Amazon 0.5% Visa Surcharge

colaman on 01/09/2021 - 11:04
Last edited 01/09/2021 - 15:15 by 1 other user

Comments from Amazon are that this Starts 1 November 2021 on Visa credit. To avoid, use debit, ZIP or non-Visa credit.

What does everyone think about this. I use Visa as my main credit card. Is this because of deals done with other credit companies that Amazon benefit from?

The reason I use Visa is to benefit on reward points and I current buy a lot from Amazon. Do I now look at switching to another provide like Mastercard?

Edit : This is an email I just received to confirm it

We’re writing to notify you of a change to Visa credit card payments on Amazon.com.au.

Due to the costs associated with Visa transactions, beginning 1 November 2021, Amazon will apply a 0.5% surcharge to purchases made using Visa credit cards on Amazon.com.au. You can avoid the surcharge by using any debit card, Zip, or any non-Visa credit card like a Mastercard, Amex, or UnionPay card. Additionally, we are working to add more, faster and cheaper payment options for customers.

We know this may be an inconvenience, and our customer service team is standing by to help. Thank you for your understanding, and for being an Amazon customer.

Financial Amazon VISA

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Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 01/09/2021 - 11:08
    +160

    imagine the company of the richest man on earth… charging a surcharge for visa (but not amex???) LMFAO

    • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 11:15
      +5

      Probably just VISA asking him to pay for the Olympics sponsorship and he said no thanks.

      Mastercard is cheaper to issue apparently. That is why a lot of banks went over in the 2000s. With paywave and the fees that came with it then everyone went the other way. The fees get split between issuing and acquiring bank and VISA gets a good cut.

      • capslock janitor on 02/09/2021 - 14:16
        +1

        They should add Paypal lmao (even if somewhat a competitor)

      • Bedgrub on 02/09/2021 - 23:50

        Actually I think this is just the first round of hikes to steer people towards their own BNPL service which is launching soon

        • netjock on 02/09/2021 - 23:56

          So instead of us paying up front. Amazon is going to ask us to pay later whether we can pay up front or not? Does it make sense?

          • drprox on 03/09/2021 - 10:39

            @netjock: Yep because it's about increasing our overall spend!

            • netjock on 03/09/2021 - 11:29

              @drprox: BNPL is just kickjing the can down the road. Money will run out.

            • Franc-T on 04/09/2021 - 19:29
              +1

              @drprox: Im not sure thats possible here lol

    • PissLUR on 01/09/2021 - 11:17

      and not mastercards

      • TilacVIP on 02/09/2021 - 10:07

        Won't be long before MasterCard and AMEX are included in this scheme.

        • et tu brute on 02/09/2021 - 15:31

          @TilacVIP
          "Won't be long before MasterCard and AMEX are included in this scheme."

          … the market place will decide. I would like to think that with the additional competition with ZIPpay, AfterPay etc and now PayPal offering initial interest-free periods before payment in full, traditional payment platforms like VISA, Amex, Mastercard will need to adapt or die. I should imagine that introducing surcharges to be passed on by the retailers may have a short life in the medium to long-term. Alternatively, if ZIP, AfterPay, PayPay start charging interest and/or fees then the landscape will change completely.

          In the US, Amazon.com have their own Amazon-branded Visa card. Will they now be passing on this same 0.5% charge to their customers using their Amanzon-branded Visa card?

          • eug on 02/09/2021 - 15:40

            @et tu brute:

            In the US, Amazon.com have their own Amazon-branded Visa card. Will they now be passing on this same 0.5% charge to their customers using their Amanzon-branded Visa card?

            Maybe they'll switch to MasterCard, like what banks here did.

          • Bypass on 02/09/2021 - 17:19
            +1

            @et tu brute: It won't effect Amazon worldwide.

            Go to Costco in the US they only accept Visa Credit cards. But head across the border to Costco Canada and they only accept Mastercard. So you can't use your American Costco branded credit card in Canada and vise versa

          • Nom on 04/09/2021 - 19:52

            @et tu brute:

            ZIPpay, AfterPay etc and now PayPal offering initial interest-free periods before payment in full, traditional payment platforms like VISA, Amex, Mastercard will need to adapt or die.

            But these services all use Visa and Amex and MasterCard to actually make the payments - so there's no dying going on. The more people that use the interest-free services, the more money is funneling through Visa/MasterCard/Amex…

    • FireRunner on 01/09/2021 - 11:42
      +36

      He didn't become the richest man by being generous

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 01/09/2021 - 11:59
        +8

        Maybe that’s where I been going wrong :’(

        • SteveD on 26/09/2021 - 11:58

          "Charity begins at home" Most richest people on the planet stick to this.

