[wallaBBB]

Important to note that some shops in the Netherlands do not accept credit cards, and some even debit cards from Visa/Mastercard due to high processing fees (few %, varies from market to market and business to business). What made digital payments dominant in the Netherlands is the iDeal and (now retiring) Maestro cards, which have low fees. EU is looking into implementing something like iDeal at EU level, to popularize card payments. Those few % that Visa/Mastercard take are a lot for some low margin businesses.

[jeroenhd]

The percentage cut is definitely annoying, but I believe the move from Maestro to Mastercard has also solved creditcard problems for a lot of people. There were a surprising number of Maestro-only terminals out there that were limited by technology rather than policy.

I still don't think I can pay for my groceries with my credit card, but that's clearly indicated at least. I expect the companies refusing the huge processing fees to block credit cards for years to come until the fees go down. That's unfortunate for tourists and immigrants, but mobile payment (bank specific/Apple Pay/Google Wallet) should work over the standard protocol and otherwise there are still ATMs you can use.