[krotton]

> Also, credit cards are already very convenient and near universally accepted. It's hard to compete with that.

Oh, come on. Maybe it's a US thing, but credit card is the last but one (just before a manual transfer) payment method I use (in Europe, Poland most of the time). It requires providing full credentials to every merchant you transact with on-line. It requires taking out your wallet and typing all this data in. Or taking out your wallet and taking photos of both sides in some modern apps, then checking for correctness. I actually use PayPal as my card payment gate to minimize the number of parties that see my complete set of payment authorization data. Credit cards are moderately convenient when used off-line and completely unadapted to being used on-line.

[epanchin]

Credit cards have section 75 protection, PayPal does not. It’s certainly convenient to use, but comparatively unwise.

Edit: except for small transactions when 75 doesn’t apply. Also I don’t know if it’s in Poland too, but I’d guess so.

[dwringer]

I interpreted the post to mean Paypal is the poster's preferred choice for using as a credit card processing gateway. Merchants can sign up with Paypal to handle all card transactions, and buyers don't need a Paypal account to use it. From the buyer's perspective, this is just an ordinary credit card transaction, it just shows up as being directed through Paypal as a middleman. The convenience is when buyers do have a Paypal account, then they no longer have to re-enter CC# details even on sites they've never purchased from as long as they support Paypal-processed credit-card payments.

FWIW I take the same option, because it does feel nice to buy from a website without typing credit card information into some ad-hoc javascript form they came up with.

Note that this is not the same thing as making a payment from a Paypal account.

[rusk]

Just out of curiosity what do you use to capitalises your PayPal account? For me it’s linked directly to my credit card so it’s basically a shell of convenience above that. What do you use when a vendor doesn’t support PayPal? I still encounter these regulalarly

[krotton]

PayPal (linked to my credit card as well) is #2 for me. Most of the time I use instant transfer services (there are quite a lot of them in Poland, integrated with most banks in the region). My favourite one is Blik (founded mainly by the biggest Polish bank PKO BP, but also supported by most of the others): you start a session, generate a one-time 6-digit code in your bank's mobile application, enter that on the payment site, confirm transfer information on your phone and it's done. I also use it to withdraw cash from ATMs and on some occasions have used it to help my friends pay in emergency situations (they've just called me, I've given them a code, they've entered that, I've confirmed et voila).

[rusk]

That sounds pretty cool

[pndy]

One of the banks here, mBank (leader of online banking as it advertises itself for years) rolled in its usual countless cycle of TOS, table of fees changes an entry saying that starting from month Y on day X all ATM withdrawals below 100PLN (approx. 23€, 27USD) will be charged with 1,30PLN fee unless operation is done with mobile application and Blik system. Prior to that, it was just an alternative for fee-less card withdrawals (well, you had to pay 5PLN for access to ATMs outside mBank network). Other banks got similar rules.

So technically speaking it is cool idea but some of us are forced to use it and if you don't, you're risking withdrawing all money really fast from your account (e-payment may be not available in small cities or in the countryside) or face risk of being eaten by fees. Cashlessness is popular in Poland but it's always good to have real money with you because you never know what may happen.

[rusk]

> ill be charged with 1,30PLN fee unless operation is done with mobile application and Blik system

Over on the Western fringes here, we had a similar push behind "contactless" payments. We also have Apple and Android pay, but nothing as slick as this.

[pndy]

I hope you didn't get me wrong: 1,30PLN is just for ATM withdrawals below 100PLN. You can still pay for stuff with card free of charge (all 3 ways - magnetic stripe, chip or contactless; tho, I won't be surprised if they will start charging fees for card operations in the future).

Apple Pay works here since June 19th, Android Pay since 2016 but since Blik was first (2015) it gained naturally more popularity. We'll see how it withstand Apple Pay as competition

[aerique]

My order is:

• iDeal (convenient Dutch banks' system)

• PayPal linked to bank account

• I've usually paid at this point

• cryptocurrency

• credit card because it's such a pain in the ass

[walshemj]

Why is a credit card a pain in the ass you just type in your pin or use contactless and in many paces credit cards have greater protection than cash or debit card.

Why trust PayPal which has nugatory regulation and is prone to freezing account's on a whim

[briandear]

For websites that support it, Apple Pay is faster and safer than all of that.

[rusk]

Cryptocurrency? Ah come on you’re just being facetious now

[mbrock]

Why? I’ve paid for computer equipment and plane tickets using cryptocurrency several times. Just scan a QR code and press send.

[rusk]

Man I’ve literally never encountered this

[mbrock]

I’ve also encountered friends at lunch using mobile crypto wallets to split the bill. “Can I just send you some dai?”