Amazon informs users it will stop accepting UK Visa credit cards via weird empty email
- Reference: 1637165727
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/17/amazon_visa_drop/
- Source link:
According to a statement on its [1]website :
Starting 19 January, 2022 we will no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK.
The following payment methods are available for use:
Visa credit (until 19 January, 2022), Visa debit, Mastercard credit and debit, American Express, Eurocard, UK based Maestro.
One of the bemused readers this morning speculated that Amazon had either "just utterly borked a mailing test" or had just decided to "cut off probably around half their customers' payment options."
The online souk will still accept Visa debit cards, but many Brits purposefully use credit cards for big online purchases because it can protect you from fraud. Under [2]Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 , the credit card company is jointly and severally liable for any breach of contract or misrepresentation by the retailer or trader. This means punters can make a claim with the credit card provider to get their money back for goods or services, provided they cost more than £100 and less than £30k.
The initial announcement to users was contained in an empty email with the subject line "Visa credit cards will not be accepted, starting 19 Jan, 2022" with nothing in the body text but a cryptic ===============================
Amazon.co.uk
===============================
While it included DKIM signatures for amazon.co.uk and amazonses.com, and looked like "a legit email," one reader mused: "Why are Amazon dropping Visa, and why would they inform customers in a basically blank email?"
[3]Amazon cuts a relatively tiny check to disappear claims it broke the law by withholding COVID-19 data from staff
[4]140,000-plus drivers sent $60m in compensation checks after Amazon 'stole their tips'
[5]Microsoft wins JEDI contract, Amazon complains. Amazon wins NSA contract, watchdog says Microsoft right to moan
[6]AWS still growing like a weed but Amazon's retail empire hit by soaring labour, supply chain costs
Another Reg reader said she and her colleagues had all received the strangely empty mail, and they'd already been dealing with NatWest converting all of its debit cards to Mastercard from Visa. The NatWest move happened back in [7]February this year and affected all the banking group's retail and business debit cards in an agreement that covers all its brands: NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, and Coutts, "totalling 16 million cards."
NatWest stopped offering Visa credit cards in 2020.
[8]
The Amazon.co.uk website is run by Amazon Europe Core SARL and Amazon EU SARL, headquartered in Luxembourg. According to its full accounts made up to 31 December 2020 at [9]Companies House , Amazon EU SARL had a net turnover of €43.84bn, up from €32.18bn the year before. The EU-registered firm has "branches" in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, and reports consolidated accounts under US parent firm Amazon.com Inc. According to its latest annual accounts, it also holds at least 20 per cent of a [10]limited UK services company as well as a limited Irish data services company, fulfilment centres in Poland and Spain, and a logistics unit in Italy.
[11]
A Visa spokesperson said: "UK shoppers can use their Visa debit and credit cards at Amazon UK today and throughout the holiday season.
"We are very disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future. When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins. We have a long-standing relationship with Amazon, and we continue to work toward a resolution, so our cardholders can use their preferred Visa credit cards at Amazon UK without Amazon-imposed restrictions come January 2022."
[12]
Amazon and Mastercard did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Mastercard gave a statement to The Guardian [13]indicating it was "due to the high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions."
Simon de Broise, a senior associate at Collyer Bristow LLP, commented: "It remains to be seen whether Amazon will make good on its threat, or whether there is a deal to be done, but either way it is a very significant development in the payments sector." He added that the announcement "demonstrates how much the payments sector has matured in recent years.... Such a move against one of the card schemes would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, but retailers are now starting to benefit from the proliferation in the sector and so may feel that they can move away from the traditional players without damaging their businesses." ®
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[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?ref_=help_search_1-2&nodeId=GFBWMNXEPYVJAY9A&qid=1637157114779&sr=1-2
[2] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/39/section/75
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/16/amazon_settlement_covid_19_data/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/amazon_drivers_tips/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/gao_upholds_microsoft_aws_complaint/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/amazon_q3_2021/
[7] https://www.mastercard.com/news/europe/en-uk/newsroom/press-releases/en-gb/2021/february/natwest-group-and-mastercard-expand-payments-partnership/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YZU1PsTBJoNh9jdeBM13tQAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/FC032354/filing-history
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/amazon_results/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZU1PsTBJoNh9jdeBM13tQAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YZU1PsTBJoNh9jdeBM13tQAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/17/amazon-to-stop-accepting-uk-issued-visa-credit-cards
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: My email wasn't blank...
