Online marketplace eBay Inc. announced June 5 that it will no longer accept American Express as a payment method.
EBay said it is notifying customers about the upcoming change. In the meantime, the company shared that it offers a “variety of popular, relevant, and secure payment options.”
EBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV.
Of those 100 marketplaces, 12 (excluding eBay) do not accept American Express as a payment method. Furthermore, the change would make eBay the only U.S.-based marketplace to not offer American Express. The largest online marketplace not to accept it is JD.com Inc. London-based Etsy subsidiary Depop also does not offer it. JD.com is No. 4 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, and Depop is No. 54. Etsy ranks No. 20.
Why is eBay dropping American Express?
Starting Aug. 17, eBay plans to discontinue its acceptance of American Express. It cited worries over inflation and rising costs among consumers and small businesses as reasons. As a result, eBay said, there is a need for more regulations to increase competition among credit card networks and reduce transaction processing costs for both buyers and sellers.
The online marketplace also said a “vast majority” of its customers are willing to use alternative payment options.
“After careful consideration, eBay has decided to no longer accept American Express globally effective August 17 due to the unacceptably high fees American Express charges for processing credit card transactions,” eBay said in a press release. “At a time when payment processing costs should be declining because of technological advancements, investments in fraud capabilities and customer protections by merchants like eBay, credit card transaction fees continue to rise unabated because of a lack of meaningful competition.”
EBay is not the first major merchant to stop accepting American Express cards. Notably, Costco Wholesale Corp. ended its credit card partnership with American Express in 2016 after about 16 years. The move switched Costco over to Visa’s credit card network and replaced members’ co-branded credit cards with Citigroup-issue Visa cards.
Costco is one of 39 online retailers in the Top 2000 to not accept American Express cards as payment. The Top 2000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in North America based on their annual web sales. Costco ranks No. 7 and is the largest Top 2000 retailer not to accept American Express.
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