Not be able to buy or sell anything without a US company as intermediary does seem something of a risk in the current environment
You can easily do that already? Just transfer the money as usual?
It still doesn’t replace cards so it’s really mostly replacing PayPal (a thing we already didn’t need to function here) and eventually it’ll apparently offer QR based payments on POS if you have the app - so it replaces cards IF you have Google or Apple approved phone.
I’m still seeing it as too little, too late.
Cards already work without US companies, just on a national basis.
In the nations that have them. Which is just a few of them. And you generally can’t use them abroad I believe?
For a functional card you still only have Visa and MasterCard as options. That’s something the EU needs to work on.
For a functional card you still only have Visa and MasterCard as options
Yes. I could use my Girocard in other European countries, but only because they always get co-badged with what is now Visa Debit and Debit MasterCard. Outside of SEPA it didn’t work at all in the past
Money transfers are too slow, too cumbersome, and do not offer any consumer protection. They aren’t designed for POS processes or small-time transactions.
Yes, replacing PayPal is exactly what this is supposed to do, plus VESA Debit and Maestro which are already a thing of the past.
Huh? I get 2 years of warranty and 14 days right to return no questions asked on anything I order online.
Money transfers are instant. Like less than a second usually for me.
And Wero doesn’t have a good solution for POS yet, might never have a truly good one.
I was talking about offline processing. But the 14-day return (and other consumer protections) hinge on the vendor playing along. If they don’t, your bank just says “you authorized the transaction, SOL”.
This is the reality with SEPA transactions even in cases of blatant fraud. Your bank tells you to sue the recipient in court, they won’t do a thing for you.
Wero doesn’t really have offline processing either yet. And when it will, it will be dependent on your phone, so good luck if it’s out of battery or doesn’t pass Google Play Integrity on an unlocked device.
This is why I keep saying we need actual European payment cards, not just a PayPal replacement.
But the 14-day return (and other consumer protections) hinge on the vendor playing along
Your bank tells you to sue the recipient in court, they won’t do a thing for you.
That’s what consumer protection agencies and small claims courts are for. In my country, any time a vendor has a case with those it’ll be shown forever publicly too, so it’s a very quick way to lose reputation. Of course you can still get scammed by ordering from a company that was only made to scam people, but with reputable vendors it’s almost impossible because they have too much to lose.
Also for Wero, right now the consumer protections are “planned” so I’m not 100% sure they exist already.
When Wero is actually ready, it looks like it’ll cover 90% of use cases. I’m happy it’s being done. But till we have an EU based payment card that’s useable across the entire union (and preferably worldwide), I’ll still have to have visa or mastercard or cash as an emergency backup and I don’t like carrying too much cash with me (particularly when traveling), even if my physical size and shape is in the “eh easier to mug someone else” territory. And if I want to switch away from American smartphone operating systems and get a Linux phone, Wero won’t even be an option for me, since it needs an app. My bank cards don’t need an app (though it’s convenient obviously).
The biggest part for me is online payment and that’s where it matters most that multiple countries share a system. I already used the predecessor service, but I hope this could lead to wider adoption on the vendor side. So far it looks worse than the previous system. If they don’t change that I need an app to pay online, it’s useless.
This also by no means covers or plan to cover all of EU. It’s just Germany, France and BENELUX
I hope they’ll try to bring the Girocard to more countries next. Right now it only works in other countries because of visa/mastercard co-branding.
Fair enough. Clearly I’m not that in the loop on the details, and I agree there should be a way to use it without relying on smartphones. I don’t use a banking nor paypal app today either.
But Visa and Mastercard are making a big play to shift the European market towards the US model where their credit cards are used for everything, so time is of the essence. For that reason I’m okay with some drawbacks, because there’s at least a chance they will be addressed down the line. Also combating the payment duopoly and circumventing US-based systems are major wins for consumers already. I further hope it would hopefully over time see adoption in other countries as well as a real alternative to CCs when travelling.
credit cards are used for everything,
Visa and Mastercard also have debit card systems. You can’t easily escape their duopoloy, but you don’t have to own a credit card in Europe.
Just Holland, or the entirety of the Netherlands?
