Amazon no longer accepting Visa credit cards from January 2022 - WTF?

[peanuts87]

AIBU to think this is madness? They're going to inconvenience so many of their customers. Still, it's good incentive to stop using Amazon I suppose!

www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-stop-accepting-visa-credit-cards-issued-uk-bloomberg-news-2021-11-17/

Barclaycard is Visa.

Who on earth uses debit cards online? Security nightmare. Although understandable if you're not eligible for a credit card.

@Hilda40

Natwest changed over from Visa to Mastercard recently I had wondered why.

Santander too, it was really annoying as my card re-issue had a whole different number.

I dont think visa credit cards are that common?

@HeatingOnHeatingOff Visa are absolutely huge!

Visa is the largest credit card issuer in the United States. According to CreditCards.com data, Visa has 304 million cards in circulation in the US and 545 million cards in circulation outside the US. Total transaction volume in the US was $1.2 trillion USD in 2014.

Mastercard has 191 million cards in circulation in the US and 576 million cards in circulation outside the US, which actually places it ahead of Visa globally (excluding US). However, US transaction volume is only $607 billion, around half of Visa’s total.

merchantmachine.co.uk/visa-mastercard-amex/

This only applies to Visa credit cards - Visa Debits won't be affected & you can still use them as previously.

I never buy anything online using a debit card for security reasons.

@HeatingOnHeatingOff

I dont think visa credit cards are that common?

I always thought the majority of credit cards were mastercard

Internet says that in Europe Visa is the most used credit card

www.statista.com/statistics/1116580/payment-card-scheme-market-share-in-europe-by-country/

@TicTacHoh

If you set up to pay on PayPal instead, you can carry on using visa if you set your visa as your default PayPal method. I use this to get round stores not accepting Amex.

Amazon doesn’t take paypal?

I dont use credit cards but quite a few of .y local shops are not taking visa debit cards either because of the cost.

And it's only UK issued visa credits. Not Europe.

It's because visa are increasing their charges.

I wonder if Amazon will still accept corporate Visa credit cards, as Visa is the corporate credit card of choice for many businesses and organisations.

I'll have no excuse to use Amazon anymore! That's a good thing for me, I'm currently lazy.

I had one of these emails this morning. Our company credit cards are Visa credit cards and many of us buy a lot of things from Amazon. Not at work today so maybe when I get back to work I’ll see lots of panicked emails.

There's a £20 discount incentive for your first purchase after switching payment methods

Had a VISA credit card for years linked to hotel points scheme - so apart from the consumer protection, I get points for weekends away.
So bye bye Amazon (not that I order much from there, but certainly not changing for their benefit) they can stick it.

I also wondered why the switch to mastercard on my santander debit recently. Good to know it'll be more acceptable to some traders. But my credit card is visa and I shop on amazon a fair bit, so either I apply for a mastercard credit card or use my barclaycard less and less. Not sure I can be bothered to apply for a mastercard, and in fact mightn't get one that easily (although my history is flawless these days, my employment situation isn't straightforward). If more retailers and services follow amazon's lead, I'll be jibbing my credit card by the looks of it.

Yes, First Direct have moved to Mastercard recently as well.

It seems both banks and businesses are showing their feelings.

I think they'll reach an agreement before Jan 19th. I don't use a debit card online though as it's far too risky (or for anything that's being delivered, even if I've ordered it in the shop or over the phone) so if they don't cave I guess I'll have to apply for a Mastercard.

My visa card expires at the end of next month so it will all come to a natural conclusion for me.

I don't really want to use my debit card for Amazon purchases. Oh well, good while it lasted I suppose.

@NichyNoo

I received an email from Amazon about this and assumed it was a scam email so deleted!

So did I. I was going to go on the main Amazon site later and check. My Credit card is Mastercard but my husband's is Visa, he won't be pleased.

What really worries me is if this goes ahead (and the negotiation brinksmanship doesn’t work) then many will have to (or choose to or need to) apply for another credit card thereby increasing risks of getting into unmanageable debt.
I’m absolutely sick of constant crap news !

For all of the 'issues' with Amazon, it's only companies with their power that can potentially stave off greed from other immense companies like Visa (not saying that Amazon isn't greedy too).

If your local corner shop stopped taking Visa owing to high fees, Visa wouldn't give a stuff. They probably wouldn't even care if a major high street chain stopped accepting them. But if they stand to lose all of their Amazon-related business in the UK, they will have to do their sums and decide if that doesn't more than cancel out the increases they stand to gain from elsewhere.

@Purpletomato

I think they'll reach an agreement before Jan 19th. I don't use a debit card online though as it's far too risky (or for anything that's being delivered, even if I've ordered it in the shop or over the phone) so if they don't cave I guess I'll have to apply for a Mastercard.

Or you could sack Amazon off.

@HeatingOnHeatingOff

I dont think visa credit cards are that common?

I always thought the majority of credit cards were mastercard

No, Visa have always had a much, much bigger market share than MasterCard.

I have both visa and mastercards - I think generally affluent people have a variety of cards in their wallets and its no biggie to use a Mastercard instead. Lots of places don't accept American Express due to higher processing fees (about 3 times what other cards charge) and no one boycotts the shop for not accepting that card, they just pay by another means. I don't think people will abandon Amazon - more likely that more retailers will jump on the bandwagon and refuse to accept Visa until Visa reduce their fees.

I’ve got a Barclaycard and an M & S credit card which is MasterCard, which I’ve hitherto only used for online shopping at M & S. Looks like I’ll be using it at Amazon a bit more.