Amazon Ends Support for UK Visa Credit Cards

Amazon will stop supporting Visa credit cards issued in the UK by 2022. This is because the transaction fee Amazon has to pay when customers pay with a credit card is unreasonably high.

After January 19, 2022, Visa credit cards issued in the UK cannot be used on Amazon. Amazon users were notified by Amazon in the 3rd week of November 2021 that they could no longer use Visa credit cards issued in the UK. Visa shares have fallen 5.2% since the notice was reported.

The cost of accepting card payments is an obstacle for companies trying to offer their customers the best possible price, Amazon said.

Amazon is telling users that they can continue to use Visa debit cards, MasterCard cards, American Express credit cards, and Visa credit cards issued outside the UK. Amazon already charges additional fees for users using Visa credit cards in Singapore and Australia. Visa PR representatives said they are “very disappointed” that Amazon is threatening to limit consumer choice in the future.

Retailers, including Amazon, have been dissatisfied with the high transaction fees they spend each year to accept electronic payments for years. As this transaction fee ratio rises, it is inflated to more than $100 billion per year in the United States.

The rise in transaction fees has accelerated since the UK left the EU. According to the survey, UK credit and debit card transaction fees have risen to £150 million a year, putting a burden on both UK and European retailers. According to CMS Payments Intelligence and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), as the UK leaves the EU, the upper limit on transactions between the UK and the European economy will be abolished, and card companies will face increased transaction fees across borders.

The UK economic system regulator says card payments will account for more than four-fifths of UK retail spending in 2020, with just two businesses accounting for 98% of these payments. pointed out

In 2016, Walmart sued Visa over rising transaction fees, and in 2018, supermarket chain Kroger stopped supporting Visa credit cards at its subsidiary Foodsco. Related information can be found here.