Amazon will continue to accept Visa credit card payments across its sites after the companies struck a new global deal.
The move comes months after the online retailer threatened to stop the use of UK-issued Visa credit cards because of the fees charged to process payments.
Amazon said the fees were “an obstacle” to providing the best prices for its customers, while Visa accused Amazon of restricting customer choice.
However, the two businesses have since reached an agreement, ending weeks of negotiations, including an agreement last month to postpone the ban for UK users.
A Visa spokesperson said: “Visa is pleased to have reached a broad, global agreement with Amazon. 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.”
Amazon said: “We’ve recently reached a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to continue using their Visa credit cards in our stores. Amazon remains committed to offering customers a payment experience that is convenient and offers choice.”
Amazon customers in Australia and Singapore previously had to pay a surcharge when purchasing items using a Visa credit card. This has also been removed.
The furore followed the removal of an EU cap on fees charged by card issuers in the UK after Brexit.
Visa increased the charge of the value of a transaction for credit card payments made online between the UK and the EU to 1.5%, from a previous charge of 0.3%. The companies have not disclosed how much Amazon pays for processing.
In an email to users of the site in November, Amazon blamed the cost of processing the payments: “Starting 19 January 2022, we will unfortunately no longer accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK due to the high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions.”
The consumer group Which? welcomed the news that UK customers could continue to use Visa credit cards on the site.
Ele Clark, a senior editor at Which? Money, said: “Using a credit card to pay offers shoppers valuable legal protections that debit cards cannot, and removing this option for Visa cardholders would have meant fewer rights for millions of consumers.
“However, there have been longstanding concerns about credit card fees, and this affects customers and businesses. The regulator must urgently take forward its proposals to examine whether card fees are fair and what impact this will have on competition.”
The Payment Systems Regulator launched a review into card fees in 2021 and found they had “increased significantly” since the EU cap was lifted. It is considering whether action needs to be taken on the issue.
“We have always said that if we see an issue with fees that required attention outside the scope of our market review, we would consider what action we should take,” the regulator said in November .
Meanwhile, the British Retail Consortium said companies faced an estimated £150m increase in the cost of accepting cross-border card payments. British retailers were subject to an extra £36.5m in fees, equivalent to £100,000 every day.
