SEPA direct debit is a really really popular thing in Germany. Most utilities prefer (quite understandably) to pull from you instead of waiting for your transfer. Even landlords usually give you an agreement form to pull your rent out of your account.
I got used to that and recently tried to use a Polish bank account to pay on Amazon and surprisingly it didn't work. Amazon has sent me an automated email with a demand for a (push) transfer, sadly with added fee for the trouble.
Most people in Poland actually do transfers manually, direct debit is not really a thing. On the other hand there's this BLIK thing for instant transfers, even across banks.
It gives you a one-time-use 6-digit code that is valid for no more than two minutes. When the code is given to a merchant, either on line or in person, you get a popup with the amount and merchant name which you need to manually approve. You can give that code out over the phone to a family member who's currently at the store buying things for you, or to a child who's trying to get something for themselves. This is extremely convenient while still being secure, and it allows for secure payments on shared, malware-infested computers.
Some online services also give you the option to remember your device for future use. If you decide to do so, you will get a notification the next time you're trying to pay there, which you still need to approve. This is more convenient than typing in a code, while still being as secure.
This system is pretty resistant to fraud (you always need to approve the amount in your banking app), while allowing for irreversible payments, which merchants like.
This sounds like a great system, except that irreversible payment part. That’s only a feature for merchants and usually gets used to harm consumers in my experience.
In fact it's quite jarring when you have companies try to do something in Polish market and they don't do basic research into payment methods.
Take for example Luxxotica - I was buying some glasses as a gift yesterday, and they support two payment methods:
- card payment
- PayPal
Paypal hasn't been popular for years with all the other alternatives, and many people are wary of using cards to buy goods over the internet. In fact my card payment was blocked (which essentially never happens in any other methods) and I went to buy the glasses physically at a reseller.
Since few years banks also provide APIs for redirecting to transfer form prefilled with payment processor details, so you don't have to enter them manually.
That might be a function of Poland not being in the euro zone. AFAIK SEPA Direct Debit is only for transfers in Euro. Even if you tried to use a Euro bank account in Poland, either your bank or Amazon might not have bothered to implement it.
When they launched the SEPA direct debit option a couple years ago I tried it and the debit bounced back.
Eventually I did not have the need for marketplace instances anymore, then I tried it again and it worked.
Landlords benefit from it because it makes it harder for your to lower your rent in case there are issues with the place that warrant it. If they can withdraw the rent directly, you'd have to undo that payment, pay the lowered amount manually etc. which makes it more hassle for you and also increases the risk of screwing up.
You could sign a contract with your landlord, then revoke the so called "SEPA mandate" afterwards and you can forcibly switch to "manual payment" each month, since the SEPA mandate is not necessarily required or a "legally-necessary intrinsic component of the contract" (check for example: https://deutschesmietrecht.de/mietvertrag/662-mietzahlung-ei... )
Tough, depends on which type of relation you want to have to your landlord ;-)
Either way as a tenant it's best to do manual payments (even if they're automated on your end) each month so that lowering rent, if necessary, is straightforward.
It's supported by all major electronics stores. The only exception is Amazon who will do a SEPA pull instead. But there the bank grants you 6 weeks to cancel the deduction if you want to.
Giropay does in fact include fees, though these are usually covered by the seller. (check for example: https://www.unternehmerportal.info/giropay/)
DISCLAIMER: Lead Payment Engineer at an European Challenger Bank, i'm implementing that stuff in the backend, i'm mainly talking to our central bank.
I think the only party that can draw money directly from my bank account is my bank itself for my mortgage. For everything else, I have e-invoices, where the invoice comes directly to my bank account, so I receive a paper invoice maybe once a year from somewhere. And for e-invoices I can just set auto-accept limits, so any phone bill that is less than 10€ will get automatically accepted and for any phone bills greater than 10€, I need to manually accept it on my bank's website/app.
Actually, I have SEPA Direct Debit disabled on my bank account settings now that I checked it, so I guess I've never used it. I guess my bank just has direct access anyways for mortgage payments.
In general, "double scheme cards" (MC + Maestro on one card) should offer you the option to choose, while at the POS, which scheme should be used; the thing is, the merchant is not required to offer you this question, and there is a "default scheme" on such cards. This means, in cases the merchant does not ask you, the default scheme is chosen, which is usually the one that brings in more fees for the bank/PSP.
And: Depending on the contract between you and your bank, it maybe that you couldn't revoke the "lastschrift", yes.
It's getting rarer, though. The cost difference is eroding and signing is too slow for supermarket checkout lanes.
The tables have also turned and some retailers now earn money from the banks for supplying their customers with cash (i. e. you pay by card and get an extra x00 in cash).
SEPA SDD Core + SDD B2B are working crossborder; though you're right that these are not deployed regularly/seldom.
DISCLAIMER: Lead Payment Engineer at an European Challenger Bank, i'm implementing that stuff in the backend, i'm mainly talking to our central bank.
Here in Germany, bigger online stores offered it as well. I used to use it for Amazon several years ago.
Klarna's use of dark patterns on the web for leading people into debt over choosing other payment methods has been outlawed in Sweden, but I've read that they have continued doing it in other countries.
I make payments to the benelux, france, germany, spain and poland, and they go all over the push mechanism. Direct debit is for utilities, and that's about it.
For fraud, my bank provides a gui with active agreements. While I can't cancel an agreement there, I can set a maximum frequency and amount. I put them at once per year max 0.0001 Euro until they get removed.
Non recurring payments over direct debit (Or even worse Clarna) is an instant no. I take another payment method. If grabbing money from my bank without my control is the only option, that's a red flag. I consider the company sleazy enough to go find a competitor, even if it raises the cost.