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Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

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Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#471

Post by [deleted] »

locallost wrote: post #175
thow-58d4e8b wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lost VAT revenue is not due to mom-and-pop shops offering a discount under the table. The vast majority of lost VAT revenue is due to organized VAT carousel frauds, also knows as missing trader fraud, where an organized groups of 10-20 people siphons tens of millions into their pockets through reimbursements of fictitious trades. It's one of the most lucrative fraud schemes there is, but if caught and convicted, the…

I don't understand how this works. If I see correctly, one entity in the chain simply does not pay the VAT it collected. Why is it important that it's cross border? I could issue an invoice to my neighbour's company myself and simply not report it. You can always do that and hope you don't get an audit.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#472

Post by aembleton »

hexxagone wrote: post #414
nicky0 wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is it's now just another country on an equal footing with the rest. Unlike the EU members which have to ask the Commission for permission to scratch their ass.

If you knew anything about the EU institutions, you would know that the Commission's role is only to enforce rules that member states have agreed upon but it has _no_ power. Of course facts do not fit with the Brexiters' rhetoric.

Who instigates the creation of a directive? I thought that was one of the roles of the commission.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#473

Post by ryanlol »

toyg wrote: post #121
00deadbeef wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Amex grants significantly higher credit limits than most banks. Londoners like to live an aspirational lifestyle in a hugely-overpriced city.

>hugely-overpriced city

If you compare the rental flats with other top European cities, it’s really not overpriced.

Look at a 6k eur pcm flat in Barcelona and London, in Barcelona you will find slightly bigger flats with terrible build quality and services. In London you’ll get top quality fit and finish with excellent services.

Good luck finding a building with a decent concierge team in most European capitals. It’s almost unheard of.

Luxury product for rich people? Yeah, of course. Overpriced? Definitely not, there simply aren’t any viable alternatives to settle in.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#474

Post by ac29 »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #451
simfree wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that this special relationship only likely applies to transactions that use the Amazon MasterCard on Amazon.com, and MasterCards issued by other companies still impose full rates. Costco ran into this with American Express, though in retrospect the move to Visa seems like a worse move (more non-Costco Visa cards in circulation).

> Costco ran into this with American Express, though in retrospect the move to Visa seems like a worse move (more non-Costco Visa cards in circulation). Could you expand on it a worse move for Costco? I thought it was great they moved to Visa because majority of Americans does not have Amex for credit card. The only way we can use our Visa card is through debit card only. So by moving to Visa (they have largest cardh…

Its bad for Costco because they pay higher fees on credit cards than debit cards or cash. Having an expanded pool of people using credit cards is good for the credit card holders, but not Costco. If Costco wanted more credit card users, there's no reason they couldnt take every credit major credit card.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#475

Post by aembleton »

Teandw wrote: post #379
PeterisP wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving!

This is only affecting Amazon in this instance as it's caused by Amazon's tax avoidance schemes. If they weren't deep into tax avoidance schemes, this wouldn't have affected them. Not really due to Brexit. Nice attempt at pushing your agenda though.

If Brexit didn't happen, then Amazon could continue with their tax avoidance. So, it is due to Brexit.

As the poster said - it is the gift that keeps on giving.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#476

Post by FDSGSG »

ryanlol wrote: post #473
toyg wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amex grants significantly higher credit limits than most banks. Londoners like to live an aspirational lifestyle in a hugely-overpriced city.

>hugely-overpriced city If you compare the rental flats with other top European cities, it’s really not overpriced. Look at a 6k eur pcm flat in Barcelona and London, in Barcelona you will find slightly bigger flats with terrible build quality and services. In London you’ll get top quality fit and finish with excellent services. Good luck finding a building with a decent concierge team in most European capitals. It’s…

See my previous blog post on this subject: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26926718

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#478

Post by diebeforei485 »

simfree wrote: post #399
ComputerGuru wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Amazon branded credit card is a MasterCard in the UK. So Visa raises its rates to match MC, but AMZ has a special relationship with the latter.

Note that this special relationship only likely applies to transactions that use the Amazon MasterCard on Amazon.com, and MasterCards issued by other companies still impose full rates. Costco ran into this with American Express, though in retrospect the move to Visa seems like a worse move (more non-Costco Visa cards in circulation).

> MasterCards issued by other companies still impose full rates.

Not at all. These exclusive acceptance deals do usually have lower-than-otherwise rates for all cards from that issuer, though perhaps not as low as the co-branded card.

Think about it - if Costco had the same fees from a normal (not co-branded) Visa card as they did from a normal MasterCard, what incentive do they have to disallow normal MasterCards but still allow normal Visa cards?

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#479

Post by mschuster91 »

cesarb wrote: post #448
mschuster91 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, shifting to electronic payments is building up an incredible surveillance mechanism. Let's just take an example of who is endangered... a 16 year old girl from a strictly religious family who had unprotected sex and needs Plan B. In a cash environment, she'll pay for it with her allowance, and her parents won't ever discover she had bought Plan B. In a cashless society, her parents can see the evid…

> In a cash environment, she'll pay for it with her allowance, and her parents won't ever discover she had bought Plan B. In a cashless society, her parents can see the evidence by checking her bank account. Playing devil's advocate: that's only if the payment and the product are linked. When I buy something at a pharmacy with a credit or debit card, all that appears on the card together with the value is the name of…

Sure, but it exposes the person to a risk nevertheless, especially if they did not think of a suitable excuse that rhymes up with parents going on a deep dive (which many abusive parents or spouses do... just read r/2X, JustNoX, AITA and the likes).

A lack of cash allowance can easily be explained by buying some soda or fast food, but a paper trail is harder to consistently explain away.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#480

Post by wayoutthere »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #459
wayoutthere wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was doing it off the top of my head; was off on the exact number but the sentiment holds. The main benefit of the UK has been that it was an English-speaking intermediary for US companies. The Netherlands and Germany are filling that role as basically every white collar worker speaks fluent English. The main power lever the UK has at this point on the global stage is the fact that its banks orchestrate and facilitate…

My reply is less harsh/dismissive than @hash9. Your last paragraph is powerful. I do think sometimes that I seriously underestimate the financial advantage that UK gains by having "selectively weak financial regulation" (my term). They are a like a Big Singapore, that pretends to be very well regulated, but looks the other way when autocrats want to buy 20M pound flats in Central London. I expect they will try to ext…

I wouldn’t count on this working out long term. If this becomes the main advantage the UK has, it just becomes a consolidated target for anti-corruption initiatives. A country like that is also not a good one to live in, so they should expect to lose Scotland, NI and Wales to the EU. You only need London to launder money.
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