61–70 of 534 posts
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First direct (HSBC) has recently switched from Visa to Mastercard. The switch felt sudden, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to negotiation that fell through.
But so far only on it debit cards, it still offers visa credit cards.
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Quite the opposite in the UK, at least over the last 10 years or so. 99% of debit cards are Visa, and most people buying stuff on Amazon would be using a debit card, folks only really use credit cards for large purchases and things like travel, here. Even when it comes to credit cards, I would say Mastercard has like a large chunk - like 80% in terms of institutions (but who knows in terms of actual customers), I wou…
> most people buying stuff on Amazon would be using a debit card, folks only really use credit cards for large purchases Huh? I'm in the UK, have been an Amazon customer for over 20 years and have always used a credit card for everything. I didn't even know you could use a debit card, and can't see any reason you'd want to. Paid off in full every month, better consumer protection, what's not to like?
Well, the predatory business model, for one. The reason your credit card company can offer you "better consumer protection" and other benefits is because they count on a percentage of people not paying off their debt in time (and thus making more money out of them).
Also, I personally wouldn't want "better consumer protection" to be mediated by a private company. That should just be the default.
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Fun fact: At M&S, 12% of payments taken online for delivery to London addresses are paid by Amex. The rest of the country? <3%.
Any idea why Amex would be so popular in London? I'd never even consider an Amex card due to my perception of it being something that many places won't even accept.
Lots of business meetings in London -> merchants need to accept Amex company cards -> people realize acceptance is high -> people look into Amex for their personal usage, for instance to enjoy higher rewards.
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Fun fact: At M&S, 12% of payments taken online for delivery to London addresses are paid by Amex. The rest of the country? <3%.
Any idea why Amex would be so popular in London? I'd never even consider an Amex card due to my perception of it being something that many places won't even accept.
Has this been confirmed by Amazon? I received this notice and another one last week about my payment method expiring for one Amazon service but not any of the others on the same card. I couldn’t confirm that one either and it had the distinct whiff of phish about it.
I've recieved an email from Amazon.co.uk about it as well. Although I can only go by the subject "Visa credit cards will not be accepted, starting 19 Jan, 2022". My email preferences on Amazon are set to text only, and the text only email has no useful content beyond my name and generic headers / footers.
I cannot believe that Visa transaction overhead would be higher than Amex - there's something going on behind the scenes here. I don't think this is the end of it either, it smells like a negotiation threat. Visa have a larger market share overall (80%, including debit cards [1]) but Mastercard leads in credit cards. Amex has always been fairly niche because it's not accepted everywhere. [1] https://www.statista.com/…
There might be something going on with Visa in the UK. I've noticed that all the bank accounts I've had that used Visa for debit cards for many years all seem to have switched to Mastercard recently. Presumably they wouldn't overcome this much inertia unless there was a substantial financial incentive. If card issuers are finding that their costs are too high, chances are payment processors are as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fun fact: At M&S, 12% of payments taken online for delivery to London addresses are paid by Amex. The rest of the country? <3%.
Any idea why Amex would be so popular in London? I'd never even consider an Amex card due to my perception of it being something that many places won't even accept.
I cannot believe that Visa transaction overhead would be higher than Amex - there's something going on behind the scenes here. I don't think this is the end of it either, it smells like a negotiation threat. Visa have a larger market share overall (80%, including debit cards [1]) but Mastercard leads in credit cards. Amex has always been fairly niche because it's not accepted everywhere. [1] https://www.statista.com/…
There might be something going on with Visa in the UK. I've noticed that all the bank accounts I've had that used Visa for debit cards for many years all seem to have switched to Mastercard recently. Presumably they wouldn't overcome this much inertia unless there was a substantial financial incentive. If card issuers are finding that their costs are too high, chances are payment processors are as well.
If they try to shaft both sides, then they'll simply lose market share.
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likely because Visa is increasing their fees in UK since Brexit unshackled them from some EU caps
I like this. If that’s the case, it proves the free market works. You don’t need regulations when corporations can strongarm one another.
The free market has many problems. This isn't one.