    • afoveht on 01/09/2021 - 12:01
      +16

      They're monitoring what you listen to and watch. They're shaping what you buy. They're now shaping how you pay.

      Yet everyone keeps bending over, forwards.

      • 9839002 on 02/09/2021 - 10:08
        +6

        Absolutely. Many will complain and get up in arms about this, but most will comply by changing to a different payment method, or just wear the fee. Talk is cheap. Vote with your dollars and shop elsewhere. Amazon is a shit show.

        • capslock janitor on 02/09/2021 - 14:17

          Why don't they bend backwards?

          • quick-dry on 02/09/2021 - 16:47

            @capslock janitor: bending over backwards they hurt your back, bending over forwards they get you from the back

      • cookie2 on 02/09/2021 - 14:18

        You're so right.

      • mattythecapybara on 02/09/2021 - 22:47

        But it feels so good!

    • p1 ama on 01/09/2021 - 15:58
      +4

      imagine the company of the richest man on earth… charging a surcharge for visa (but not amex???) LMFAO

      This is why he's the richest man on Earth and not you. It actually makes perfect sense to go after the dominant market segment.

      VISA has the dominant market share, so 0.5% on all VISA transactions is heaps more than a similar surcharge on AMEX. Why would you want to put a surcharge on < 5% (or whatever) of customers when you can do so on 60%

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 01/09/2021 - 16:01
        +11

        This is why he's the richest man on Earth and not you.

        I feel attacked. But I accept I am a piece of trash, so fair game.

        • p1 ama on 01/09/2021 - 16:57
          +4

          DW, I'm not the richest man on Earth either and I wouldn't have thought to put the surcharge on Visa either.

      • GOCAT9 on 03/09/2021 - 10:34

        I think he is going to start these Visa charges to make up for losing the NASA human landing contract worth $6 billion, instead of the contract going to SpaceX.

    • PopCounty on 01/09/2021 - 16:19
      +5

      Amazon doing this stuff doesn’t seem right. I mean not from price increment perspective. There could be something more to it.

      VISA, without any doubt, would be highest transacting card among others. Maybe Amazon wants to change the behaviour or a billion (and more) people. Make a very difficult ‘first’ move/change.

      Maybe they wanna introduce/affiliate with ‘some’ crypto without making it obvious at the moment. When they have enough confidence Ppl will make a move.

      Maybe I am too paranoid 😜

      • [Deactivated] on 01/09/2021 - 22:49
        +8

        This ^

        It's clear that Bezos has an issue with Visa and a disagreement of some type induced hard handed tactics to sway billions of people to use a different card.

        Visa is probably scrambling to figure out WTF to do now and MasterCard and Amex are laughing about it.

        I can't wait to see what happens in this story =)

      • cookie2 on 02/09/2021 - 14:44

        I was assuming there was an ulterior motive too. So we're both paranoid.😁

        • WhyAmICommenting on 02/09/2021 - 16:41
          -1

          Huh? What do you know? Who told you???

    • mickyb80 on 02/09/2021 - 00:49

      Maybe he has chashed up Visa shares?

    • Caped Baldy on 02/09/2021 - 10:20
      +6

      I'm good with him. Bezos saved The Expanse.

      • zephyrfox on 02/09/2021 - 13:14
        +3

        The Expanse alone justifies the surcharge :D

  • Nuggets on 01/09/2021 - 11:10
    +3

    Which banks offer MasterCard credit cards? I've found the number to be dwindling over the years.

    • jelreyn on 01/09/2021 - 11:29
      +1

      CBA does… they switched them to MC awhile back. Got a CC and Debit card, both MC.
      Though my CBA business CC is VISA still… don't know why there's a difference.

      • Bedgrub on 02/09/2021 - 23:54

        I’d assume that businesses prefer the VISA brand, as it’s more internationally recognised?

        • eug on 03/09/2021 - 00:05

          Hmmm, are there stores that accept Visa but not MasterCard?

    • DogGunn on 01/09/2021 - 11:32
      +12

      It's definitely been going the other way. Most banks are moving towards Mastercard.

      Commonwealth did, Citibank did. Westpac did.

      • Nuggets on 01/09/2021 - 11:33
        +1

        Yeah, it's probably just anecdotal on my end. Almost all of the cards I have held in the past couple of years have been visa, probably through sheer coincidence.

      • TilacVIP on 02/09/2021 - 10:07

        Citibank still does… converted me from a VISA over to a Master

    • kerfuffle on 01/09/2021 - 11:33
      +3

      Commbank and Westpac are exclusively Mastercard

    • charzy on 01/09/2021 - 11:47
      +1

      My citibank recently went from Visa to Mastercard

      • scrice on 01/09/2021 - 14:03

        My Citi credit is still Visa and I haven't heard about changes, yet. I know the debit switched to mastercard a while back though.

