3 ms·

Scanning QR in your bank app for payment is near universal in Europe. In fact, it is considered very annoying if a site does not provide the option.

tjoff 6mo ago
Looks similar but is a different thing entirely. That is for allowing a someone to take money from your account. Because the concept of credit/debit cards is batshit insane that only serves to finance organized crime.
realusername 6mo ago
I live in France and no such payement system ever took off. We just pay with a standard credit card.
- benhurmarcel 6mo ago
  Standard card payment that you need to autorize on your phone in your bank's app...
  - realusername 6mo ago
    That's 2FA though, not a QR code payment.
walletdrainer 6mo ago
I’m European, never encountered the system you describe. What is it and why does it exist? Apple Pay has been widely available since 2016. Why would anyone want to use some clunky QR-code thing instead?
- ntoskrnl_exe 6mo ago
  QR codes are used in direct account-to-account transactions. They encode all the data like the IBAN-based account number, bank code, requested sum etc. that you may find on invoices in a way that’s much more convenient than typing over by hand. Apple Pay meanwhile uses your credit/debit card to perform the transaction, the other party needs a terminal or payment gateway and is required to pay fees to Visa or MasterCard.
- mike_hearn 6mo ago
  For better or worse there's no such thing as "Europe" despite the wish of many on HN. Such a system exists in, for example, Switzerland. Actually there are two such systems that aren't compatible. There are QR code invoices for domestic payments, where the code includes the target bank account details, amount to pay, transaction details etc. That's scanned by your bank app, direct p2p payment. And there is Twint, which is a domestic consumer payments app. The QR codes often contain short one time use codes that are looked up server side. Why do people use them: because it's easy and the fees are low. Banks give you QR code invoices even for small businesses for free. Twint is a bit like Venmo, you can send to numbers in your address book for free, and for businesses they can do website integrations easily and even print out static QR codes to stick on market stalls etc. Twint isn't as fast, convenient or reliable as NFC card payments so the card/tech companies still have an advantage. But it's been getting better. Maybe at some point the NFC elements in the card tech will become flexible enough to allow arbitrary mobile apps to be as good as tap-to-pay.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
dfox 6mo ago
It is far from being universal. And the more annoying part of that is that there are at least 4 incompatible "standards" as to the format of the QRcode.
account42 6mo ago
Europe has very diverse payment systems, you shouldn't be making generalized statements like this.
gib444 6mo ago
To which small subset of Europe are you actually referring?

tjoff 6mo ago

Looks similar but is a different thing entirely. That is for allowing a someone to take money from your account. Because the concept of credit/debit cards is batshit insane that only serves to finance organized crime.

realusername 6mo ago

I live in France and no such payement system ever took off. We just pay with a standard credit card.

benhurmarcel 6mo ago
Standard card payment that you need to autorize on your phone in your bank's app...
- realusername 6mo ago
  That's 2FA though, not a QR code payment.

walletdrainer 6mo ago

I’m European, never encountered the system you describe. What is it and why does it exist? Apple Pay has been widely available since 2016. Why would anyone want to use some clunky QR-code thing instead?

ntoskrnl_exe 6mo ago
QR codes are used in direct account-to-account transactions. They encode all the data like the IBAN-based account number, bank code, requested sum etc. that you may find on invoices in a way that’s much more convenient than typing over by hand. Apple Pay meanwhile uses your credit/debit card to perform the transaction, the other party needs a terminal or payment gateway and is required to pay fees to Visa or MasterCard.
mike_hearn 6mo ago
For better or worse there's no such thing as "Europe" despite the wish of many on HN. Such a system exists in, for example, Switzerland. Actually there are two such systems that aren't compatible. There are QR code invoices for domestic payments, where the code includes the target bank account details, amount to pay, transaction details etc. That's scanned by your bank app, direct p2p payment. And there is Twint, which is a domestic consumer payments app. The QR codes often contain short one time use codes that are looked up server side. Why do people use them: because it's easy and the fees are low. Banks give you QR code invoices even for small businesses for free. Twint is a bit like Venmo, you can send to numbers in your address book for free, and for businesses they can do website integrations easily and even print out static QR codes to stick on market stalls etc. Twint isn't as fast, convenient or reliable as NFC card payments so the card/tech companies still have an advantage. But it's been getting better. Maybe at some point the NFC elements in the card tech will become flexible enough to allow arbitrary mobile apps to be as good as tap-to-pay.
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]

dfox 6mo ago

It is far from being universal. And the more annoying part of that is that there are at least 4 incompatible "standards" as to the format of the QRcode.

account42 6mo ago

Europe has very diverse payment systems, you shouldn't be making generalized statements like this.

gib444 6mo ago

To which small subset of Europe are you actually referring?