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Unfortunately, paying online is also quite an inconvenience if you live in an area where credit cards are an exception, not the norm. The Dutch banking sector

by lucumo 18y ago

Unfortunately, paying online is also quite an inconvenience if you live in an area where credit cards are an exception, not the norm. The Dutch banking sector solved it quite nicely by creating an online payment system (supported by almost all banks) that's well integrated into their online banking systems[1]. It works for the national market, but when your browsing crosses the border, you're back into the territory of the infernal credit card. In this country, the credit card is often seen as a road to debt and as insecure. The banks' system is seen as much more trustworthy. Even if it doesn't support chargebacks, where the CC does... I suppose that moving from no-risk piracy to risky paying is a hurdle in and of itself, even if the risk is just perceived. [1] It's called iDEAL. It even has a Wikipedia page in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL It never ceases to amaze me how often my countrymen translate their national quirks into English...

pmjordan 18y ago
Credit cards are pretty rare in Austria, too. (I blame the banks in part; getting a CC here has been a nightmare for me and has taken over half a year!) Amazon seems to do fine regardless, as they've just adapted to the local idiosyncracies. iTunes seems to solve it with gift vouchers. (the latter presumably being especially useful for kids) Come to think of it, there must be a substantial market for painless pan-European payment processing. Hmm! Or has this been tried and failed many times before? In any case, to address the micropayment angle, you could optionally pre-charge your account with a certain amount of credit and slowly use that up. I'm sure this sort of thing could be solved, given enough demand. The problem seem to be the copyright holders, though, so I have little hope.
- lucumo 18y ago
  > Credit cards are pretty rare in Austria, too. (I blame the banks in part; getting a CC here has been a nightmare for me and has taken over half a year!) There's also a fee associated with having a credit card here, so unless you use it a lot, it's generally hardly worth your while. Amazon either completely ignores the Dutch market or it doesn't get a foot in the door. amazon.nl redirects to amazon.co.uk. There is a Dutch competitor[1] that's pretty big here. Before iDEAL they just worked around the whole credit card mess by sending bills[2]. > Come to think of it, there must be a substantial market for painless pan-European payment processing. Hmm! Or has this been tried and failed many times before? There has been a very small scare here that a system like that (in the context of the Single Euro Payments Area[3]) might supersede the local iDEAL system by an inferior system. I'm not aware of any previous attempts on pan-European payment systems. There have been some attempts on the Dutch national market before iDEAL, but most of them failed (presumably because if it doesn't have the support of all major banks, the market will end up fragmented). [1] Bol.com [2] The Dutch "acceptgiro", you just fill in your account number (if that hasn't been done already), sign it and send it to your bank. Surprisingly, there isn't an English Wikipedia page for it :-) [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

by lucumo 18y ago

pmjordan 18y ago

Credit cards are pretty rare in Austria, too. (I blame the banks in part; getting a CC here has been a nightmare for me and has taken over half a year!) Amazon seems to do fine regardless, as they've just adapted to the local idiosyncracies. iTunes seems to solve it with gift vouchers. (the latter presumably being especially useful for kids) Come to think of it, there must be a substantial market for painless pan-European payment processing. Hmm! Or has this been tried and failed many times before? In any case, to address the micropayment angle, you could optionally pre-charge your account with a certain amount of credit and slowly use that up. I'm sure this sort of thing could be solved, given enough demand. The problem seem to be the copyright holders, though, so I have little hope.

lucumo 18y ago
> Credit cards are pretty rare in Austria, too. (I blame the banks in part; getting a CC here has been a nightmare for me and has taken over half a year!) There's also a fee associated with having a credit card here, so unless you use it a lot, it's generally hardly worth your while. Amazon either completely ignores the Dutch market or it doesn't get a foot in the door. amazon.nl redirects to amazon.co.uk. There is a Dutch competitor[1] that's pretty big here. Before iDEAL they just worked around the whole credit card mess by sending bills[2]. > Come to think of it, there must be a substantial market for painless pan-European payment processing. Hmm! Or has this been tried and failed many times before? There has been a very small scare here that a system like that (in the context of the Single Euro Payments Area[3]) might supersede the local iDEAL system by an inferior system. I'm not aware of any previous attempts on pan-European payment systems. There have been some attempts on the Dutch national market before iDEAL, but most of them failed (presumably because if it doesn't have the support of all major banks, the market will end up fragmented). [1] Bol.com [2] The Dutch "acceptgiro", you just fill in your account number (if that hasn't been done already), sign it and send it to your bank. Surprisingly, there isn't an English Wikipedia page for it :-) [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area