(Mine was blank)
Presumably about half their revenues come through Visa so I can believe that even a tiny reduction in the charges means quite a lot to Amazon.
However, I am really surprised Amazon chose to take this public. They obviously have really fallen out with Visa and want to put enormous pressure on them (knowing that when Visa cave they will end up having to give all their other big customers some further discount as well due to the publicity).
But I would have thought Amazon risked impact on their Christmas business due to people misunderstanding that their cards will not work now, or that if they use a Visa card they will have to pay in full in January, or something. Even 2% of people misunderstanding the message could do more damage to Amazon's Christmas revenues than they will win from Visa.
I had better order some popcorn to watch this play out. Although I do business with both of them, I can't really work out which one I want to lose more! I wonder if Amazon sell popcorn...
I got this too...
But the email was complete. And it provided a link to their help page for more information, here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GFBWMNXEPYVJAY9A
At the time of receiving the email however, Visa was still saying accepted there. Not now.
What a fucking shambles...
Well of course
Naturally Amazon are narked at Visa ripping off traders with high charges. That's their job.
Looks like time to
dump either my Visa credit card or Amazon or both.
Amazon accepts Amex with its reassuringly expensive merchant fees and rejects Visa
Icon appropriate for what Bezos seems to be doing.
"We are very disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice in the future. When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins."
...didn't VISA ban any other CC provider from the Olympics due to an exclusivity deal?
No - VISA was locked out of the Olympic thing because the British Olympic organisers struck a deal with Mastercard (which have a relatively low take up in the UK compared to VISA).
That was another excellent example of not giving a fuck about the punters
Coincidence?
And of course Amazon's own Credit Card offering is with Mastercard - coincidence? My inner skeptic says not...
Visa is increasing their fees to merchants in the UK.
Visa is increasing their fees to merchants in the UK as we are no longer part of the EU and the EU charges are capped.
Will be interesting
It will be very interesting to see how this resolves itself.
If Amazon carry out their threat then what will customers do? VISA is way more popular than Mastercard in the UK so relatively few people have the latter. And Amazon’s suggestion of using a debit card isn’t going to fly - there are several reasons for using a credit card - the purchase is insured and fraud is much easier to deal with (in theory); well at least nobody can empty your bank account! Using a debit card online is a bit foolish (though I have done it myself when there has been no choice - some HMGov services would only take debit cards in the past).
And VISA will lose a huge amount of money if this goes ahead, so I’m guessing they may relent and lower their prices.
Of course, the cynic in me suspects (!!) that Amazon are not doing this for the good of their customers. I know - I’m terrible like that
Re: Will be interesting
One of my work mates says he got a letter from his bank stating they were moving from VISA to Mastercard. His new card arrived a few days ago. He did not tell who he banks with.
Perhaps there are banks that are not happy with VISA too?
Re: Will be interesting
I favour a prepaid Mastercard debit jobbie exclusively online. Then if somebody gets their database stolen, there's usually nothing on the card to spend.
Puts a useful bit of friction on my impulse buys too.
It appears we are just behind Australia
As - [1]From November 1, Amazon will apply a 0.5% surcharge to purchases made using Visa credit cards on Amazon.com.au.
I've been using Amazon less and less over the last few years - mainly because they seem to go out of their way to promote cheap tat
[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-com-au-encourages-customers-to-stop-using-their-visa-card/
My email wasn't blank...
Explicitly called out the charges... but didn't say what they were - I can't believe Amazon's margins are sufficiently narrow for this to be a real concern...