Amazon, Visa Strike Global Deal on Card Fees

Visa, amazon, card, fees

Amazon and Visa have reached a global agreement ending a several months-long dispute over rising card fees, both companies said in statements on Thursday (Feb. 17).

There will no longer be a surcharge fee to use a Visa credit card in Australia and Singapore. The threat to ban Visa card acceptance in Amazon stores in the U.K. and on Amazon’s eCommerce marketplace is officially dropped.

“We’ve recently reached a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to continue using their Visa credit cards in our stores,” according to an Amazon spokesperson, per reports.

See also: Reversal: Amazon UK Will No Longer Ban Visa Credit Cards

Visa’s transaction fees became a hot potato last November when Amazon announced it would no longer accept the card giant as a payment option in its stores or on its eCommerce marketplace in the U.K. The eCommerce giant later decided to reverse its decision.

Transaction fees had been capped under the European Union, but that ended following Brexit — and fees in the U.K. escalated.

Card fees became a major talking point among Visa and Mastercard and its merchants, banks, and payment networks. Retailers have complained amount the increasing costs of accepting electronic payments.

Read more: Interchange Fees Back in US Antitrust Spotlight Post Amazon UK Visa Card Ban Reversal

A Visa spokesperson told Reuters that the company also reached a joint agreement to work together with Amazon on developing “new product and technology initiatives to ensure innovative payment experiences for our customers in the future.”

Regulators in Britain looking into the card fee increases after the country’s payments regulator found no evidence to justify the rises, Reuters reported.

The situation with Visa and Amazon in the U.K. served as a catalyst, with some of the biggest retailers in the world collaborating with the Merchants Payments Coalition and sending a letter last month to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) asking that those regulators investigate credit card fees.