Get rid of american payment providers
I know Wero is still in its infancy and the digital Euro is still a few years away, even if you believe there'll be no delays. But depending on where you live you can already do a lot for EU financial independence.
- Use cash (very easy but not ideal in many situations/online)
- Use a national payment providers:
- Germany 🇩🇪: Girocard
- Netherlands 🇳🇱: iDEAL
- France 🇫🇷: Cartes Bancaires
- Poland 🇵🇱: BLIK
- Italy 🇮🇹:Bancomat/PagoBancomat
- Many other options, check for your country
- Use SEPA direct debit mandate or wire money directly if you can
- Sign up to a european crypto exchange and use it for direct purchases. although I get if you don't like crypto but this is just for direct purchases
Otherwise American Payment providers usually get at least 1% and if you use card payment a lot over time that can really add up. This also mostly makes sense when buying from a european company. For US companies it really doesn't matter much. I've been trying to replace Amazon with Otto and I use SEPA direct debit mandate to avoid fees.
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I actually created a Klarna accout to take a step away from Paypal. Everything was fine, until I wanted to do my first transaction. They actually wanted me to put in my bank password in their login form, so that they could "verify my identity". WTF. There was no other option. Immediately logged out and won't turn back - except for deleting my account.
@Chemo Klarna despite being Swedish is actually a pretty shitty Company if you take a closer look. Exploitative and predatory practices are normal for them. Their biggest income? Not commissions from the companies they promote as you might assume, but from the people who can't pay back on time. And that is not by accident. They also are AI first. Not humans first.
European ≠ good.
This community needs to understand that.
@pantherina At least not automatically. No, that is true...
Wtf?? They wanted your bank password on a form of this? Sounds like a fucking scam website
Absolutely, fucking trash service.
A day after I first used them and was forced to give them a phone number "for security" I got a fishing SMS claiming to be a bank I am not using.
MultiBanco / MBway works great in Portugal 🇵🇹
And it's compatible with the spainsh Bizum and the Italian Bancomat. All you need is a phone number.
Indeed Wero being rolled out in EU (for now only France, Belgium, Germany), hopefully the reference soon all over Europe
Sadly, my primary bank (DKB) has no plans to support it at the moment.
Which I find really strange, since it's mostly just an alias (phone number or email) layer on top of IBAN/SEPA.
Depending on how much it gets rolled out and when people demand it more it might just get rolled out late
where can i subscribe to get a notification when Italy joins?
https://werotracker.eu/ This website is quite decent but I don't think you can subscribe/get a notification from it
thank you, i've opened an issue for the subscribe option
Is stuff like credit cards and Apple Pay really that popular in Europe? I know some people use it, but not sure how popular it actually is.
I've been using Paypal more often before real-time transfer recently became really cheap due to new EU rules. But still, some shops make it a pain to use SEPA or don't offer it at all (especially international shops).
Yeah I was mostly talking about european shops. Shops outside of Europe that don't have SEPA often sadly can't offer it. Sometimes there is no way to avoid but as long as you check and reduce usage less money will flow to them. I used to always use my Visa debit card as I didn't like change and stuff but now I look for alternatives
I am from Germany and basically anyone I know pays with Apple and Google Pay on a daily basis. We do have the German "Girocard", which is similar to a Mastercard/Visa Debit, but the biggest bank in Germany also supports Apple Pay with that card.
Interesting, I am also from Germany and no one I know uses those (that I know of).
In germany, most banks that offer free banking (ING, Comdirect, DKB etc.) have switched from girocard to VISA/MC Debit cards. If you want an actual girocard, you'll need to pay a monthly fee, either "directly" for the card (In the case of ING, Comdirect etc.), or by having a paid account in the first place (like Sparkasse, Raiffeisenbank, Commerzbank etc.)
Good to know, I was talking about Google Pay and Apple Pay, though.
Ah, in that case I only know a handful of people personally that use Apple pay, but I do see some people occasionally pay by tapping their phone at the checkout
Everyone that I know pays with their phone. So yeah, Apple Pay and Google Pay are big in some parts of Europe at least.
I pay with my phone using my bank's app. No need for Apple or Google stuff whatsoever.
Not all banks have this. And I think this is only possible on Android? From what I know Apple does not allow to replace Apple Pay.
I have iPhone, and I use other payment apps. Swish (native Swedish direct payment, mostly p2p, but also widely used by small businesses) and Klarna.
Yes, I cannot find a corresponding IOS-App for my bank. VR Bank offers it, though: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/vr-banking-einfach-sicher/id1505855171
That is not true. Girocard used to partner with maestro (part of mastercard). The maestro part of the card was only used if the girocard was not supported where you wanted to pay. That partnership was terminated. New girocards are simple girocards. Which also means they cannot be used outside of Germany anymore. Hell, there are even terminals in Germany that don’t support girocard anymore
But AFAIK Visa/MC only get money when the Debitcard network is used as fallback instead of Visa/MC even if it has their logo on it.
@Dyskolos Wero is in it's infancy, pagience. You don't just roll out something like that for all of Europe overnight. But it will come. For 2026 it's supposed to replace iDeal in the Netherlands while right now only 1 or 2 Dutch banks support it and no webshops I know of.
10% is a bit ridiculous, unless you also add tax in. These pacmant providers increase prices 2,5% max, but for every digital european purchase thats quite a lot of money in total
Italy also has Satispay which is fairly popular around here. I use it for most of my in shop purchases.
Norway has Vipps. Still uses VISA/MC for some transactions.
Damn, they make a separate payment app and then still make themselves dependent on US monopolies, that's sad
I wish we had JCB instead of Visa or Mastercard
The problem is that the vast majority of payment cards being issued nowadays are either Visa or MasterCards (both physical and virtual). This makes it very difficult to avoid US companies when it comes to cashless payments. My current bank gives me a Visa Debit Card for free, but would charge me fees for a Girocard. I avoid PayPal as much as I can.
Wait thats crazy. For my banks it was always standard to issue Girocard for free and then Debit/Credit Card on demand
This seems to have changed for some direct / online banks. Visa Debit seems to be some kind of "standard" now. Probably the cheapest option from them.
@TheProtagonist @timestatic
Even when I want to use Girocard, sometimes the terminal uses Visa debit. This is cancer...
One option is to use crypto wherever possible.
Otherwise the good news is that Blik seems to be gearing for EU wide expansion
For a beginner who just wants to pay for stuff? Litecoin. It's not the best from scalability and tech standpoint, but it's the most foolproof, cheap to use and user friendly right now.
Lovely when companies like eBay or even the German Administration do not allow any European payment methods...
And I have not found a good ebay replacement yet, apart from Flohmarkt for the Fediverse people (however you use without the webUI)
where does the german administration require you to use Visa/MC? I never needed it. What about Kleinanzeigen btw?
If you are a foreign person, even if you live in germany, you need to pay for your visa and those are your only options. Might depend on the city.
Kleinanzeigen is horrible crap. No search filters, high fees, shit to use without "The App™".