Iconic credit card issuer American Express once asked the public, “What’s in your wallet?” Now that the company has launched an online payment service called Amex Express Checkout, they’re perfectly fine with people leaving those wallets at home.
What American Express would like its cardholders to do is bring along their AmericanExpress.com login to ecommerce sites. By using their login at sites like Newegg and Ticketmaster that support Amex Express Checkout, they can make a secure payment without entering credit card details.
Entering credit card information into third-party sites represents a source of concern for security-minded consumers. While modern credit card companies protect their customers in the event their card details are pilfered, no one wants the inconvenience of a frozen card and a wait for a replacement because some website got its database cracked.
Amex Express Checkout utilizes tokenization to keep cardholder details secure. In an example of how these tokens work, CyberSource describes payment tokenization as replacing “sensitive payment data with a unique identifier or token that cannot be mathematically reversed.” These tokens should be useless to anyone but the credit card issuer’s database of payment details for a customer.
Getting customer enrolled with the program involves no needed action on the cardholder’s part. If they have an americanexpress.com login, they already have all they need to use the new checkout service at supporting online retailers.
The new service will begin with a limited number of sites supporting it, with more scheduled in the coming months. Social media, however, will have to wait. As AdAgenoted, “buy buttons” on sites like Twitter and Pinterest don’t support Amex Express Checkout, though future support hasn’t been ruled out by American Express.
