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German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

reuters.com

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Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#31

Post by Psychotherapist »

lnsru wrote: post #6

I love PayPal. It might be another be-evil type corporation. But it is just sooo convenient. I am just curious if there is some alternative to it in Germany. I don’t want to give my bank account number to every random online shop. Credit card yes, but I am too lazy for entering the numbers every time. Edit: I am not kenn on saving my credit card number somewhere digitally. Browser, password manager or a text file are…

There's Giropay/Paydiret which is neat and offered by some small shops and even some bigger ones like Steam. Also, most banks support Klarna, which you can also use to pay without paying 30 days later or in rates.

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#32

Post by TonyTrapp »

lnsru wrote: post #6

I love PayPal. It might be another be-evil type corporation. But it is just sooo convenient. I am just curious if there is some alternative to it in Germany. I don’t want to give my bank account number to every random online shop. Credit card yes, but I am too lazy for entering the numbers every time. Edit: I am not kenn on saving my credit card number somewhere digitally. Browser, password manager or a text file are…

PayPal has started serving me tons of captchas and verification SMS (sometimes multiple of each within less than ten minutes) that it has honestly become infinitely more convenient to use GiroPay and whip out my bank card + TAN generator.

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#33

Post by DocTomoe »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #22
Deukhoofd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Germany, but here in The Netherlands the banks just developed an online payment system together 18 years ago, and everyone uses that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL

Germany did that too, multiple times and nobody used them. So they all died. The only really successful system was the EC-Card, which for decades was as popular as Credit Cards in other countries. But it will be dead in some months for reasons, probably because it's too old school?

EC cards, when they first came out, were revolutionary and way better than the credit cards of old. Eventually, though they became increasingly unusual, mostly thanks to the internet (no way to pay with them there. They had a hidden creditcard-like number, but you would never know), and are now dying because enough banks have started handing out creditcardesque debit cards which work on the internet. Of course this also meant we lost some 20 years of digital advantage of an universal global payment system.

Lessons learned: Technical leadership is nice, but don't think once you are ahead, you'll stay ahead.

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#34

Post by DocTomoe »

snowpid wrote: post #26
ethanbond wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Dutch are pathologically practical. Love it. Every time I need to send mail I’m jealous of that whole “write 9 digits in a grid to serve as a stamp” system.

writting a code replaceming stamps do exist in Germany as well :P

That works as long as you need a standard stamp. It fails the moment you need to send a letter to overseas.

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#35

Post by [deleted] »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #22
Deukhoofd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Germany, but here in The Netherlands the banks just developed an online payment system together 18 years ago, and everyone uses that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL

Germany did that too, multiple times and nobody used them. So they all died. The only really successful system was the EC-Card, which for decades was as popular as Credit Cards in other countries. But it will be dead in some months for reasons, probably because it's too old school?

[deleted]

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#36

Post by lxgr »

Waterluvian wrote: post #28
lnsru wrote: post #6

I love PayPal. It might be another be-evil type corporation. But it is just sooo convenient. I am just curious if there is some alternative to it in Germany. I don’t want to give my bank account number to every random online shop. Credit card yes, but I am too lazy for entering the numbers every time. Edit: I am not kenn on saving my credit card number somewhere digitally. Browser, password manager or a text file are…

I feel like we need to make a big overview map of what payment is like around the world. Because I believe you. But I also have only ever experienced PayPal as an entirely unnecessary middleman. So I think there may be regional differences in play. I can’t remember the last time I typed in a credit card number. Giving it to PayPal seems like a less secure option, given how free from consequences companies are. And th…

As a customer, you can still use your credit card at Paypal and file disputes with your issuer as usual. The merchant just does not get your card number directly, which anecdotally many users perceive as an advantage.

As for German regional effects: Paypal allows payments via SEPA Direct Debit there too (~ACH), which are free but very risky for merchants. Many customers don’t have any online-usable debit card, so that is often their only way to pay online. Paypal takes on that risk for a fee.

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#37

Post by DennisP »

ethanbond wrote: post #20
Deukhoofd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Germany, but here in The Netherlands the banks just developed an online payment system together 18 years ago, and everyone uses that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL

The Dutch are pathologically practical. Love it. Every time I need to send mail I’m jealous of that whole “write 9 digits in a grid to serve as a stamp” system.

I googled "dutch number stamp" and got nothing. How does that work?

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#38

Post by drstewart »

ethanbond wrote: post #29
snowpid wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

writting a code replaceming stamps do exist in Germany as well :P

Oh I have no doubt the US is uniquely behind several countries on this sort of quality of life innovation!

What makes it "uniquely" behind as opposed to other countries that aren't part of that list of "several"?

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#39

Post by c-fe »

IMTDb wrote: post #24
Deukhoofd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not Germany, but here in The Netherlands the banks just developed an online payment system together 18 years ago, and everyone uses that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEAL

And Belgian have their own system too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bancontact_Payconiq_Company Which means that everyone uses PayPal since it's the solution that you know is going to be accepted everywhere instead of having to juggle between 10 different services.

> Which means that everyone uses PayPal

At least in the Netherlands this is not true at all. Everyone here uses iDeal, and if that doesnt work its back to a SEPA bank transfer

Re: German cartel office initiates proceedings against PayPal

#40

Post by ethanbond »

drstewart wrote: post #38
ethanbond wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I have no doubt the US is uniquely behind several countries on this sort of quality of life innovation!

What makes it "uniquely" behind as opposed to other countries that aren't part of that list of "several"?

Being dramatically richer than all of them, mainly
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