Visas in GermanyCan

hartmann · 2006-03-20T20:32:49+00:00

Can anyone tel me why so few shops (ebay-inclusive) use Visa-card compered til f.ex. England and Denmark. cheers niles-erik

hartmann

Can anyone tell me why so few shops (including eBay) accept Visa cards compared to, say, England and Denmark? Cheers niles-erik

Gast

The reason is the amount of money Visa charges for transactions. There are credit cards that are even more expensive (Diners Club), but even the five per cent charged by Visa makes this very unattractive for sellers. Diners Club charges a whopping ten per cent! These charges reduce the net profit from selling goods and are sometimes even higher than the total profit – obviously a ridiculous concept. In Europe, the EC Card (formerly known as EuroCheque), which is a direct-debit card, is much more viable, as it is both quite widespread and incurs much lower transaction fees. There are actually two different modes of operation – ‘EC Cash’, which is secured by a four-digit PIN that must be entered by the cardholder, and bank withdrawal, which is usually authorised by a signature (though this is not always required). This is the most economical method of payment and carries the least risk for the customer – because every such bank withdrawal can be reversed without the hassle associated with credit card transactions.

Petzi

Can anyone tell me why so few shops (including eBay) accept Visa cards compared to, for example, England and Denmark? [right][post="7222"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right]

German customers are very price-sensitive. They would not tolerate any surcharges that sellers would have to factor into their prices if they accepted credit cards. Your bank might be able to issue a Maestro Card (formerly EC card). Ask them. With that, you can shop pretty much anywhere in Germany. If you want to buy something from a German eBay seller, you could use a direct bank transfer. If you are in the eurozone, the transaction would be free of charge if you have the seller’s IBAN and BIC. If you are not in the eurozone, ask your bank about the fee.

Claudius

Even outside the eurozone, a low-cost bank transfer is possible if both parties involved in the transaction are members of the EuroGiro organisation. This was originally an organisation of postal banks, but now also has other members. Examples include: Deutsche Postbank, Credit Suisse, PostFinance, Thailand Post, etc. Further information here www.eurogiro.com Unfortunately, the staff at your local branch are usually unaware of EuroGiro, but at least for a transfer I made earlier this year from “Deutsche Postbank” to “PostFinance” (Switzerland), it worked like magic, reducing the cost of the transfer to €1.50 (instead of more than €10).

MirkoBoeddecker

The German credit card companies have just been ordered by the German Federal Cartel Office to change their practices and lower their prices. They now have six weeks to appeal against this decision. Let’s hope they see reason so that we can offer this service again. Mirko

hartmann

Thanks, that’ll make things easier for us foreigners... and hopefully we’ll see each other on Monday... I’ll be in Berlin from Monday to Wednesday... Niels-Erik