5 ms·

Serious question: Other than a credit card, how can you pay for things online? Paypal? Bitcoin?

by recursive 12y ago

jiggy2011 12y ago
Debit card
- chc 12y ago
  Can't debit cards generally be used as credit cards?
  - jiggy2011 12y ago
    Yes, but without the credit part.
    - chc 12y ago
      But I mean, in the context of accepting payments online, debit cards aren't really an alternative to credit cards, are they? The two go hand-in-hand. Merchants that accept credit generally accept debit, so you're fine in that situation if you prefer debit.
  - yen223 12y ago
    Debit cards are the same as credit cards, but without the credit, the protections, or the reward points. As long as you can maintain financial discipline, there's really no reason to be using a debit card.
    - chc 12y ago
      A small niggle, because I see a lot of people say this: At least in the US, many banks do extend the same protections to both credit and debit cards. My wife and I both had our debit card info stolen in separate hacks over the past few years, and both times our respective banks just asked us a few questions, credited the money back to our accounts and sent a new card that automatically replaced the old card upon activation.
      - kijin 12y ago
        How long did it take for your bank to return the stolen funds? I heard it takes at least a couple of days in most cases. The scary thing about debit cards is that when someone steals money with it, they're stealing your money. So if your account is drained and your rent is due tomorrow, you're in trouble. With credit cards, on the other hand, the thief steals the bank's money. Your money is safe the whole time.
        chc 12y ago
        For me at least, it was credited immediately, with the caveat that they would remove the same amount if an investigation showed that the funds had not actually been stolen.
    - jiggy2011 12y ago
      Credit cards can cost more for merchants to process, sometimes they pass this cost onto the consumer with a credit card surcharge. It's also easier to track your spending on a debit card as you can check the remaining balance at any ATM rather than waiting for the bill or going online.
      - coev 12y ago
        Every place I've been to that surcharges credit cards also tries to do it to debit (see gas stations) so your line of reasoning there is suspect.
        AjithAntony 12y ago
        I don't have a source to cite, but I think in general, Debit cards swiped as credit cost the merchant the same or maybe more. There are some recent court decisions that may have capped these. High fees for this stuff is the reason by so many banks changed their retail business model to things like Totally free checking(when you make 12 debit card purchases each month).
Nickoladze 12y ago
I have a Debit card that I just run as a credit card everywhere. I use it to pay for everything in the offline world (gas and food mostly). I use it online as well, but I prefer to use Paypal which is hooked up to my bank account. I'm probably less protected against fraud, but I haven't had a reason to worry yet.
DasIch 12y ago
You just transfer the money from your bank account to the bank account of the merchant. There are various methods to do that, I prefer giropay[1]. If it's a merchant you regularly use like amazon you allow the merchant to directly withdraw[2] the money from your account. It's not like this is some weird highly advanced stuff. Surely that's possible in the US as well? [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giropay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giropay [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronisches_Lastschriftverfahren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronisches_Lastschriftverfa...
- chc 12y ago
  It is not generally possible to do this in the US. Amazon allows it, but most places do not because it's not a very in-demand service — using cards is safer and easier than giving out your bank information, so not very many people insist on the latter.
  - zxer 12y ago
    How could a bank transfer be less safe? I don't know the US system but if I give out my bank account number the only thing someone can use it for is to send money to me. On the other hand if someone malicious gets my credit card number they can use it to buy stuff and I have to go through a lot of trouble to get a new card.
    - chc 12y ago
      In the US, an account + routing number pair is basically the keys to the kingdom. Yes, it is kind of scary.
    - jauer 12y ago
      It's somewhat the opposite in the US. With your bank routing and account number someone can make out bad checks or EFT pull from your account. Halting or reversing this can be quite difficult and in some cases it isn't possible to get your money back. With credit cards the liability is on the merchant that accepts the card to verify that the person presenting the card is authorized to use it. Card issuers will reverse charges and leave the merchant out the money in the event of fraud.

