[allerratio]

I find it strange that everytime I read something about payments in Europe it's about credit cards. I don't know anybody here in Germany that uses credit cards as their main way for payment, most people I know don't even own a credit card. If you don't offer direct debit or wire transfer I won't buy anything from you.

[challengee]

If you want to sell internationally, credit cards are practically the only way possible. If you ask me, there is no standardized way to allow users to pay via wire transfer (internationally and instantly). Heck, even amazon.com does not support international wire transfer.

I think even consumers are getting used to the fact that ordering online internationally is done mostly via credit cards.

Another question is, how would you handle automatic recurring payments?

[allerratio]

There is sepa for wire transfers and direct debit in most of Europe.

To let costumes pay via wire transfer just give them your IBAN and let them pay. Or you take their iban and set up direct debit.

How to handle recurring payments? Well let your costumes set up recurring wire transfers with their bank (usually done here for paying rent or pocket money) or you just do recurring direct debit (usually done here for magazine subscriptions or insurance)

Most people just won't order because they would need to get a credit card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

[Ives]

The standard way of handling recurring payments is to send recurring invoices and have users pay those. I don't see the issue.

(I agree with you that CC's are the only practical way nonetheless.)

[challengee]

Yes that's true, and many businesses work that way. It heavily depends on the use case.

That's why I carefully added "internationally and instantly" between brackets here.

[simon02]

We are a B2B company so we are not selling to consumers. If that is your primary market, I agree that you might lose a lot of sales with only offering credit cards (anyone has a reference for this?), but I also think paying with credit card is on the rise thanks to companies like Amazon.

[lotsofcows]

To me (English), "credit card" and "debit card" are interchangeable. While, as a user of the cards, I know what the differences are, as a vendor, I don't really care. I don't think I've seen any online services that offer wire transfer.