> credit cards aren't too much of a concept in Europe at all.
Yeah, no, that’s just a Germany thing.
Yeah, no, that’s just a Germany thing.
It would maybe help if you could elaborate in what European countries you say credit cards are usually used for every day payments?
1) They are not in the office in August.
2) They are much less likely to have access to a credit card, even if they run a small business. (European customers were much more likely to pay via PayPal.)
I have two credit cards and I often pay with PayPal because I just don't want to enter my card details out of sheer laziness.
#2 - However, our business accepted AmEx from the beginning.
#3 - Europeans are also anecdotally much more unlikely to carry Amex than even other cards.
#4 - My generalization comes from directly communicating with our European customers over 10 years. Their concern was not "I would like to pay with $CARD_WE_DONT_SUPPORT" but instead "I do not have access to any credit card."
Today we have several mostly-online banks (the largest is DKB with 4.6 million customers) who issue credit cards with which you can get money at the ATM without a fee. If you're using the "usual" EC card, you're paying lots of fees.
Consequently, many people in Germany today carry a credit card nowadays, and they use it for paying the groceries, as well.
You can pay with credit cards in every supermarket, in every gas station, in almost every restaurant.