Amazon sellers and consumers should be aware that as of January 19th 2022, Amazon will no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in Britain as a viable payment method. It has been announced that this is due to the high fees charged by Visa credit cards for transactions. Businesses of all sizes have voiced displeasure at the fees charged by card networks, but of course not many businesses have the power to restrict customer choice. Amazon, one of the only companies who are big enough to take this stand, may be about to make a huge shift in the market.
Why Are Amazon Putting A Stop To Visa Credit Cards?
The issues between merchants and card providers have been going on for years, so on the surface it seems strange that Amazon are choosing now to halt the use of Visa credit cards on their site. However, if you delve a bit deeper it is clear that this is because of the effects of Brexit.
As stated by EU and UK law, card providers can only charge a maximum of 0.3% per transaction. When the UK was still in the European Union, this applied to all transactions. However, since the UK have left the EU, this law only applies to in-person transactions, meaning that the credit card companies can charge more for online purchases. This has resulted in Visa raising their fees by a staggering 500% to 1.5%.
Since most purchases on Amazon UK are made for products in the UK this wouldn’t seem like the worst thing. However, when you buy something from Amazon UK you are actually buying something from the Amazon European headquarters, meaning that Visa have been making millions from UK credit card transactions on Amazon.
What Have Visa Said?
As you can imagine, Visa are extremely dismayed by this latest development. They believe that Amazon are limiting consumer choice and that the consumers are the main victims of Amazon’s move to remove Visa credit cards as an option on their site. However, it is quite clear that Visa are the party that stand to lose the most in this situation.
Amazon are still allowing consumers to use Mastercard credit cards, which suggests that they’ve reached an agreement with them over fees. They are also still allowing the use of American Express since they have not attempted to raise fees for UK to EU transactions. Clearly, the global ecommerce giant are staring down Visa and attempting to force them to lower their fees.
Will Amazon Stopping The Use Of Visa Credit Cards Affect Sellers Or Consumers?
The answer of this question of course depends upon how much you want to use your Visa credit card. Amazon are still allowing transactions using Visa debit cards and other credit card suppliers so you still have a lot of purchasing options. It would be wise for you to change your default payment method from your Visa credit card before the changes come into effect in January 2022.
As for sellers, this is very unlikely to change much for you. It is still worth being aware of the news though in case you receive any complaints or questions about failed payments if your customer attempts to pay with a Visa credit card.
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As usual, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our long history of working with Amazon and eBay sellers means we can offer you expert advice.
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