Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa

The online retail powerhouse emailed customers on Wednesday morning to confirm the move would take effect from 19 January and clarified that no other credit cards, or Visa debit cards, would be included in the ban.

Amazon declared it had taken the decision, which it admitted was "inconvenient", due to "high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions" on its UK cards.

Amazon says UK customers will not be able to pay for goods using a Visa credit card from January, blaming a "high cost of payments". It means that Visa credit cards issued outside of the UK will also be exempt. The payment firm's US-listed shares fell by nearly 5%.

It is understood Amazon is particularly angry at a rise in so-called interchange fees - additional cross-border costs - which it believes have risen five-fold since Brexit.

An Amazon spokesperson said: "The cost of accepting card payments continues to be an obstacle for businesses striving to provide the best prices for customers. It claimed retail across Europe was shouldering an extra £150m annual increase in card fees - with some rising by almost 500%. "As a result of Visa's ongoing high cost of payments, "These costs should be going down over time with technological advancements, but instead, they continue to stay high or even rise.

It calculated a £36.5m burden in the UK alone and demanded action to bring fees down.

We regret that Amazon.co.uk will no longer accept UK-issued Visa credit cards as of 19 January 2022.

The announcement coincided with a report on the broader payments sector from the British Retail Consortium.

A Visa spokesperson responded: "UK shoppers can use their Visa debit and credit cards at Amazon UK today and throughout the holiday season.

"We are very disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future."

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