Logging into PayPal is easy except on one of those days when it is not.. and nothing can fix it other than waiting ~24h.
With a proper bank account, strong authentication with some dongle or code generator means if I have it, I can depend on being able to pay. No regard for the number of bots currently pestering them.
With PayPal trying to guess whether its me, maybe I can pay. Maybe I'll get a captcha loop. Maybe there will be a nondescript error message beginning with "Oops". Or maybe the error message will ask to call.. a rep that is not trained and/or authorized to do anything other than password resets. Which is not exactly a useful solution for account lockouts unrelated to the correctly entered, unique password.
I do have quite stringent non-tracking settings enabled in my browsers, and I do get occasional captcha or TOTP request.However, I never got completely denied a login with PayPal.
Many banks are equally employing the same "guessing whether it is you" techniques with their web UIs. Moreover many of them require Google Play Integrity when a phone is the TOTP. Definitely different ergonomics though.
I don't get why you pointed out that, to be honest. I'm not a merchant. I am a consumer.
As a consumer I would like to avoid Master Card / Visa as much as possible and also giving numbers out as much as possible. Paypal allows that and I don't need to use my phone to approve payments. Moreover payment systems that prioritize the needs of merchants usually are horrible for consumers. If Wero becomes such a platform, I will avoid it.
I misunderstood your initial point about logging-in. On PayPal logging in requires my phone, even with hardware 2FA because sometimes it decides my new IP/Browser/luck isn't trusted enough so it needs to send me a SMS/WhatsApp message so it didn't even register with me that you would be talking about taking out your phone as an additional friction. I see that now, in which case: you're completely right. WeRo requires a phone and one that uses either Google Play Store or Apple App Store and worse, depending on your bank that requires strong Play Integrity.
In term of implementation, WeRo looks more like a response to mobile payments like WhatApp, WeChat, Alipay, ... than a response a provider like PayPal. However, I haven't seen anything that'd limit them from expending support if they wished to.
> and also giving numbers out as much as possible
In Person-to-Person, you don't have to share your number. You can use QRCode (Direct SEPA). I'm not entirely sure of the email implementation, but maybe these do not share the phone number either (Edit: seeing https://support.wero-wallet.eu/hc/en-us/articles/25599201237..., it seems you may be able to do an email-only account). In Person-to-Merchant, I'm not sure what information are shared.
> Moreover payment systems that prioritize the needs of merchants usually are horrible for consumers
Supporting merchants flow to pay is different from prioritizing their needs so I'm unsure where you're going from there. It's also completely separated from Person-to-Person payments. PayPal supports Person-To-Merchant and I wouldn't say they are great for merchant.
Indeed. My primary issue is requiring a Google or Apple blessed phone for the protocol that is supposed to replace the American alternative with the EU one. If they push strongly the American duopoly, I'd rather use the American monopoly that gives me the better ergonomics and less friction. Yes I do get a TOTP request every now and then, but I have options like authenticator apps, SMSes, passkeys with Paypal. With Wero that's more limited.
I simply do not believe that EU banks will actually invest in a truly independent system with its own trust network. Majority of the banks complain and block you in Germany, when you have a unGoogled phone. It is simply not in the culture of Germany to make risky investments, especially banks. They always choose the options that milk normal consumers. Then EU comes and regulates them into submission. We only got guaranteed free instant SEPA transfers in 2025, while it has been possible for decades. So I am more optimistic for ECB's digital Euro as a consumer than Wero.
> In term of implementation, WeRo looks more like a response to mobile payments like WhatApp, WeChat, Alipay, ... than a response a provider like PayPal.
If they fixed the mobile phone problem and provided a way that's functionally equivalent to Paypal usernames, I'm in for person-to-person transfers.
> Supporting merchants flow to pay is different from prioritizing their needs so I'm unsure where you're going from there. It's also completely separated from Person-to-Person payments. PayPal supports Person-To-Merchant and I wouldn't say they are great for merchant.
Indeed. I may have rephrased my sentence there. I don't trust payment providers that significantly prioritize the needs of merchants over persons. Yes Paypal may suck for the merchants, but its buyer protection is one of the significant reasons that I keep using Paypal for online payments. I do buy stuff from independent sellers in Germany and other EU countries and sometimes they behave less than ideal. Paypal keeps things fairer for the consumer. If Wero is targetting this market, they need to be competing with Paypal on equal footing.
With a proper bank account, strong authentication with some dongle or code generator means if I have it, I can depend on being able to pay. No regard for the number of bots currently pestering them.
With PayPal trying to guess whether its me, maybe I can pay. Maybe I'll get a captcha loop. Maybe there will be a nondescript error message beginning with "Oops". Or maybe the error message will ask to call.. a rep that is not trained and/or authorized to do anything other than password resets. Which is not exactly a useful solution for account lockouts unrelated to the correctly entered, unique password.