(19 November 2021 – United Kingdom) Amazon has banned United Kingdom (UK) issued Visa credit cards as a result of the group’s opposition to elevated fees.
The online marketplace may have inadvertently set off war between retailers and the payment network. Amazon claimed Brexit was not the specific origin of the dispute and pinned the issue on long term “fee creep” for Visa. Amazon introduced a 0.5 percent surcharge to purchases made using Visa credit cards in Australia and Singapore in Q1 2021 and Kroger in the US have previously applied bans on Visa credit cards before allowing them later.
Amazon’s ban is due to come into force in Q1 2022 with some spokespeople suggesting it may in fact be associated with a shift to encourage customers to the eCommerce group’s proprietary payments methods. Amazon is offering customers £20 off their next purchase using an alternative payment method in order to encourage them to change to a different form of payment.
“It is no surprise many retailers are frustrated by these surging fees. The Payment System Regulator must urgently intervene to tackle these anti-competitive card charges, and both the government and Parliament should ensure that they do” stated British Retail Consortium Payments Policy Adviser, Andrew Cregan.