7 ms·
I love PayPal. It might be another be-evil type corporation. But it is just sooo convenient. I am just curious if there is some alternative to it in Germany. I
by lnsru 4y ago
I love PayPal. It might be another be-evil type corporation. But it is just sooo convenient. I am just curious if there is some alternative to it in Germany. I don’t want to give my bank account number to every random online shop. Credit card yes, but I am too lazy for entering the numbers every time.
Edit: I am not kenn on saving my credit card number somewhere digitally. Browser, password manager or a text file are not my preferred options.
- varispeed 4y agoHaving to enter my card details have often stopped me from doing unnecessary purchase. That being said I memorised most of my cards and it takes not much longer for me to fill in a card payment form than log in to PP.
- aaaaaA3 4y agoYour browser doesn't save your card information?
- fuzzy2 4y agoThere’s PayDirekt, the would-be homegrown PayPal alternative. Only nobody cares.
- lnsru 4y agoThank you, I will check it.
- Daniel_sk 4y ago1Password (or even plain Keychain) can auto-complete all your debit/credit card numbers. But yes - I prefer not to type it in. For security reasons I am only entering cards directly if the website is using a bank payment gateway. Otherwise I am just generating a random one-use debit card through my bank app.
- gempir 4y agoIt's just very nice layer of abstraction. I don't want every shop I buy from to know which Bank I use or my credit card number, because that's sensitive information. Also when my credit card number changes because my bank randomly decides I'm at risk for fraud I have to login to every service and enter my new CC. In 10 year of Paypal usage I have never once had an issue with my account being locked. Yes there are some cases here and there of people, but personally I didn't have that problem and I just it a lot also for Craigslist etc. Never an issue. I didn't even have to contact Paypal support once. And since it's very popular in germany almost everyone online has to support it or they are losing business.
- pasc1878 4y agoNo. If you use 1password or similar your credit card details are in one place only. You do not allow merchants to save your credit card details.
- memen 4y agoI thought Klarna was quite popular in Germany. Never used it though.
- guerrilla 4y agoI don't know if it's popular in Germany but it's not like PayPal. It's more like a proxy for multiple payment methods as well as a billing and early-stage collections system. In Sweden we use Swish instead of PayPal, which is more like easy direct bank transfers using your mobile phone. Checking out with klarna allows paying with Swish. Normal bank transfers are also easy and free here but they can take a day or two to process, hence Swish (which is run by a consortium of the banks by the way.)
- Semaphor 4y ago> It's more like a proxy for multiple payment methods. That’s also what PayPal is. You can use PayPal to pay with many methods, including Klarna, GiroPay (which might be similar to Swish) etc.
- guerrilla 4y agoI guess but the important difference is that you can't do transfers with Klarna but you can with PayPal and Klarna does invoices while PayPal doesn't. Also of note is that you can't have a positive balance with Klarna (unless maybe you overpaid for something.) I guess you're right though, they're both proxies but provide one or more of the sub-services themselves in-house, just not the same sub-service.
- soco 4y agoI thought the only reason to use Klarna is for payments by invoice, where they would do also a background check on you. Yuck.
- fabian2k 4y agoSEPA Lastschrift is very safe, you can easily revoke any charge. So giving out your account number here is not a significant security risk. And otherwise credit cards and Paypal are the main choices. You can probably just save your credit card information in your browser or something if that's the only thing preventing you from using the credit card.
- Deukhoofd 4y agoNot Germany, but here in The Netherlands the banks just developed an online payment system together 18 years ago, and everyone uses that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL
- ethanbond 4y agoThe Dutch are pathologically practical. Love it. Every time I need to send mail I’m jealous of that whole “write 9 digits in a grid to serve as a stamp” system.
- snowpid 4y agowritting a code replaceming stamps do exist in Germany as well :P
- ethanbond 4y agoOh I have no doubt the US is uniquely behind several countries on this sort of quality of life innovation!
- drstewart 4y agoWhat makes it "uniquely" behind as opposed to other countries that aren't part of that list of "several"?
- ethanbond 4y agoBeing dramatically richer than all of them, mainly
- interactivecode 4y agoyou can also be richer if you just tax people more. it's a solved problem
- 4y ago
- jadyoyster 4y agoMany European countries have secure quick payment solutions which interface with the banking system without giving away sensitive information. All that I've used require you to use your phone or an OTP device/printed card to authenticate. The downside is that it's not as fast as having username and password filled in like you can do with PayPal, and that these only work for the specific country.
