Leading e-commerce giant, Amazon, has said it will stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom effective January 19, 2022, as a result of high fees charged for credit card transactions. The company said in a statement to its UK customers via email.
The company told its customers in an emailed statement that is now being interpreted as Amazon trying to escalate its fight with Visa in order to get better terms.
Amazon has been pressuring credit card brands over the past few months with the imposition of a 0.5 percent surcharge on Visa credit card purchases on its Singapore website in September, and barely a month and a half after that the e-commerce company went ahead to impose a surcharge on Visa transactions in Australia.
In both instances, however, the company offered customers a gift card (AU$20 and SG$30) to add an alternative payment method that isn’t a Visa credit card.
According to the statement by the company, buyers can continue using their credit cards through the holidays after which they will have no other options but to switch to a Visa debit card or another credit card such as Mastercard or the American express (AMEX) card.
“The cost of accepting card payments continues to be an obstacle for businesses striving to provide the best prices for customers. These costs should be going down over time with technological advancements, but instead, they continue to stay high or even rise. As a result of Visa’s continued high cost of payments, we regret that Amazon.co.uk will no longer accept UK-issued Visa credit cards as of 19 January 2022.
“Customers can continue to use all debit cards (including Visa debit cards) and other non-Visa credit cards to shop on Amazon.co.uk. With the rapidly changing payments landscape around the world, we will continue innovating on behalf of customers to add and promote faster, cheaper and more inclusive payment options to our stores across the globe,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Visa, in a response through its spokesperson, expressed disappointments over the e-commerce giant’s move to restrict the choice of customers.
“Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future. When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins,” it said.
Sources close to the matter have said that Visa is working towards a resolution with the e-commerce giant so that cardholders can keep on using their UK-issued Visa credit cards on the website “without Amazon-imposed restrictions come January 2022.”
It’s worth noting that Amazon has a much better relationship with other credit card providers. The e-commerce giant currently has a partnership with Mastercard for consumer credit cards and with AMEX for business cards in the UK.
The souls of our ancestors will now rest in peace!