Amazon and Visa come to a truce over fee increases

Amazon and Visa have come to an agreement allowing customers to continue to use Visa credit cards at Amazon websites and stores, according to Reuters. In November 2021, Amazon announced that it would no longer accept UK-issued Visa payments on Amazon.co.uk., citing high transaction fees.

Why we care. Amazon customers in the UK can keep using Visa credit cards as a payment method, which means one less factor that can negatively impact sales for merchants. 

Ending this feud in the UK may also be a positive indication that this battle may not occur in other markets.

Amazon reportedly considered switching its co-branded rewards credit card from Visa to Mastercard, but now that an agreement has been reached, that’s unlikely to happen. Customers that have Amazon’s co-branded Visa can continue to accumulate rewards with it, without having to open up a new line of credit, which may also help Amazon maintain its base of Prime subscribers.

Brexit-related fee increases. The European Union imposes fee limits on credit card issuers, but those restrictions no longer apply to the UK, enabling issuers to freely raise fees.

In October 2021, Visa raised its fee from 0.3% to 1.5% for online credit card payments between the UK and EU. It also increased its debit card fee from 0.2% to 1.15%. Mastercard raised its fees from 0.3% to 1.5% as well, according to BBC. “Average credit card processing fees across the industry range between 1.5% and 3.5%, according to analysts,” Shivani Tanna and Mrinmay Dey wrote for Reuters. 

Last month, British lawmakers announced plans to scrutinize Visa and Mastercard’s fee hikes after the country’s payments regulator found no justification for the increases.