[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.

[em500]

Here are the transaction costs for a retailer at the largest Dutch bank:

- Maestro, V PAY, Debit Mastercard en VISA Debit issued in Europe: €0.047-€0.06 per transaction

- iDEAL: €0.35

- Mastercard en VISA creditcards issued in Europe: 1.70%

- Mastercard en VISA creditcards and debitcards issued outside of Europe: 2.50%

https://www.ing.nl/zakelijk/betalen/tarieven/betalingen-binn...

For a €100 payment, we're looking at €0.06 debitcard transaction vs €1.70-€2.50 creditcard. If I were a Dutch retailer outside of areas/sectors with a lot of foreign/tourist business I probably wouldn't bother with credit cards either, as probably 99%+ of the Dutch have Maestro, VPAY or cash.

[BrandonS113]

I have European debit cards. They get rejected in many Albert Heijn when Dutch cards (debit and credit) are taken. Jumbo takes foreign cards. Jumbo gets my (and a lot of my colleagues who pass though) business, AH not. Many restaurants take Dutch credit cards and not non-Dutch European credit cards. I went to a restaurant that takes Bitcoin but not EU debit (and Bitcoin transactions costs are much higher)

So if the fees on non-Dutch European and Dutch cards are the same, what explains this? Xenophobia? That is what my colleagues in Holland say.

[landgenoot]

The actual problem is that merchants are not allowed to charge payment fees to their customers.

If you had to pay the fees as a customer, free market forces would do its job.