Amazon.com.au adds 0.5% VISA Credit Surcharge from 1 Nov 2021

Amazon.com.au adds 0.5% VISA Credit Surcharge from 1 Nov 2021

We’ve received a tip off that Amazon Australia has decided to add a 0.5% Surcharge for VISA Credit payments made by customers from 1 Nov 2021.

Of course credit card payments cost more to process than debit card payments but most often when shopping credit card surcharges apply to AMEX cards not VISA so this move is unexpected.

Amazon says you can avoid this extra surcharge by paying with any non-VISA creditcard, any debit card or ZIP.

If you want to do this, make sure you delete your VISA credit card from the saved card list on your Amazon.com.au account and add another card that won’t get surcharged.

It is not clear if this surcharge will also apply to payments for other services supplied by Amazon Australia eg: Amazon Prime, Music, Kindle Unlimited, Audible etc. We have asked a spokesperson to clarify.

A spokesperson for Amazon Australia advised Ausdroid:

“The cost of accepting card payments continues to be an obstacle to providing the best prices for customers. These costs should be going down over time with innovation and technological advancements, which allows merchants to reinvest savings into low prices and shopping enhancements for customers. Yet, despite these advancements, some cards’ cost of payments continue to stay high or even rise.”

“As a result of Visa’s continued high cost of payments, a surcharge is being added to Visa credit card payments in Australia in addition to Singapore, which we announced in early August.”

“Our goal is for no customer to pay this surcharge, and we’re encouraging them to add a non-Visa credit card to their account in order to avoid doing so.

“Australian customers with a Visa credit card as their default payment method will receive a $20 gift card when they add a different payment method.”

“With the rapidly changing payments landscape around the world, we anticipate a future that is less card-centric in the coming years, and we will continue innovating on behalf of customers to add and promote faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment options to our stores across the globe.”