eBay’s decision to ditch American Express as a payment option from August 17th onwards has reignited the longstanding debate over credit card transaction fees. The e-commerce giant cites the “unacceptably high fees” levied by Amex as the driving force behind this move, claiming that the lack of meaningful competition among credit card networks allows these charges to escalate unchecked.
eBay statement regarding American express
In a pointed statement, eBay calls for more robust regulations to foster greater competition and potentially curb the ever-rising transaction processing costs. However, American Express vehemently disagrees with this characterization, asserting that its fees are comparable to other cards accepted by eBay. The company argues that eBay’s decision runs counter to its purported desire to increase competition at the point of sale, dismissing the impact as negligible – less than 0.2 percent of its total network volume.
This tussle echoes similar disputes between retailers and credit card companies in recent years, such as Amazon’s near-abandonment of Visa in the UK just last year. While eBay remains open to other payment methods like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo, the fallout with American Express underscores the ongoing tensions surrounding transaction fees and the perceived lack of competition in the credit card industry.