Serious question: Other than a credit card, how can you pay for things online? Paypal? Bitcoin?

jiggy2011 12y ago

Debit card

chc 12y ago
Can't debit cards generally be used as credit cards?
- jiggy2011 12y ago
  Yes, but without the credit part.
  - chc 12y ago
    But I mean, in the context of accepting payments online, debit cards aren't really an alternative to credit cards, are they? The two go hand-in-hand. Merchants that accept credit generally accept debit, so you're fine in that situation if you prefer debit.
- yen223 12y ago
  Debit cards are the same as credit cards, but without the credit, the protections, or the reward points. As long as you can maintain financial discipline, there's really no reason to be using a debit card.
  - chc 12y ago
    A small niggle, because I see a lot of people say this: At least in the US, many banks do extend the same protections to both credit and debit cards. My wife and I both had our debit card info stolen in separate hacks over the past few years, and both times our respective banks just asked us a few questions, credited the money back to our accounts and sent a new card that automatically replaced the old card upon activation.
    - kijin 12y ago
      How long did it take for your bank to return the stolen funds? I heard it takes at least a couple of days in most cases. The scary thing about debit cards is that when someone steals money with it, they're stealing your money. So if your account is drained and your rent is due tomorrow, you're in trouble. With credit cards, on the other hand, the thief steals the bank's money. Your money is safe the whole time.
      - chc 12y ago
        For me at least, it was credited immediately, with the caveat that they would remove the same amount if an investigation showed that the funds had not actually been stolen.
  - jiggy2011 12y ago
    Credit cards can cost more for merchants to process, sometimes they pass this cost onto the consumer with a credit card surcharge. It's also easier to track your spending on a debit card as you can check the remaining balance at any ATM rather than waiting for the bill or going online.
    - coev 12y ago
      Every place I've been to that surcharges credit cards also tries to do it to debit (see gas stations) so your line of reasoning there is suspect.
      - AjithAntony 12y ago
        I don't have a source to cite, but I think in general, Debit cards swiped as credit cost the merchant the same or maybe more. There are some recent court decisions that may have capped these. High fees for this stuff is the reason by so many banks changed their retail business model to things like Totally free checking(when you make 12 debit card purchases each month).

Nickoladze 12y ago

I have a Debit card that I just run as a credit card everywhere. I use it to pay for everything in the offline world (gas and food mostly). I use it online as well, but I prefer to use Paypal which is hooked up to my bank account. I'm probably less protected against fraud, but I haven't had a reason to worry yet.

DasIch 12y ago

You just transfer the money from your bank account to the bank account of the merchant. There are various methods to do that, I prefer giropay[1]. If it's a merchant you regularly use like amazon you allow the merchant to directly withdraw[2] the money from your account. It's not like this is some weird highly advanced stuff. Surely that's possible in the US as well? [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giropay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giropay [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronisches_Lastschriftverfahren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronisches_Lastschriftverfa...

chc 12y ago
It is not generally possible to do this in the US. Amazon allows it, but most places do not because it's not a very in-demand service — using cards is safer and easier than giving out your bank information, so not very many people insist on the latter.
- zxer 12y ago
  How could a bank transfer be less safe? I don't know the US system but if I give out my bank account number the only thing someone can use it for is to send money to me. On the other hand if someone malicious gets my credit card number they can use it to buy stuff and I have to go through a lot of trouble to get a new card.
  - chc 12y ago
    In the US, an account + routing number pair is basically the keys to the kingdom. Yes, it is kind of scary.
  - jauer 12y ago
    It's somewhat the opposite in the US. With your bank routing and account number someone can make out bad checks or EFT pull from your account. Halting or reversing this can be quite difficult and in some cases it isn't possible to get your money back. With credit cards the liability is on the merchant that accepts the card to verify that the person presenting the card is authorized to use it. Card issuers will reverse charges and leave the merchant out the money in the event of fraud.