    • SimAus007 on 01/09/2021 - 11:55

      Actually, I'd say the opposite, I have a few cards that have left Visa, such as Citi (The biggest white labelled CC company in Australia) who operate under the brands of Citibank, Virgin Money, Qantas and many others.

    • star-ggg on 01/09/2021 - 12:00
      +2

      Macq Bank

    • johnno07 on 01/09/2021 - 23:50
      +2

      Also Bankwest

    • megadeth on 02/09/2021 - 00:08

      Just get 28 degree

      • gromit on 02/09/2021 - 10:23

        I liked 28 degree's card, but the pain in the arse website made me ditch it for another card.

    • et tu brute on 02/09/2021 - 15:36

      My bank, Westpac, just dumped my VISA card in June, 2021 and switched me over to MasterCard. It's been a long time coming apparently.

  • apsilon on 01/09/2021 - 11:10
    +2

    Haven't heard anything about this. I mainly use Amex though but odd that it's Visa that they're targetting as it's usually Amex where fees are higher.

    • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 11:11

      I think it is because VISA's been raking it in with paywave. Paywave charges like credit cards (40c + %) even for debit cards (flat 40c)

      • jimbobaus on 01/09/2021 - 11:31
        +5

        A lot of banks treat paywave when a debit card is used as a "debit" transaction not a credit one
        The merchant is charged as if eftpos was used, not credit.

        Regulator is planning to make this feature mandatory within 12 months

        • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 11:49
          +2

          Josh F.

          Don't know what everyone else thinks. He talks a lot but I am not sure much get done.

          He keeps on pushing back on any COVID disaster payments for Victoria and he is MP here.

          • Antikythera on 01/09/2021 - 15:44
            +1

            @netjock: I thought the LNP would be very happy with disaster payments. its a way of not increasing the jobseeker payments. Two tier welfare system.

            I'm not complaining, but I also recognise the inequity. I qualify for disaster payment but last year my work didn't qualify for JobKeeper so I got JobSeeker instead. I'm actually better off personally this time around.

            The disaster payment going directly to workers also eliminates the bad optics of JobKeeper money going to the likes of Jerry Harvey.

            • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 19:49
              +2

              @Antikythera: The bad optics were designed like that.

            • sk3iron on 04/09/2021 - 10:11

              @Antikythera: I would've liked to think a lot of the hardly normal faithful jumped ship after that disaster but apparently they racked in record profits this year despite it.

              That said, apparently he's decided to be generous and pay it back after posting record profits of almost a billion dollars. The fact that it took this long over a measly 6 million dollars when your earning that sort of money is such a farce though, like I needed another reason not to shop there… I'm still pissed about the tablet I never got in 2012, this was the back when he called ozbargainers "professionals and not everyday consumers". Which I think he thought was an insult but was probably more of a complement to us tbh.

              • bamzero on 04/09/2021 - 10:50

                @sk3iron: Paid back 6 million, but didn't he receive 22 million?

  • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 11:10

    Get a mastercard

  • hamza23 on 01/09/2021 - 11:12
    +2

    Full email:

    We’re writing to notify you of a change to Visa credit card payments on Amazon.com.au.

    Due to the costs associated with Visa transactions, beginning 1 November 2021, Amazon will apply a 0.5% surcharge to purchases made using Visa credit cards on Amazon.com.au. You can avoid the surcharge by using any debit card, Zip, or any non-Visa credit card like a Mastercard, Amex, or UnionPay card. Additionally, we are working to add more, faster and cheaper payment options for customers.

    We know this may be an inconvenience, and our customer service team is standing by to help. Thank you for your understanding, and for being an Amazon customer.

    • blehgg on 01/09/2021 - 15:20
      +5

      Bitcoin is coming or Cardano or AmazonCoin

      • Keplaffintech on 01/09/2021 - 20:01
        +7

        it said 'faster and cheaper'

  • AKJJ on 01/09/2021 - 11:13
    +10

    Can just use Zip then immediately pay off with your Visa CC?

    • PissLUR on 01/09/2021 - 11:17
      -1

      yes you can.

    • MagnamoniousRex on 01/09/2021 - 11:28
      -5

      zip doesnt take credit cards, only debit

      • PissLUR on 01/09/2021 - 11:34
        +4

        zip take credit cards.

