Amazon.com, 7-Eleven sue Visa and MasterCard over fees

The retailers file lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against the card companies

Amazon.com Inc and 7-Eleven Inc sued Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc over card fees after rejecting a multibillion-dollar settlement in an antitrust case.

The retailers and about 30 others filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan against the card companies and several major banks. The companies are among more than 7,000 that have dropped out of the $7.25-billion accord over the fees, which are borne by merchants when customers use credit cards.

"Once Visa and MasterCard acquired substantial market power over merchants, they maintained it by forcing merchants to pay even higher interchange fees to continue to fund these price-fixing schemes," the retailers said in the complaint filed on Wednesday.

The settlement, under consideration by a US federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, would put to rest about eight years of litigation in the nationwide suit. Dozens of retailers have said they're opposed to the accord because it would give Visa and MasterCard too much freedom to raise rates in the future. "These same tired arguments were already raised repeatedly over the course of the litigation," Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents card companies and banks, said in a statement.

"Had these arguments had any merit or strength, they would have been included in the final settlement."

Other retailers
Other retailers that dropped out of the settlement have also filed their own lawsuits, including CVS Pharmacy Inc and a group led by Target Corp and Macy's Inc.

Visa sued Walmart Stores Inc this month over concerns that the world's largest retailer would also file a separate swipe-fee complaint. The payment network said in a complaint that it wanted to prevent "the continuation of endless, wasteful litigation".