Amazon UK drops plans to block Visa

Ecommerce giant Amazon and credit card issuer Visa are continuing to try to solve their dispute over payment fees. This means that payments with millions of credit cards will still be accepted. The announcement came two days before previously announced ban on Visa credit cards.

Ban announced in November

In November, Amazon announced that it would stop accepting Visa credit cards in the UK. After Brexit, the cap on interchange fees no longer applies in the UK. As a result of this, Visa and Mastercard have raised their charges.

“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”, said a Visa spokesperson at the time.

‘Ban won’t take place on January 19’

However, yesterday Amazon announced that the ban will not take place on January 19. “We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution that will enable customers to continue using their Visa credit cards on Amazon.co.uk”, the company wrote to its customers.

‘We are working closely with Visa on a potential solution.’

According to the ecommerce giant, it will give an advance notice on any possible changed in the future related to Visa credit cards. For now, customers can continue using their Visa credit cards, debit cards, Mastercard, American Express, and Eurocard.

Pressure on Visa

It’s unclear what the solution is that Amazon and Visa will come up with . The two companies are still trying to reach an agreement. As the ban was set to take place tomorrow, it’s possible that many customers have already found different issuers for their credit card needs. This has likely increased pressure on Visa to reach a compromize with Amazon.