I live in a 3rd world country too; but they accept my local card (mastercard)
Everybody considers them expensive, unsafe and just plain evil. You pay with money you have and you pay a fixed price per month for the service -- no transaction costs.
If you want to sell stuff to the world, please support payment gateways that are not evil and as insecure as, well .. a credit card, would actually be the example.
Companies smart enough to allow people in nothern-europe to actually pay: Valve, Apple. Companies dumb enough not to: EA, Google. Who is selling online and who is not?
Newsflash: If your sales numbers are less in Northern-Europe than they are in the US, it's because you are either actively blocking those customers (region-locks or refusal to ship) or you are not accepting n-european payment gateways.
Credit cards are the equivelant of saying 'i only want american customers and everybody else can go to hell'. Let's just hope your bussiness is viable enough in just the US to be this ignorant.
In the UK I do as much online shopping as possible on my credit card. I get the added protection of the Consumer Credit Act[1], and prizes![2]
[1] http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75...
[2] http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-ca...
I mean they don't go spend themselves, are protected 100% against fraud (in the US at least) and if paid in full every month, cost nothing to the card holder.
If anything, it is not a company's fault that Northern Europe has social/cultural hang-ups for a mode of payment!
PayPal charges merchant fees. Most banks charge fees for direct debit. Bitcoin has transaction fees. Western Union has transaction fees. Even if you only accept cash, checks, and money orders, it will cost you time and fuel to deposit them at your bank.
The percentages might differ, but as long as you let someone else facilitate your transactions, there's no way to avoid paying some sort of fee.
> Because credit card system is not sustainable
and you say:
> I have never paid [...] and everything sails smoothly.
The parent is talking about the system as a whole, while you are talking about your individual usage/experience. Is it not possible that your usage is subsidized by those less financially organized?
What is inherent about the credit card system, at even a modest flat rate of 7%, that makes it unsustainable exactly? An examination by logic says that it is very sustainable, banking history says that it is very sustainable.
It's absolutely no different in concept than a bank loan or line of credit, so long as the lending agency vets their customers properly based on the ability to pay. If you do that, it's an extraordinarily convenient and useful system.
Banks have been making money on 7% loans for centuries. There is absolutely nothing unique about borrowing money on the spot via a credit card based on a previously set credit line.
It's not like this is some weird highly advanced stuff. Surely that's possible in the US as well?
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giropay [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronisches_Lastschriftverfa...
On the other hand if someone malicious gets my credit card number they can use it to buy stuff and I have to go through a lot of trouble to get a new card.
With credit cards the liability is on the merchant that accepts the card to verify that the person presenting the card is authorized to use it. Card issuers will reverse charges and leave the merchant out the money in the event of fraud.
I'm probably less protected against fraud, but I haven't had a reason to worry yet.
The scary thing about debit cards is that when someone steals money with it, they're stealing your money. So if your account is drained and your rent is due tomorrow, you're in trouble. With credit cards, on the other hand, the thief steals the bank's money. Your money is safe the whole time.
It's also easier to track your spending on a debit card as you can check the remaining balance at any ATM rather than waiting for the bill or going online.
High fees for this stuff is the reason by so many banks changed their retail business model to things like Totally free checking(when you make 12 debit card purchases each month).