[adrinavarro]

There are debit cards out there!

In fact, everyone I know has at least one debit card (either MasterCard or VISA), aside from the number of people who have an AMEX/VISA (credit type).

And debit cards work everywhere. I've used my VISA Electron (debit) pretty much everywhere in the developed world, both online and travelling abroad.

[brazzy]

"everyone I know" is not a useful sample to approximate the customers of an online business with international customers.

Where payment options are concerned, VISA/Mastercard branded debit cards are the exact same thing as credit cards. And in many countries, the average citizen has neither. They may have a debit card that's part of some national payment network, they may be used to buying stuff online via their mobile phone account, or in cash at their corner convenience store, or via wire transfer from their bank account.

Paypal allows payment via a MANY such schemes you have never heard about. That is their USP, and something no startup can easily "disrupt".

[crag]

I use Paypal for one reason (as the consumer); it adds an extra layer of protection for me. I don't want to give my CC details to every site I buy from. And then have to check my CC statement everyday to make sure nothing was hacked along the way.

For a consumer, Paypal makes it very easy to manage payments, receipts, and any other issues.

By the way, never ever use a debt card online. You're handing over access to your bank account.

[Splines]

> By the way, never ever use a debt card online. You're handing over access to your bank account.

Are you sure about that?

Visa will refund you money if your card is lost or stolen: http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/debit/visa_check_cards_fa...

My personal bank also has similar verbiage for my debit card. They also mention that internet purchases are considered non-PIN purchases and are offered the same protection.

Yes, there is more risk since money can be taken directly out of your account instead of going against your credit, but there are mitigations in place.

[h1srf]

I repeat this almost every time this topic comes up:

With a credit card, you can say that the charge was fraudulent and they will take the charge(s) off and you're not on the hook. With a debit card, you're out the money of the fraudulent charge while the bank investigates. From my personal experience, this can take a few days to 3 weeks before the bank puts the money back in your account. If the charge happens to put your account into overdraft, you may still have to pay the overdraft fee which may be hard to get overturned.

I pretty much only use my debit card as an ATM card. Very rarely do I actually use it as a debit card (there are rare instances where I may need to)

Conclusion: Don't use your debit card online if you have a credit card.

[jdbernard]

Used to work in the industry manufacturing and programming these cards. You are exactly correct, the credit network provides more protection for the cardholder than using your debit card.

[niggler]

With the bank account, they may not reverse fees or other issues that arise as a result. For example, I had a fraudulent charge on a debit card. They reversed it, which is fine, but i was still hit with an overdraft because of a scheduled ACH payment which, at that time, dragged me into negative balance. So there are differences between debit and credit cards.

[k-mcgrady]

The only problem with debit cards is that MasterCard and Visa don't cover everyone. For example MasterCard also runs Maestro [1] in the UK which lots of online payment systems seem to neglect (I had to setup another bank account with another bank to get my hands on a Visa Debit card for this very reason).

[1] http://www.maestrocard.com/uk/

[raverbashing]

Yes, because there are no security issues in giving out a debt card number that is directly linked to your bank account.

[onli]

As you can always get the money back with a simple order, it is a very minor issue.

[jellicle]

Huh? Debit transactions are not easy to reverse, at all, and in the U.S. at least are covered by much less generous consumer protection laws than are credit card transactions.

[onli]

I was of course only talking about developed countries ;)

Really, afaik in europe and for sure in germany this is totally easy. It is not equally easy to reverse a transaction you started yourself. But when another person has you account-number and the public data belonging to this, all he can do is a "lastschrift" (direct debit), which is easily reverseable.

No need to downvote me. The USA is different than europe, and in this regards way behind.

[raverbashing]

A bank account number is different than a debit card number

About the direct debt, sure, I can undo this, via internet banking.

But a fraudulent debt card purchase takes time to process and you don't have you money in the account anymore.

With a credit card I can check for fraud and my money is not gone if this happens (and yes, it has happened to me)

[onli]

Sure, those are different things. Maybe I misunderstood what the first comment was talking about, as I know of no system where you enter your debit card number to do anything.

This just highlights the fact that our global banking system works very differently in different parts of the world. And maybe, to close the cicle, as the article claims paypal really shouldn't forget this, as it has to behave differently outside of the US if it wants to stay successful. A different environment probably always needs a different strategy.

[aristidb]

No, not everyone has a MasterCard / VISA debit card.

[darklajid]

Whatever that is, a debit card by MasterCard or VISA..

Me? Got my first credit card with 30, when I moved to Israel. That thing's invalid by now. Here in Germany I have a direct debit card (likely ~everyone~ has one, it's the one you use for the ATM as well), issued by my bank.

Now, I can use Paypal. In Germany (and probably more places) they offer to connect a regular bank account. So - Paypal can withdraw from my bank account, I can pay with Paypal where people otherwise insist on a type of payment that I don't like (Paypal's not the nicest thing ever by itself, but 'it works').

In my circle, credit cards are still mistrusted, ~rare~ (as in at least 2 out of 3 won't have one) and really just for collecting debt or buying stuff on your company's name. People around me are waiting for Google Play (oh I HATE that name) gift cards, because they'd really like to buy apps some time..

[archangel_one]

While Mastercard/Visa debit cards are common in many countries (they certainly are in the UK, for example), there are places they're unheard of. New Zealand bank cards, for example, are typically not those kinds of debit cards and can't be easily used over the internet. They are almost universally accepted in NZ though, rather more so than debit cards in the UK where it's not that uncommon to find pubs or cafes that have a minimum charge or, in rare cases, don't take them.

[Sauce1971]

I have a Visa debitcard, but it is only good for use in ATM and stores. To overcome this I get a bunch of Visa gift cards from my bank that I can put money into and use online.

[njharman]

> everyone I know

News flash buddy, population of Earth > potential customers > "everyone you know".