Check out the most popular payment methods in Europe
Leading e-commerce payment methods in Europe. Part 4. Source: shutterstock.com
If you live in Europe and plan to visit another state, or maybe you don’t live in Europe at all but plan to visit EU countries, you might be wondering what the best way to pay for goods and services in one or another country is.
PaySpace Magazine offers you to find out more about the most popular payment methods in Europe, and which option is the best for a particular country.
According to the Payments and e-commerce report for Western and Central Europe conducted by PPRO Group, we have prepared four brief reports about the prevalent payment methods, and which countries use these options as the major ones.
BillPay is a German online payments company. It allows businesses/retailers to offer buyers an option to pay for online purchases via invoice, direct debit, and installments.
BillPay was launched in 2009, and today it is considered to be one of the major German online payment providers. The company has headquarters in Berlin, and it has more than 140 employees.
BillPay is licensed by BaFin under the Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG).
Thus, with the help of this company, online shoppers can choose the safest and most convenient way to pay (invoice, direct debit, or and pay later options). BillPay guarantees full payment and accepts the complete risk for businesses. The service is used by no less than 5,000 merchants and 12M clients.
Why people choose this service:
- It is secure. The company uses the latest encryption techniques and meets the highest security standards. Therefore, BillPay guarantees that clients’ online payments will always be safe and secure.
- It is simple. It is fairly simple to use the service. A customer just has to place items in their shopping cart, enter their email address, shipping address, and bank details.
- It is fast. The average time of any transaction is just a few seconds.
There are three payment options:
- Pay by invoice. The client places an order and pays only after they get the parcel delivered. It is possible to pay for the purchase within 20 or 30 days.
- Pay by installments. The client has to choose an installment plan (from 3 and 24 months). It is a classic example of the “buy now, pay later” option.
- Pay by direct debit. This option is especially convenient for recurring billing and repeat orders. The required sum will merely be charged from the client’s account.
This payment method is highly popular in Austria and Switzerland.
GoPay is a Czech electronic wallet and payment processing company. It was started in 2007, and now it partners with no less than 3,000 merchants.
The service offers a “remember the card” option. This feature has been developed for those, who enter their credit card details repeatedly.
You can save your bank card details in order to make further purchases. You’ll have to input your phone number. Then you’ll receive an SMS with a 4 digit code, which is supposed to be entered. You’ll receive such a code any time you are buying an item/service. Thus, you’ll have your card details safe, and you will still be able to enjoy a “one-click” purchasing procedure.
To sum up:
- Phone number (entering valid cell phone number);
- SMS (receiving SMS and inputting 4 digit code);
- Saved card data (use a “one-click payment” option and save your time).
The company offers up to 55 payment methods (card and bank payments are included). GoPay can even handle such payment methods as bitcoin.
GoPay works with foreign currencies as well. The gateway accepts Czech korunas, US dollars, Euro, British pounds, Polish zloty, Hungarian forints, Romanian lei, Bulgarian leva, and Croatian kunas.
This payment method is highly popular in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Payconiq is a Luxembourgish-based company, which is best known for launching an electronic payment system (it was called Payconiq as well) in Belgium in 2015. The payment system helps pay back friends and can also be used to pay cashless in stores by using the app on a mobile phone.
A consumer has to download the app (available at both App Store and Google Play) on the cell phone and sync this app to their bank account. Then, a client has to choose the beneficiary out of a list of shops (by GPS or by QR-code scan) or friends (by both email address and cell phone number). Beneficiaries enter the required amount to pay and customers enter the PIN or fingerprint.
Payconiq partner banks ensure users of a secure registration process and merchants of a trustworthy reseller.
Payconiq uses only the highest security standards. All information somehow related to clients/businesses/transactions is encrypted and secured. Any client’s actions and operations are secured by PIN or fingerprint. Payconiq transfers only the most necessary payment data, such as:
- Client’s IBAN;
- The required amount of funds;
- The identity of the beneficiary (sends it to a client’s bank).
This payment method is highly popular in Belgium and the Netherlands.
PayU is a FinTech company that provides payment technology to online businesses, which was launched in 2002 with its headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. PayU allows online merchants to accept and process payments with different payment methods (which can be integrated with mobile and web apps). PayU is a subsidiary of the Naspers Group, and it is valued at $5B.
PayU is a regulated financial institution, which holds licenses from national banks and local regulators. PayU services include a PCI-DSS certified payment gateway, an anti-fraud system, and an online Visa/MasterCard acquirer.
The company works with more than 300 payment methods and PCI-certified platforms in order to process roughly 1.2M payments daily. PayU also specializes in consumer and small and medium-sized business products that improve access to banking services in areas and markets that are underprivileged by conventional financial services providers. Moreover, the company is one of the leading FinTech investors worldwide.
This payment method is highly popular in the Czech Republic and Poland.
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