Re:Payment gateways for startups: a guide for founders
by abalone on Thursday May 02, 2019 @03:47AM
(#19805670)
> Do people use debit cards online?
Yes. Debit is actually more popular than credit for online transactions, according to one survey.[1]
> Should they?
Kind of an orthogonal question. The fact is people use them and there’s an opportunity to process them more cheaply.
[1] https://www.digitaltransactions.net/consumers-increasingly-p...
The (US) regulations around liability for fraudulent charges for debit cards are totally different those for credit cards [1]. Specifically, consumers bear far more potential liability if their debit cards are used fraudulently than if their credit cards are used fraudulently.
The money quote from the section on what the consumer is liable for if their debit card is used fraudulently: "All the money taken from your ATM/debit card account, and possibly more; for example, money in accounts linked to your debit account."
By contrast, credit card liability tops out at $50.
Given the regulatory environment, it is not very consumer-friendly to encourage wider use of debit cards online.
If you have access to a credit card, you should use it instead of a debit card when purchasing online. (And in person, but the OP is about online payments.)
[1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0213-lost-or-stolen-cr...