Robert Besser
19 Jan 2022, 23:09 GMT+10
LONDON, England: In a statement on January 17, Amazon UK said it has canceled plans to stop accepting Visa credit cards beginning 19th January, saying the change "will no longer take place."
"We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk," said an Amazon spokesperson, as reported by CNBC.
In November, Amazon announced the ban on accepting VISA cards, citing "high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions."
In 2021 Amazon also announced plans to introduce a 0.5 percent surcharge on Visa credit cards in Australia and Singapore.
In response, Visa had said it was "very disappointed" and would work to find a resolution with Amazon.
A Visa spokesperson told CNBC by email, "Amazon customers can continue to use Visa cards on Amazon.co.uk after 19th January, while we work closely together to reach an agreement."
After Brexit, Visa and rival Mastercard hiked their UK interchange fees, as a European Union cap on interchange fees ceased to apply in the country.
While both Amazon and Visa claim the dispute is not related to Brexit, the move was interpreted by experts as a way for Amazon to obtain bargaining power over Visa to lower its fees.
David Ritter, a financial services strategist at IT firm CI&T, said Amazon's move "comes as no surprise" and would have proven difficult as many customers' Visa credit cards are tied to Amazon's own Prime subscription service, as well as to digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, according to CNBC.
Other companies have complained about the high interchange fees charged by major card networks, with another notable example being grocery chain Kroger's, which temporarily banned Visa credit cards at some of its stores.
Meanwhile, Visa and Mastercard are facing growing pressure from financial technology start-ups, such as Klarna and Afterpay, which offer "buy now, pay later" services that enable shoppers to split the cost of their purchases over monthly installments.
Get a daily dose of Texas Guardian news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Texas Guardian.
More InformationAstros left-hander Framber Valdez entered Thursday trailing only Justin Verlander on the Houston staff in innings pitched, having worked at ...
After defeating the Seattle Mariners with a season-high 12-run, 16-hit performance on Thursday, the Boston Red Sox look to build ...
The Chicago Cubs followed a lengthy rough stretch by stringing together some needed victories. Now, the Arizona Diamondbacks are hoping ...
San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin will rejoin the team and resume his duties on Friday, just nine days after ...
David Perron scored two goals, Jordan Kyrou and Brandon Saad also scored and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado ...
Trevor Story went 4-for-4 with three home runs, seven RBIs and five runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - A reduction of the official lending criteria in China has boosted stocks on the mainland, and ...
ISTANBUL, Turkey: As state lenders reduced the amount of dollar sales to prop up the currency for the ninth consecutive ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Federal officials have announced that Eddy Alexandre, CEO of Valley Stream trading, is facing charges ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks again see-sawed on Thursday while the U.S. dollar rally took a well-deserved break."The ...
SEOUL, South Korea: Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics fell two places in Forbes' rankings of the World's Largest Tech Companies ...
Detroit, Michigan: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis NV said they are reinstating the face mask mandate for employees ...