[BrandonS113]

One reason to like the visa mastercard duopoly. They work everywhere. I go to the Netherlands a lot for work, and it is a real pain as they have their own payment system, IDEAL, one needs to live there, that is closed to foreigners. Many vendors, especially outside of main tourist areas will not take foreign cards. Guess they don't want to pay 0.1% fees. Yesterday, was left embarrassed in Albert Heijn where they only took Dutch cards and I did not have enough cash. (some AH do, most don't)

[em500]

But as you just discovered, they don't work everywhere. Plenty of Dutch and German stores don't accept them. Visa and Mastercard interchange fees are nowadays capped to 0.3% by law, but they used to be 2%+ (and still are in the USA AFAICT), that's why historically Dutch and German retailers shunned them. Why pay 2% to accept a few more cards from foreigners and tourists when 99% of your customers already have a 0.3% fee card (Maestro or VPay)?

Also, the Dutch iDEAL system might form in important building block of a European home-grown payment solution, that hopefully will give the Visa/MC duopoly some actual competition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Payments_Initiative

[BrandonS113]

I agree. But plenty of Dutch vendor only accept Dutch mastercards and not foreign. The fee s the same. WHY? And foreigners can't get IDEAL or Dutch mastercards. I have gotten used to carry a lot of cash when there. Fortunately, Holland is safe. Someone looked at me very funny when I payed them EUR 500 in cash last week.

But we also know why a European home grown payments system is not happening. The incumbent banks hate it and have enough power to block such solutions.

[flarg]

Outside of main cities and Germany is the same for restaurants and cafes. Pita

[lstamour]

As a tourist, though, a pro tip is that big banks in Germany charge for deposits, not withdrawals, so if you happen to have a debit Mastercard with no exchange fees (e.g. in Canada, EQ Bank or WealthSimple), you can use your Mastercard at a bank ATM completely fee free and at Mastercard exchange rates. Plus it doesn’t matter which bank you go to, just pick the nearest name brand big bank ATM and you’re good to go.