Ask HN: What's your preferred digital payment method?

i'm interested to know more about the international payment system but most of the data online is looking more and more biased so I'm here to do recon

i'd love to know what's your preferred payment method for digital payments and why, any story you share would be great too

ps: please start with your country like

"US: <response>", it'll help me categorise better

thank u, in advance

raw_anon_1111 · 2 months ago

Apple Pay. Why would I use anything else? I used it in four countries last year outside of the US - Costa Rica, Canada, UK and France without a problem.

Even my barber takes Apple Pay right from his Android Phone by tapping.

The only difference is outside of the US and the UK, Amex isn’t frequently accepted.

eastbayjake · 2 months ago

It's such a broad question... are you a consumer or a merchant? Are you doing a card-present payment (eg swiping at a store POS) or a card-not-present payment (eg entering your credit card number on an ecommerce site)? Are you buying/selling a high-risk item? How much do you care about privacy? How much do you care about rewards (if you're a consumer) or processing fees (if you're a merchant)?

vednig · 2 months ago

let's wind it down

of-course, it's seemingly a card not present payment, because it's digital payments infra unless you keep a card reader present to convert it to, your processor via bank to complete txn.

yeah, it is different for all and a lot of things come into account payer can be anyone consumer or merchant, anyone who would like to do a txn.

but what has been your pattern, i'm curious?

JohnFen · 2 months ago

US: I use whatever method the party I'm paying is requiring, unless it's cryptocurrency. I don't do cryptocurrency.

vednig · 2 months ago

so, if you'd have to choose between Bank/Card, Venmo, Klarna or Paypal you'd say ?

JohnFen · 2 months ago

I'm familiar with Venmo and Paypal, so I'd pick either of those just because they're known to me. I'm not opposed to Klarna, but I know nothing about it and so would avoid the learning curve and account creation if I had another option. I'd go with a card if I had to, but that's higher friction because I'd need to set up a temporary throwaway card to do that.

wojciii · 2 months ago

DK: mobilepay. It's easier to use than debit/credit cards. A site only needs to know my phone number. One screen popup with all information on my phone and I paid (uses card in the background). The site recognizes this and continues to sending me mail about the purchase.

stop50 · 2 months ago

SEPA

- costs next to nothing - i have an standartised api for end users via FINTS and businesses via EBICS

WilcoKruijer · 2 months ago

What are you referring to when you say SEPA? Like Direct Debit / Credit Transfers initiated over FINTS or EBICS?

stop50 · 2 months ago

Both

vednig · 2 months ago

do you find Stripe or Paypal checkout experience faster and better ?

para_parolu · 2 months ago

US: apple pay.

It knows address, only requires face id check. Adds shipping tracking. Works on every device I use. Every time shop allows apple pay I pick it. When not available I usually pick credit card.

toomuchtodo · 2 months ago

TransferWise

vednig · 2 months ago

do you find yourself to often use the card or wallet ? also, do you also use wise for domestic txns?

toomuchtodo · 2 months ago

Zelle or Venmo for dollar P2P transfers, Wise for international (both P2P or using local payment rails if possible, SEPA in Europe for example). App whenever possible vs wallet or card. Failing all of that, a US credit card or cash. My optimization is lowest cost possible between me and target entity receiving value transfer.

The ideal is an app that gets you as close to Pix [1], UPI [2], and SEPA [3] as you can for low or no cost value movement on instant payment rails [4].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_payment

davedx · 2 months ago

NL: iDEAL

WilcoKruijer · 2 months ago

iDEAL is great from a usability perspective, but sadly offers no consumer protection at all. It’ll be interesting to see how WERO will take over from iDEAL and what extra features we’ll get.