Re:Can the Visa-Mastercard duopoly be broken?
by lxgr on Thursday August 18, 2022 @08:55AM
(#32508949)
> in Germany, hardly anyone had a credit card, while everyone was using automatic payments and electronic wiretransfers
Neither SEPA direct debit nor SEPA credit transfer offer any means of dispute resolution, though (SEPA direct debit defaults in favor of the payer, credit transfer in that of the payee).
This means that all but the largest retailers (which can afford to do fraud management entirely in-house) still depend on third parties to arbitrate the risk of non-payment (for merchants) and non-delivery (for customers).
> Of the people (in Germany) I know, they also never use charge backs on the cards (I suspect many don't even know that you can do it) and instead rely on the court system to get refunds etc..
This indeed seems to be the case, which is unfortunate e.g. in the case of travel provider insolvencies. The card scheme rules are very clear in this case, but way too many German banks have in the past declined these disputes (claiming that they are "incompatible with German bankruptcy law"). Cards (both credit and debit) do offer more customer protection that almost any other widely accepted online payment method.
Neither SEPA direct debit nor SEPA credit transfer offer any means of dispute resolution, though (SEPA direct debit defaults in favor of the payer, credit transfer in that of the payee).
This means that all but the largest retailers (which can afford to do fraud management entirely in-house) still depend on third parties to arbitrate the risk of non-payment (for merchants) and non-delivery (for customers).
> Of the people (in Germany) I know, they also never use charge backs on the cards (I suspect many don't even know that you can do it) and instead rely on the court system to get refunds etc..
This indeed seems to be the case, which is unfortunate e.g. in the case of travel provider insolvencies. The card scheme rules are very clear in this case, but way too many German banks have in the past declined these disputes (claiming that they are "incompatible with German bankruptcy law"). Cards (both credit and debit) do offer more customer protection that almost any other widely accepted online payment method.