Amazon Will No Longer Accept Visa Credit Cards Issued in the UK

[Tsing]

Image: Amazon



It’s about to get harder for Amazon shoppers in the UK to buy things that they can’t afford. As noted in a revised document on one of its official support sites, Amazon will no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK beginning on January 19, 2022. Visa debit cards can still be used, however.



From Amazon UK:



Starting 19 January, 2022 we will no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK.



The following payment methods are available for use:



Visa credit (until 19 January, 2022)Visa debitMastercard credit and debitAmerican ExpressEurocardUK based Maestro



It’s unclear whether Amazon might be considering the same for other regions, but Visa has already voiced its disappointment regarding the decision. Amazon reportedly dropped Visa’s credit cards because of their high transaction fees.



“We are very disappointed that Amazon is threatening...

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[Grimlakin]

Sounds to me like Visa thought it was unassailable right up until Amazon said. "you know what... get stuffed." I wonder if this applies to their grocery chains and other business ventures... guess I should read the article. Nope they didn't spell it out. But I'm betting it does unless there is some UK law that means you have to accept all officially recognized forms of payment or something.

 

[Denpepe]

I don't live in the UK but my bank changed my VISA to Mastercard some time ago for some unknown reason.

I'm starting to get curious now as to what is going on.

 

[Zarathustra]

I find this kind of interesting.

Historically American Express and others complained that MasterCard/Visa were essentially colluding and charging the same fees.

Apparently Visa and MC are still similar enough to not get dropped from Amazon anywhere in the world except in the UK?

Something just doesn't make sense here to me.

 

[Burticus]

It must be specific to UK, extra fees maybe? Back when I worked retail 80 million years ago, visa + mastercard charged the same amount (like 3%) while american express was hated because they charged double that. I vividly remember when the Computer City I worked at stopped accepting Amex because of those fees. Oh man the people with Amex corporate cards were P!SSED, the corporate sales side of the store all threatened to quit unless Corp HQ changed their mind. They eventually did and relented, but it took months and so many customers just bailed and moved to Comp USA instead. The corporate sales at the store never recovered from that, and most of them bailed. Turned out that the store was heavily reliant on corporate sales (go figure) and with the massive revenue loss, the store closed shortly after. It became a Comp USA oh, the irony.

Anyway, sorry for the TLDR. I think Amazon might have the clout to pull this off, but they should be transparent as to the "why" when people complain about it.

 

[Brian_B]

Oh man the people with Amex corporate cards were P!SSED,

Our corporate card is AmEx, and yeah, if the company doesn't take it, we go elsewhere. Although AmEx is "last resort" if we absolutely can't get whatever it is from a direct credit account with the business and pay via Purchase Order.

It sucks, but it is what it is. I'm not sure why corp cards tend to gravitate around AmEx; I'm sure there's a good reason, I just don't know it off hand.