Amazon to reject payments from UK-issued Visa credit cards

This landmark announcement could affect enormous amounts of Amazon customers in the UK

Amazon has stated that its UK customers will not be able to pay for goods using a Visa credit card from 2022, citing a “high cost of payments”.

The online retail giant sent a mass email on November 17 that confirmed the change would come into effect from January 19 next year. They also confirmed that no other credit cards or Visa debit cards would be included in the ban.

Amazon said it had taken the decision due to “high fees Visa charges for processing credit card transactions”.

“As a result of Visa’s continued high cost of payments, we regret that Amazon.co.uk will no longer accept UK-issued Visa credit cards as of 19 January, 2022,” read the emailed statement.

Amazon customers were informed that Visa debit cards, Mastercard and Amex credit cards and Eurocard could still be used on-site, says Reuters.

In other Amazon news, Bloomberg has learned that Sainsbury’s will be the first to license Amazon’s camera-based shopping system.

The store in London’s High Holborn district said it was testing an “upgraded version” of SmartShop with employees in a Holborn store.

Neither Amazon nor Sainsbury’s have confirmed they are working together despite ploys from outlets like Bloomberg and Engadget to comment on the situation.

Amazon’s cashierless systems first launched in 2018 with a single Amazon Go store in Seattle. Now, Amazon has a dozen stores in the US and six in the UK under the name Amazon Fresh. Their sale of the system to Sainbury’s shouldn’t be too surprising, as the tech giant previously licensed its tech to Hudson markets, OTG CIBO Express and Delaware North.

Could this mark the start of a reduced human presence in stores across the UK? Bad news for Karens, as you can’t really ask to speak to a higher-up robot.