Amazon halts ban on UK-issued Visa credit cards
Amazon will NOT block UK Visa Credit cards from Wednesday: US tech giant tells millions of customers they are ‘in talks’ with financier to reach new deal cut off
US tech firm had vowed to stop taking payments from Wednesday due to a rowAmazon said the row was over the ‘high fees’ that Visa charged for paymentsAmazon has said it will now work with Visa to resolve a dispute over the fees
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Amazon has today halted a proposed ban on customers paying with UK-issued Visa credit cards.
The tech firm had vowed to stop taking the payments on its Amazon.co.uk site from Wednesday.
It followed a row with the US-based finance firm over its ‘high fees’ to process credit card transactions.
The move would have impacted millions of customers paying for Amazon goods and services through Visa credit cards issued in the UK.
But in a major turnaround, the US tech firm says it will no longer go ahead with the ban.
Amazon also said in a statement that it will work with Visa to resolve the dispute over the transaction fees.
In an email to customers today, the company said: ‘The expected change regarding the use of Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk will no longer take place on January 19.
‘We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk.’
Amazon will not stop accepting UK-issued Visa credit cards on its website later this month as it had proposed. The firm said it was working with Visa to resolve a dispute over payment fees
A Visa spokesperson added: ‘Amazon customers can continue to use Visa cards on Amazon.co.uk after January 19 while we work closely together to reach an agreement.’
The move would have had a particular impact on customers at Barclaycard and HSBC, who are among the banks who issue Visa credit cards.
Amazon previously said it was taking the step because of Visa’s ‘high fees’.
Last year, Visa increased the fees it charges on online and over-the-phone transactions made between UK shoppers and EU-based businesses from 0.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
While Britain was in the EU, purchases were protected by an EU-wide transaction cost cap, but that cap is no longer in place.
Mastercard also increased its fees by the same amount. However, Amazon has not taken the same approach with Mastercard, with which the retailer issues credit cards.
Even if the ban had gone ahead, UK customers would have still been able to use Visa debit cards, Mastercard and Amex credit cards as well as Visa credit cards issued outside of Britain.
Visa had previously struck back at the plans, saying it was ‘very disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice, adding: ‘When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins.’
At the time of the announcement, Visa would not say how many UK cardholders it has for commercial reasons.
Amazon declined to say how many customers will be impacted by the decision.
Neither firm would comment on what cut is taken by Visa or other card companies, saying the figure was confidential.
Kroger stopped accepting Visa credit cards at its 142 Smith’s Food and Drug Stores outlets from April 2019 – before reversing the decision six months later in October.
