Following a global agreement between the two companies, Amazon will accept Visa credit cards across all of its sites.
Last year, Amazon threatened to cease accepting Visa credit cards in the UK because of the fees Visa paid to process payments.
If you bought something on Amazon in Singapore or Australia, you had to pay a premium if you used a Visa credit card.
Amazon and Visa, on the other hand, announced that they had reached an agreement.
From Thursday, February 17th, the Visa fee on Amazon’s Singapore and Australia websites will be abolished.
While discussions were ongoing, Amazon had previously postponed the prohibition on accepting Visa credit cards in the UK.
“We just established a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to use their Visa credit cards in our locations,” Amazon added.
“This agreement includes Visa’s acceptance across all Amazon shops and sites today, as well as a shared commitment to collaborate on new product and technology initiatives in the future to ensure innovative payment experiences for our consumers,” Visa stated.
When Amazon was considering a restriction on taking Visa credit cards in the UK last year, it argued that the cost of processing payments was “an barrier” to offering consumers the cheapest pricing.
Following Brexit, the European Union (EU) cap on card issuer fees was no longer in effect in the United Kingdom.
Visa began charging 1.5 percent of the transaction value for credit card payments made online between the UK and the EU in October. Previously, it had charged 0.3 percent. Mastercard’s fees have also gone up.
Visa debit cards were not affected by Amazon’s proposed prohibition in the United Kingdom. According to the UK Treasury Committee, Visa and Mastercard increased the cost of processing debit card payments from 0.2 percent to 1.15 percent.
Visa accused Amazon of limiting customer choice at the time. “When consumer choice is constrained, nobody wins,” it stated.
The Payment Systems Regulator looked into card fees last year and found that they had “raised dramatically in recent months.” It’s presently looking at whether any action is needed on the matter.