      • kerfuffle on 01/09/2021 - 11:48

        Zip takes credit cards. Well they did back in January

      • megadeth on 02/09/2021 - 00:07
        +1

        Your comment is correct, didn’t know why you got negged. Party is only till when the cc added to zip expires. I think there no option to add a new cc. Lucky my 28 deg is added to zip and has 2 more years before it expires.

        • et tu brute on 02/09/2021 - 15:43
          -2

          Some dumb-arse just negged you so I negated it. I guess they do it because they truly believe they are fearless keyboards warriors. Now sit back and watch me getting negged for having raised the issue.

      • AKJJ on 01/09/2021 - 12:05
        +2

        It’s available for me, just checked

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 03/09/2021 - 15:55

      Wonder if this will have any implications to your credit score?

      • AKJJ on 03/09/2021 - 18:51

        Applying for a ZIP account for the first time probably would, as I believe they credit check. But following this it shouldn’t - if anything, would have a positive effect if you regularly make payments on or ahead of time.

        • megadeth on 05/09/2021 - 21:02

          $1500 limit account ‘zip pay’ used to have no credit enquires and was approved instantly, but the other one which they called ‘zip money’ seems to have associated credit check during signup process. Not sure if it has changed recently and if signing up for either will have credit enquiry implications.

  • end user on 01/09/2021 - 11:15

    Just got this notification 5 mins ago too! I wonder if surcharge still applies if I pay by PayPal using my linked Visa card?

    • bamzero on 01/09/2021 - 11:18

      Well unless it's one of the "faster and cheaper payment options for customers" they are working to add, it's not an option but if it were then no as Paypal would be the one charging the fees. Probably more than the credit card processors though.

      • SimAus007 on 01/09/2021 - 12:02

        Amazon does not accept any other payment method than credit or debit cards, no PayPal, no buy no pay later.

        • bamzero on 01/09/2021 - 12:03
          +2

          You can use Zip Pay

          • SimAus007 on 01/09/2021 - 12:05

            @bamzero: So they do, has that just been added? I've never seen it. Not that I am about to sign up for another one of these services, I already have AfterPay.

    • ZeroSix on 01/09/2021 - 11:18
      +15

      AFAIK Amazon doesn’t support PayPal

      • end user on 01/09/2021 - 11:20

        You are right!

  • cheapass88 on 01/09/2021 - 11:15
    +6

    I was just going to post this. Ridiculous move Amazon!

    • bozbargain on 01/09/2021 - 12:03
      +5

      Why is it a ridiculous move? Perhaps VISA has been unreasonable in merchant fee negotiations. People seem to be fine with an AmEx surcharge so what's the difference here? If Amazon feels they get a better deal with AmEx and MC than with VISA, why can't they ask for a small surcharge for VISA?

      Most Amazon users would have a debit card and/or a MC/AmEx so they can still purchase on Amazon without the surcharge.

      • et tu brute on 02/09/2021 - 15:52

        VISA are ruthless. I instinctively DON'T use paywave or credit card options with my cards. I EFTPOS all the way. I know it's just a token effort because the retailers end up either absorbing credit card/paywave (and ZIP pay etc) transaction costs into the total cost of running a business thereby increasing the retail cost of all items sold, including transactions paid in-store with actual cash.

  • bamzero on 01/09/2021 - 11:16
    +7

    Just got this email. Must say, quite unexpected from Amazon.

  • ZeroSix on 01/09/2021 - 11:19
    +2

    I wonder if this applies to Visa debit cards too?

    • fiveferrari on 01/09/2021 - 11:22

      Same question.

      Edit : Email says : You can avoid the surcharge by using any debit card,

      I think all Debit cards should be fine.

    • colaman on 01/09/2021 - 11:24

      Visa debit is fine, but people such as myself do not have this feature on a rewards card.

      • oO0Dam0Oo on 01/09/2021 - 12:20
        +2

        Or the protections of a credit card insurance.

  • morphio on 01/09/2021 - 11:19
    +11

    Just got the email. Thought it was an April Fools joke, then I saw it's 1st September. SMH Amazon.

  • rektrading on 01/09/2021 - 11:22

    This has been in the works for a long time. All the big international retailers are finding ways to reduce their exposure to credit card payments.

    Credit cards as a payment option are convenient to customers but a liability to retailers. They've high fees, are prone to fraudulent Tx and chargebacks.

    Customers can expect retailers to start adopting new payment options in 2022. People that have been following the news will know what those options are.

    • amazonaddict on 01/09/2021 - 11:24
      +1

      You mean Amazon will have its own crypto currency?

      • Xistn on 01/09/2021 - 11:29
        +1

        Surprised they haven't yet.

        • netjock on 01/09/2021 - 11:35
          +3

          It is called Amazon Gift Cards.

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