Amazon sells Amazon branded Mastercards in the UK... Could be part of it...
Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
271–280 of 534 posts
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
This practise is illegal in the UK and that's probably why they decided to this instead
The Australian practice seems fair though. If you force cash and credit card transactions to be the same price then the extra 0.5% is charged to everyone, and outside of extreme cases like this post there is little incentive for credit card operators to lower their fee.
Why is that only applied to credit card transactions, and not transactions by debit card (which banks also charge for) or for handling cash?
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, the catch is "if a merchant accepts..." I live in the Netherlands and biggest supermarket chain here, Albert Heijn, is strictly Mastro-only. This is not a problem for the locals, but you will find angry reviews left by tourists on pretty much every ah branch in Amsterdam on Google Maps.
I was there the other week and they refused my work Amex but accepted my personal MasterCard credit card. Not sure your statement is accurate.
As a general rule, ah (and bol.com) do not accept credit cards (or debit cards that need to go through the credit card network). This can be independently verified on Google Maps if you look for those 1-star reviews.
There are a small handful ah branches (see below) in tourist spots that does accept credit cards. In all other places, you should see posters apparently made by the staff that puts red crosses on Visa, MasterCard and AMEX logos near the entrance and/or the checkout kassa.
From https://www.ah.nl/klantenservice/onze-winkels/zelfscannen-en... (in Dutch):
> In sommige winkels kan je met je creditcard of buitenlandse pre-paid debetkaart betalen: de winkels op Schiphol, veel stationswinkels, de winkel achter het paleis op de Dam in Amsterdam en de winkel aan de Weteringschans in Amsterdam. Bij alle andere winkels kan dit niet.
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#274I 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/…
>I cannot believe that Visa transaction overhead would be higher than Amex
Merchants put up with high Amex transaction fees because Amex cardholders tend to be affluent and frequent purchasers.
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#275Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's why: two debit cards, one for receiving money, one for spending money. Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one once a month with a fixed amount you expect to spend in a month. Nothing to pay off, you're spending your own money, can't be overcharged, can't go below zero, if someone leaks your spending card they can't touch the majority of your money, no scummy business practices. Never owned a credit…
>>one for receiving money, What do you mean debit card for receiving money? In what sense? >> Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one Again, I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that. Payment from a debit card to a debit card? What?
Yeah, that makes no sense?
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's why: two debit cards, one for receiving money, one for spending money. Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one once a month with a fixed amount you expect to spend in a month. Nothing to pay off, you're spending your own money, can't be overcharged, can't go below zero, if someone leaks your spending card they can't touch the majority of your money, no scummy business practices. Never owned a credit…
In Europe just using debit cards is perfectly viable in 99% of the cases, however when it comes to car rentals you are still in some locations forced to provide a 'real' credit card. I write 'real' since most of the FinTechs like Revolut, N26 etc often issue debit cards that may fail in exactly that situation. It doesn't help if your account is flush with 10k USD and a car rental could easily block 2k for claims on y…
They require a credit card because credit card companies have robust ID and credit checking. If their ID checks weren't great, someone could steal the whole credit limit.
Banks and debit providers also do ID checks, as required by law, but don't check anywhere near as hard, since there is no way to steal money from the bank if your account can't go negative.
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#278Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's why: two debit cards, one for receiving money, one for spending money. Automated payment from the 1st one to the 2nd one once a month with a fixed amount you expect to spend in a month. Nothing to pay off, you're spending your own money, can't be overcharged, can't go below zero, if someone leaks your spending card they can't touch the majority of your money, no scummy business practices. Never owned a credit…
> Never owned a credit card, don't have the slightest wish to do so. I own a credit card, as you get additional consumer protections using a credit card rather than a debit card in the UK. Pay it off in full every month. No problem.
Specifically, the main protection is that if you buy something that turns out to be faulty or the company never delivers the goods, you can get the money back without going to court. You get the money back even if the company goes bankrupt.
Some banks offer similar things on debit cards, but it's always at the banks discretion rather than required by law.
Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Everyone I know, me included, just uses debit cards for purchases everywhere including Amazon. This is just as anecdotal as GP or indeed myself. I never use a debit card and don't know anybody that uses them other than for getting cash out of an ATM
How old are you? People using credit cards in my circle (early 30s, London) are firmly the minority. If we split a bill in a restaurant it's all debit cards. Maybe there's one person with an amex or something.
Do you check everyone's card when you split the bill? What makes you think the others are debit rather than credit cards?
For info: the debit & credit cards from my bank look almost identical. The only difference is one says "credit" in small black text. My credit card handles exactly like my debit card in terms of tap-and-pay etc. I just wouldn't use it to take out cash from an ATM, but then I can't remember when I last needed to do that.