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Originally Posted by Sneezy
interesting thread with some good thoughts.
Here are mine.
A lot of people in Europe have creditcards no doubt about that. For the difference between North American CC holders and EU CC holders you have to look at their payment behavior.
I lived the most part of my life in Europe but live in North America now and I've noticed that the majority of CC holders here use their CC for almost every payment they make. Even for their groceries. It's no wonder they do, because every brand or store gives out a CC with some kind of points system. And man I tell you they love that here big time.
Same thing goes for paying your bills with a cheque; it's part of the North American culture. I still can't get used to the fact that people have to go to the bank to pay their bills.
In Europe the CC is not used in the same way. Most of the CC holders use it when they travel or for adhoc payments. The majority uses a debit card tied to their regular bankaccount. They don't use cheques or go to the bank to pay their bills.
So it's all about a difference in behavior and has nothing to do with CC penetration.
just my  |
You don't really have a point. As you say debit card use is HUGE in much of Europe especially the UK with most UK transactions over a few pounds now being debit card. However....the HUGE majority of debit cards are VISA branded and can be used on porn sites too so are no different as a payment method than credit cards.
The exceptions such as Solo which although in the minority are still used have just started being taken by Epoch. I'm sure CCbill and other will follow.
For the sake of this discussion in most cases when a payment is made by debit card it's just as valid as credit card so makes no real difference - the sale still goes through.