Amazon will no longer accept payments from Visa credit cards issued in the UK, saying card payment fees are an ‘obstacle’ to businesses in keeping costs low for their customers.
Cards issued in the UK from 19 January 2022 will be blocked following a sharp rise in interchange fees being charged by Visa. Under EU law, these fees are capped at 0.3 percent, but since Britain left the EU, Visa has been able to raise them to a current 1.5 percent.
In its report, The Verge points out Visa is not the only company introducing fee hikes, with MasterCard also charging 1.5 percent but still being allowed by Amazon. Senior reporter James Vincent theorises the ban on Visa may be ‘a strategic decision to hurt one company instead of taking on an entire industry’, or alternatively there may be specific problems with Visa’s policies (such as rules pertaining to e-commerce, and thus Amazon directly).
