms in force since 1 January 2025 (reference CAM8301/01/2025#BEFR) apply in Belgium and Luxembourg. The merchant may contract directly with Amex or go through a third-party acquirer, with whom it signs a separate contract. It must « indiquer que vous acceptez les Cartes American Express et afficher nos Marques conformément à nos instructions » (state that you accept American Express cards and display our brands according to our instructions).

On cash flow, nothing frightening. By default, payment arrives one business day after the business day following receipt of the debit information, an error must be reported within ninety days of the statement date, and either party may terminate with one month's written notice. I found no minimum purchase and no ceiling in it. On these points, a small merchant has no obvious reason to refuse.

The commission, or the missing figure

The commission is defined as a percentage of the debit value or a fixed amount, and the applicable rate is communicated in writing to each merchant. The text puts no number on it.

For Visa and Mastercard consumer cards, Regulation 2015/751 caps the interchange fee at 0.2% for a debit card (article 3) and 0.3% for a credit card (article 4). These caps do not apply to transactions made with cards issued by a three-party scheme, which is what Amex essentially is (article 1, paragraph 3, point c), except for licences granted to third parties (paragraph 5). Its commission is therefore bound by no European cap of this type.

The idea that an Amex costs the merchant more circulates everywhere, including in our own page on the range, whose FAQ attributes it to higher commissions. I found no published Belgian rate, from Amex or elsewhere, that would let me check. The explanation is plausible, and it remains a hypothesis.

Contactless, Apple Pay, backup card: the till decides

Online, Amex's pages are more precise than in store: they mention Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, digital newspapers, PayPal and SafeKey protection. It is the only channel where the bank names services rather than a coverage promise. Which Belgian sites offer Amex at checkout depends on each one's payment provider, and I found no list of providers for this article.

The mobile wallet raises the most useful question. The Belgian list published by Apple, updated on 30 September 2026, lists eighty issuers, from Belfius to ZEN.COM via Crelan, Fintro, ING, KBC, Revolut and Trade Republic. American Express is not on it, and the Belgian Amex pages I opened mention neither Apple Pay nor Google Pay. I did not try adding a card on a phone: I write what the two lists say, not what an iPhone accepts today. Our guides to Apple Pay and Google Pay in Belgium keep the list of compatible banks.

Before counting on the card at a counter, these checkpoints are enough:

• look for the Amex logo on the door or on the terminal, since the contract obliges the merchant to display it;
• ask before ordering at a craftsman, a restaurant or an independent shop;
• hand over another card first in the affiliated store of a big retailer;
• refuse any card-payment surcharge, and report it to the FPS Economy if it is maintained;
• keep a Visa or a Mastercard in the wallet.

As of 2 October 2026, a Belgian Amex is justified by its insurance and its points, and no page publishes its acceptance in figures.