[edit] Edit, for clarity: You can't use it as a debit transaction. You can plug it into credit card systems, where it's run as a credit card transaction and interchange fees apply.

That's not actually true. Card-not-present debit is a separate transaction category than card-not-present credit. Durbin requires that debit routing be available for all debit transactions, not just PIN debit. Further, as of October 2022 the Fed amended the Regulation II rule to extend Durbin debit least-cost routing to card-not-present transactions. [2]

[1] https://www.cardrates.com/advice/atm-card-vs-debit-card-vs-c...

[2] https://cmspi.com/nam/en/resources/content/card-not-present-...

You absolutely can use USAmerican debit cards for online purchases. You just expose yourself to massive risk by doing so (e.g. getting your checking account drained).

Your liability is strictly limited in this case - similarly to credit cards, but not identically. Unfortunately you're out the funds until a resolution is reached which can be challenging to say the least.

What is the difference with credit cards? Just recently YouTube charged me 10 times for something and drained my credit card. My bank was clueless and explained I get the money back within 4 weeks. Only because YouTube doesn't suck so bad I got the money back within a few days.

I never paid for anything on YouTube. Nobody ever explained how that could happen

There's a few high-level and a few silly low-level differences.

(1) With a credit card, your fraud liability is almost always zero (but technically $50). With a debit card, it varies - I think by law it's $0 if you report the card lost or stolen before it's used, $50 if you report it within 2 days, $500 if you report it within 60 days and unlimited after 60 days. For card-not-present I think it's 60 days for zero liability.

(2) With a credit card, you simply don't pay the fraudulent charge until resolved. With a debit card, the money is out of your account until resolved.

(3) There's some weird arcana in the Fair Credit Billing Act about common carrier bankruptcy. In some cases, you're not liable if an airline goes bankrupt after you book but before your trip. This doesn't apply to debit cards. [2]

[1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-...

[2] https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/service-cessation...

I'm confused - this commenter says the only reason some population of the EU have a credit card is to purchase stuff from US websites. Which to me implies that their EU debit card only works locally.

In my corner of the EU - I don't recognise this at all as every debit card you would get from a bank here (as an adult with no bad credit judgements) is Visa branded and works just fine anywhere worldwide that would be set up to handle Visa (electronically at least).

People who make a habit of purchasing stuff abroad might well seek out a bank with a low/no currency exchange fee - and it could be that a credit card is more effective here, but it's nothing to do with the fundamental debit vs credit, and once again, simply isn't something that's generalise-able across the entire EU.

I believe they're being phased out everywhere now but historically debit cards were something like Maestro, "Visa Electron", EC Card, Girocard, etc. Maybe the GP is still somewhere where those are still in use. I believe Germany is one of the big laggards in this space.

Same here in Switzerland. Most cards I see now have dual use and work as debit and credit card with visa or master.

My card works everywhere and even credit card transactions appear as slow debit transactions.

I also don't pay any fees for any of that. Only the merchants do in my case.

European debit cards work as debit cards, the distinction is the network used.

My Danish debit card supports both Visa and Dankort, the Danish network. Danish companies will generally put the transaction through Dankort, as the fees are lower, but it's still a debit transaction if it goes through Visa's network.

Dankort only cards begin with the number 5019. Visa+Dankort with 4571.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number