Amazon, Visa strike global truce on credit card charges
- Reference: 1645107610
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/17/amazon_and_visa_deal/
- Source link:
The dispute arose last year, with Amazon threatening to block payments from Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom, in response to what the online bazaar claimed were high fees that Visa charged for processing transactions.
The first that many customers became of this situation were [1]cryptic messages last November alerting them to the changes, plus a statement on Amazon's UK website informing customers that it would no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK for transactions made after 19 January, 2022.
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Now it appears that a deal has been done, and Amazon customers in the UK can continue to pay using their Visa credit cards, while the 0.5 per cent surcharge levied on Visa credit card transactions for customers of Amazon's Australian and Singaporean sites will also be lifted.
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"We've recently reached a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to continue using their Visa credit cards in our stores," Amazon said in a statement, adding: "Amazon remains committed to offering customers a payment experience that is convenient and offers choice."
Neither Amazon nor Visa is giving much away about just what the terms of the deal entail, but Visa in its statement hints at some intriguing joint future developments.
[5]Amazon tells folks it will stop accepting UK Visa credit cards via weird empty email
[6]AWS to build 32 more small clouds around the world
[7]Amazon stretches working life of its servers an extra year, for AWS and its own ops
[8]Wolfing down ebooks during lockdown? You might want to check out Calibre, the Swiss Army ebook tool
"Visa is pleased to have reached a broad, global agreement with Amazon," a company spokesperson told The Register . "This agreement includes the acceptance of Visa at all Amazon stores and sites today, as well as a joint commitment to collaboration on new product and technology initiatives to ensure innovative payment experiences for our customers in the future."
We asked what these product and technology initiatives might comprise, but were told that no further details will be forthcoming until they are formally announced.
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The debacle in the UK appears to have been caused by Visa starting to charge a 1.5 per cent surcharge on credit card payment transactions made online between the UK and European Union, according to the [10]Financial Times . Transaction fees are capped within the EU, but these rules no longer apply in the UK since Brexit.
While Amazon pushes a Platinum Mastercard in some regions, in the [11]US and Europe it offers Amazon Rewards and Prime Rewards cards that are both Visa-branded. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/amazon_visa_drop/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yg5-NQI801nldzyUsilB7wAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yg5-NQI801nldzyUsilB7wAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yg5-NQI801nldzyUsilB7wAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/amazon_visa_drop/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/17/aws_32_new_local_zone_edge_miniclouds/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/04/amazon_q4_2021/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/friday_foss_fest_calibre/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yg5-NQI801nldzyUsilB7wAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.ft.com/content/7465b937-ac69-4eef-9132-42e8939fcf3e
[11] https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Rewards-Visa-Signature-Card/dp/BT00LN946S
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Innovative payment experiences
One of my accounts now handles the CV2 process with an alert on the app which allows me to approve or deny the charge from there.
That's pretty innovative* and vastly preferable to the ways other firms handle it (as long as there's a fallback to enable purchasing a new phone when this one, and thus the app, is inoperable)
*innovative in the sense that I was asking for it over 10 years ago as a viable second factor, which seems to be quite a quick turnaround in banking terms.
Re: Innovative payment experiences
What do you mean, Amazon charging the UK customer's Visa card from Luxembourg is very innovative, however the lack of a cap on commissions when a merchant inside the EEA charged a customer outside the EEA stifled that innovation.
Sounds like Visa is becoming the merchant and Amazon is becoming the vendor. I do wonder how long it will be until the major CC companies are more frequently challenged in this way as they've been running a small gambit for about 60 years (or really since inception). Strange things will happen when Visa/MC/etc. are all on XYZ's cloud service. Payment services are by no means new to the internet, but they are a frontier that has yet to be vigorously challenged.
1.5% ?!
Hey Apple, ya hear that ?
Still Avoiding Them
I'm still just happy I've found ways to cut Amazon out of my life entirely :-)
I've successfully gone an entire year now without making a single purchase on Amazon.
My most expensive habbit is tech bits (it's my worst addiction.. I even pre-ordered a steam deck last year.. I can't help myself..). But I've found Scan to be a suitable replacement, failing that CCL sometimes gets my money.
I actually found the service from them to be better than Amazon most notably, HDDs actually have proper padding and protection during transit imagine that! No DOA drives since leaving Amazon.
As for my other bad habbit, Music, HMV has come out on top.. I was amazed to find they still offer a decent selection of metal albums.
I'll use other retailers where necessary also. But I'm just happy I haven't needed to use Amazon at all for a year :-D
Either way, kinda proud of myself over here, I used to spend way too much with them.... but no more.
Re: Still Avoiding Them
I switched 3 years or more back. eBay gets the small bits and there are some good online book sellers, one of which I found was only in the next town to me so I can always go over and accost them directly if it turns out not to be of the expected quality. :-)
Funnily enough I've just bought two 10TB drives for a NAS and the cheapest option - Amazon included - was to buy Seagate external drives from Argos and schuck them. Anyone need a 12V, 1.75A wall-wart?
Re: Still Avoiding Them
I try and use [1]hive.co.uk for book orders, you can choose a local independent book store to support.
[1] https://www.hive.co.uk/
Great, bigger charges for the little guy
I already pay higher charges than big turnover companies. Looking forward to my charges going up to compensate for Amazon's sweetheart deal.
1.5%??
Why does it cost Visa more to process a single high value transaction than it does to process many small transactions? Does it really cost Visa £10.50 to process a £1000 transaction compared to £1.50 to process a £100 transaction?
Re: 1.5%??
In the UK, the credit card company is jointly liable for all goods and services costing between £100 & £30,000; I'm guessing that the companies don't selflessly absorb the cost of doing this.
Re: 1.5%??
It's the credit card 'insurance' - it doesn't cost any more to process the charge, but the potential cost in a chargeback situation is higher.
(and 1.5% of £1000 is £15, not £10.50)
Innovative payment experiences
I don't want anything innovative. I just want it them to ensure it is quick and secure.
Unless "innovative" in this context is about how to extract more form the customer under the radar.