War between Amazon - Visa for high charges

Amazon.com will stop accepting transactions using the Visa card issued in the United Kingdom from next year.

In fact, is also the last of a series of movements of the technological colwho seeks to control the charges on transactions that follow the payment networks. Regarding them now users and consumers who choose Amazon services, were informed this week.

After they had already made the purchases, they received a notification from the American company, which stated that From 19 January 2022, Visa credit cards issued in the UK will no longer be accepted, due to the fact that purchases made through them will be charged with high charges.

An Amazon spokesman said "The cost of accepting card payments remains an obstacle for a company that aims to offer the best prices to its customers". Anyway, Visa, MasterCard and American Express debit cards, as well as Visa credit cards issued in countries other than the United Kingdom, are still accepted, as informed by its users Amazon.

In addition, it offers them a discount of 20 XNUMX from their upcoming purchase if they use a debit card or a non-Visa credit card by default. In Singapore, but also in Australia, the American giant has already applied a surcharge to those consumers who use Visa credit cards.

In a statement through its spokesperson, Visa expressed its frustration, "because Amazon threatens to limit consumer choices in the future ". He added, "When that happens, no one wins. We have a long relationship with the company and we will continue to work together to find a solution ". It is worth noting that in essence This is a very sensitive issue in Britain, as a result of its withdrawal from the European Union.

Both Visa and MasterCard are investigating the fact that they are increasing some of their charges, now that the UK no longer belongs to the EU. Recent research shows that credit and debit debt has risen by. 150 million a year, hurting both Britons and other Europeans. Britain's withdrawal from the EU effectively eliminated the barriers to trade between the former and the European Economic Area, giving credit card companies the opportunity to boost commissions on cross-border payments. CMS Payments Intelligence, a retail payment consulting firm, and the British Retail Consortium report.

It should be noted that card charges have always been a point of friction between merchants, banks and international payment networks, such as those of Mastercard and Visa, which have the largest in the world. For many years, Ama-zon has tried in various ways to reduce the charges it owed to customers by credit card users, such as offering incentives to prefer debit cards and adding cash to their accounts in the company. Finally, it should be noted that retailers as a whole are complaining about the billions they spend each year accepting electronic payments - today in the US they are worth more than $ 100 billion, as charges are rising and consumers are flocking to the cards of most privileges. which, however, burden the merchants who accept them with higher commissions.

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