It's different in the UK but it's even worse for mainland Europe. Many subscription billing services don't support businesses that don't have a registered bank account or address in the US or UK. Many payment gateways won't work with you unless you're located in the US or UK, especially the larger American ones like Braintree or Authorize.net. And unfortunately, it's these larger ones that have solved most of the integration and vertical problems that you end up still having to face in Europe. So you end up having to settle for a second-rate, customer-unfriendly, enterprise-oriented, backwards payment gateway like Ogone or Atos Worldline (both of which we had to settle for). The only reason these guys are still in business is because the American services haven't spread to Europe yet.

Thankfully, Spreedly does support European payment gateways, and that's why Spreedly kicks ass.

I remain stunned that neither Google, Amazon, or PayPal have brought serviceable solutions to the continent yet. It's 2011, for Christ's sake!