After Amazon threatened to ban Visa in the UK, some of the world's largest retailers' industry associations called on the US antitrust regulators to review the fees charged by credit card companies.
The trade union said it was concerned about the "excessive" fees that Visa and rival MasterCard companies charge retailers. Amazon announced this week that it would continue to accept Visa credit cards held by British customers. Earlier, the company said that it planned to ban such credit cards on its website from Wednesday due to rising transaction costs.
"We think the American authorities should pay close attention to what Amazon is doing in the UK, and need to realize that many retailers here feel the same way," the Merchant Payment Alliance said in a letter to regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Trade Commission's regulatory agency, the Ministry of Justice.
“Despite the reversal, Amazon's action shows that even the largest retailers are frustrated by the soaring card fees, while the situation of small retailers is even worse. "
Retailers have long complained about the rising cost of debit and credit cards. During the epidemic, with the increase in the use of credit cards and more and more consumers shopping online, these costs are getting higher and higher.
VisaDefend card fees as they help pay for technologies and systems used to monitor fraud and other abuses, and allow consumers to spend freely and easily in millions of businesses around the world.
According to the Nielsen Report, an industry publication, retailers now spend more than $110 billion a year accepting credit and debit cards. Although the bank gets most of the money, the card companies such as Visa and Mastercard set the fees.
Merchants Payments Coalition Its members include the National Retail Federation, the National Grocery Association and other industry associations. The organization also sent letters to congressional committees, the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
"Merchants, large and small, are closely following the development of Amazon Visa in the UK and hope that US policymakers will do the same," the alliance said in the letter. "However, few people have the scale and resources of Amazon to fight against such a powerful entity as Visa."