Amazon to add 0.5% surcharge on Visa credit card orders on Amazon.sg

Credit cards have become a popular payment method for consumption because of their convenience and speed . If you have to pay extra fees for using credit cards , what impact will it have on the credit card market? Visa, which ranks second in the number of people using it in the Singapore market , recently encountered such a problem.

E-commerce giant Amazon will impose a 0.5% surcharge on Visa credit card transactions on its Singapore website Amazon.sg from September 15, according to foreign media reports.

The surcharge applies to most orders made using Visa credit cards on the Amazon.sg website, however, groceries from Amazon Fresh, in-app purchases of digital goods and services on Amazon's service Twitch, and subscription plans such as Amazon Prime are not affected by the surcharge.

Amazon said that the additional tax on Visa credit card orders was not to make a profit, but to encourage consumers to use better and lower-cost payment methods. Amazon respects the choice of users and has postponed the collection of the additional tax .

In an email sent to Amazon.sg users , Amazon attributed the surcharge to Visa's high payment costs. "To avoid this surcharge, we encourage you to use a debit card or non-Visa credit card as the default payment method in your account," Amazon added in the email.

Amazon also said that the high cost of credit card payments is a barrier to providing the best prices to customers. Over time and with the development of innovative technology, these costs should decrease, allowing merchants to invest the savings into providing customers with a better shopping experience.

As the global payment landscape changes rapidly , Amazon expects that the future of payment will not be card-centric . Amazon will continue to innovate and add faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment options to stores around the world.

Visa insists that the simplest , most efficient and consumer-friendly way should be for merchants to stop charging consumers surcharges . Consumers should only pay for the services provided and the cost of goods , not for additional taxes.

Singapore is the first country to be levied a surcharge . It is not clear whether Amazon will start to levy surcharges in other countries in the future , but it is certain that this policy will have a certain negative impact on consumers and merchants on the Amazon.sg website .

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