| ▲ | pjmlp 3 hours ago |
| On Portugal we have the Multibanco network, which already provided Internet like services for buying stuff on the terminals and eventually graduated to have online payments as well, however only in Portugal. Likewise, in Germany we can have SEPA for most stuff. And in Greece there is Viva. Problem is getting something that actually works across all European countries. |
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| ▲ | margana 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| The problem isn't just getting something that works across all European countries. It's getting something that works globally. While we may make most of our payments within EU, basically everyone still occasionally pays for something outside of EU, either online or when they travel. This means if the new thing only works in EU, every European will still need and have a MasterCard/Visa even if they use it less often than before. This is still a massive amount of leverage - MC/Visa still have the ability to block payments made from EU citizens/companies to outside. |
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| ▲ | RobertoG 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | You can buy things from your local Amazon or national equivalent that come from outside using this systems, so, you are not so restricted to EU sellers. I suppose the most problematic would be traveling. I recently when outside the EU and was surprise how smooth the process was using my Visa card, to the point I didn't use any local currency. On the other hand, I recently buy books from the UK and it get stuck for two weeks in customs, and it had nothing to do with the payment platform. I had not realized how difficult is to import something from outside the EU, even for personal use. | |
| ▲ | graemep 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Also European merchants who need to accept payments from non-Europeans need to accept Visa and Mastercard. | | |
| ▲ | wolvoleo 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Of course but they can support an EU standard as well. It's not mutually exclusive. The big benefit is that all internal EU card transactions are no longer routed via US companies which is quite ridiculous. | | |
| ▲ | graemep an hour ago | parent [-] | | Internal transactions all over the world are routed through US companies. I have paid using Visa or Mastercard at some point in Australia, Indonesia, India, Frnce, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Dubai..... its not exclusive, but there is a problem with network effects. From the point of view of a business why should they add support for a new payment system no one users, from the point of view of consumers why should they sign up to a new system that no one accepts? As I said in another comment the most likely alternative is a more decentralised system that all countries/currency blocks that want sovereign payments can get behind. |
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| ▲ | severino 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I've been in Portugal sometimes, and to me MB was synonymous with "we accept credit cards", and in fact it is in the sense that you can pay using Visa or Mastercard in those shops. But, is it a standalone system that doesn't require anything outside Portugal in order to work? With their own non-Visa credit cards? And can you use them when abroad in the EU, for example? |
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| ▲ | tiagod 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | It's a standalone network. Most Portuguese cards are also VISA/Mastercard, but payment terminals may only have a contract with Multibanco, meaning only Portuguese cards are accepted. It's quite common for foreign cards not to be accepted. | |
| ▲ | pjmlp 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Nope, it has nothing to do with credit cards, although it also accepts them. It is majorly used for debit cards, and similar in use to the famous Minitel in France. You can use it to load pre-pay phones, or other kinds of rechargeable services, buy tickets for public transport and various kinds of shows, pay water, electricity, taxes, among other services. There is now an app used to pay on shops via QR codes. You can also pay online with one time cards, that are generated for a single transaction. Outside Portugal it is a regular debit card. When you access Multibanco with foreign cards, you can only withdraw money usually. | | |
| ▲ | rkomorn 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | I'm French and living in Portugal and I do not get the Minitel comparison. Minitel was basically a Telnet device to various services' servers. That said, I love MB and MB Way. What an upgrade it's been over paying for stuff in the US (where I lived before moving to Portugal). | | |
| ▲ | pjmlp an hour ago | parent [-] | | From what I know from Minitel, the same Internet before the Internet applies. I was buying tickets on MB, before it became common place in the Internet. | | |
| ▲ | rkomorn 34 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Could you search for tickets and such on MB? All the stuff I'm familiar with is only payments (with entity and reference). Now that I think about it, you could search for things on Minitel but I don't remember if payments were made as phone charges or if they could also be done with transfers. Minitel was so prohibitively expensive to use (just about every service cost multiple francs per minute), I didn't do much with it. |
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| ▲ | bjghknggkk 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Show me a german webshop that supports modern payment methods. It usually old school bank transfers still. |
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| ▲ | moffkalast an hour ago | parent | prev [-] |
| SEPA would be a decent solution with instant QR code generation and app payments, but the transfer fees are ludicrous for daily use (~1-2€ per wire). Or maybe it's just my bank being greedy fucks as usual. |
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