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Because credit cards have traditionally not been popular in Europe. Up to a certain age, my dad was the only person I knew had a credit card. For a long time, P

Because credit cards have traditionally not been popular in Europe. Up to a certain age, my dad was the only person I knew had a credit card. For a long time, PayPal was the most straightforward way to deal with US merchants, because you can link it to an EU bank account. I don’t actually know anyone who uses PayPal for anything but purchases outside the EU. Virtually all payments for online shopping here in The Netherlands are done using IDEAL (which is a system shared by all banks). When I lived in Germany, I did most online purchases through IBAN (you basically give your account number, do a 1 cent verification transaction and it is linked). At any rate, IDEAL is so much better than dealing with all the PayPal crap or using credit cards. Select your bank, scan a QR code, confirm with Face ID and done.

pb7 4y ago
Do your banks not issue debit cards? I understand credit cards being unpopular because the rewards are weak because the transaction fees are low but hard to see how either IDEAL or IBAN are superior to using a physical debit card that you can just tap, or a debit card added to Apple Wallet or equivalent. This will work the exact same way worldwide, whether you're in Europe, the Americas, or Asia, so I don't see how IDEAL is a superior system. I am far, far from a PayPal fan but the ability to seamlessly deal with merchants across the globe from you seems like a pretty good value add. And again, you didn't dispute why PayPal is so popular in Europe.
- manuelmoreale 4y ago
  Banks do Issue Debit Cards but up until recently you couldn’t use debit cards online. For local, in person, transactions my experience tells me the ratio of Debit vs Credit has to be in the order of 10 to 1. Again, that’s just my experience living in Italy in not a huge city. But Europe is definitely not homogeneous so other people will probably have a differente experience. As for getting paid by people across Europe, in my 10+ years as a freelancer I never had to rely on anything different than SEPA direct transfer.

pb7 4y ago

Do your banks not issue debit cards? I understand credit cards being unpopular because the rewards are weak because the transaction fees are low but hard to see how either IDEAL or IBAN are superior to using a physical debit card that you can just tap, or a debit card added to Apple Wallet or equivalent. This will work the exact same way worldwide, whether you're in Europe, the Americas, or Asia, so I don't see how IDEAL is a superior system. I am far, far from a PayPal fan but the ability to seamlessly deal with merchants across the globe from you seems like a pretty good value add. And again, you didn't dispute why PayPal is so popular in Europe.

manuelmoreale 4y ago
Banks do Issue Debit Cards but up until recently you couldn’t use debit cards online. For local, in person, transactions my experience tells me the ratio of Debit vs Credit has to be in the order of 10 to 1. Again, that’s just my experience living in Italy in not a huge city. But Europe is definitely not homogeneous so other people will probably have a differente experience. As for getting paid by people across Europe, in my 10+ years as a freelancer I never had to rely on anything different than SEPA direct transfer.