- PurpleRamen 4y agoSEPA, Google/Apple Pay, Klarna, a Debit Card from Visa/Master Card, the multiple Paypal-Clones which died one after another...in Germany you have many options. Just depends on the Shop which are actually offered and are working.
- puszczyk 4y agoIn Poland also: - Blik: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blik (similar to payconiq in Lux, and I assume there are similar systems in the other countries) - Pay by link: was very popular since forever in Poland. Seems quite safe, and lower fees than CC/paypall (I don't have a good wikipedia link in English, maybe it's called differently in different countries. The payment gateway asks you to log it to the bank—it redirects to the bank webpage, it's not scraping—and bank then asks you to confirm via app/sms and issues an instantaneous transfer). PayU is quite a popular gateway for that https://corporate.payu.com https://corporate.payu.com
- lexapro 4y agoAmazon Pay is very convenient.
- Waterluvian 4y agoI feel like we need to make a big overview map of what payment is like around the world. Because I believe you. But I also have only ever experienced PayPal as an entirely unnecessary middleman. So I think there may be regional differences in play. I can’t remember the last time I typed in a credit card number. Giving it to PayPal seems like a less secure option, given how free from consequences companies are. And the credit card company is completely on your side. Though maybe that’s because of local laws? Getting a chargeback through PayPal is pulling teeth and their fees are ridiculous.
- lxgr 4y agoAs a customer, you can still use your credit card at Paypal and file disputes with your issuer as usual. The merchant just does not get your card number directly, which anecdotally many users perceive as an advantage. As for German regional effects: Paypal allows payments via SEPA Direct Debit there too (~ACH), which are free but very risky for merchants. Many customers don’t have any online-usable debit card, so that is often their only way to pay online. Paypal takes on that risk for a fee.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- pasc1878 4y agoI am in the UK. As an anecdote - not passing on my credit card details is one reason why I use paypal and then pay Paypal by credit card to get the good disputes process and I trust paypal more than a unknown random place on the web. I now do prefer to use Apple Pay in this case as I trust Apple more than paypal. I do make larger purchases with my credit card to make any dispute easier. For plumbers and others who don't take credit cards I use the direct bank payment.
- Psychotherapist 4y agoThere's Giropay/Paydiret which is neat and offered by some small shops and even some bigger ones like Steam. Also, most banks support Klarna, which you can also use to pay without paying 30 days later or in rates.
- TonyTrapp 4y agoPayPal has started serving me tons of captchas and verification SMS (sometimes multiple of each within less than ten minutes) that it has honestly become infinitely more convenient to use GiroPay and whip out my bank card + TAN generator.
- dleslie 4y agoFor money transfers, here in Canada we have e-Transfers from every major bank. For a small fee, businesses can verify their identity and it makes sending them money as simple as transferring money between your Checking and Savings accounts. For everyone else, your money is sent as an email requiring password verification. It's quite popular. Most contractors I've worked with prefer it. However, it has been prone to theft arising from intercepted emails using weak passwords for money transfers.
- TheLoafOfBread 4y agoIn Europe we have working debit cards, so PayPal is redundant and hardly ever used.
- valdiorn 4y ago??? the UK looooves paypal, both before and after brexit. I love paypal, and I live in the UK. Paypal is essentially the default checkout option on most websites, and supported pretty much everywhere. It is very, very handy as a consumer, but never in a million years would I sell using paypal (too many horror stories about frozen account and kafkaesque support staff)
- TheLoafOfBread 4y agoYeah not my experience. Nobody in my social bubble uses PayPal when there is Visa/Master card with 3D Secure. No reason to. And after my experience with PayPal not even a will to work with that scam company.
- orf 4y agoI’ve never met anyone who has used PayPal in the UK. Why would you need to?
- Semaphor 4y agoWhat? PP is huge in Germany. If they weren’t, this article wouldn’t exist.
- flumpcakes 4y agoI use a debit card / credit card for every online purchase. I have probably used paypal twice? in the last 15 to 20 years in the UK. I'm not sure why I would want to use it outside of eBay, where fraud is apparently rife.
- Bayart 4y agoPaypal is fairly common in France. It's less involved than SEPA, even when it's free and instant. Lydia has gained popularity recently and may replace Paypal for that purpose.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- BrandoElFollito 4y agoPoland has BLIK, a system where you request on your mobile app "I want to get paid X PLN". You get a number. You provide this number to the one who will pay. They input it in their app, the app shows the amount, you confirm and the payement is done. We have Paylib in France, i did not try it yet but it seems that they want to do something similar. It is just that this is France and it will be impractical, limited and painful - as our banking is usually.
- throwuxiytayq 4y agoIt’s only convenient until you’re locked out of your account with no recourse.