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If you pay with your EC card (Germany's own debit card system), the merchant pays at least 0,3% with a minimum of 0,08€ for the transaction. The payment is guaranteed and thus similar to US debit cards.

The merchant can also use direct debit, which is almost free (0,05€ for fraud prevention), but leaves him open to chargebacks.

They charge this to merchants, not to the users.

Read the article again

It says retailers, not consumers

I'm in the US and I don't pay anything for my bank accounts, checking or savings. I also don't pay anything for a debit / check card. I never have in fact. It varies by the bank.