I lived in Poland, Finland, UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Never had an issue pay online with a card since early 2000s.
There are two types of debit cards.
1. The legacy Bank Cards (think EC card in Germany) and
2. The "new" (I say new, but they have been around for 20 years) debit cards, which looks and act like Credit Card, but do not give you line of credit and requires fund on savings/current account.
Except for German Sparkasse (not a real bank) almost every bank offers you option which card you want (Fidor even issues "Smart" card which is both, legacy and new Debit Card).
The Netherlands had time with this super wonky Meastro cards, but I hear it no problem anymore.
Some dodgy bank will ask for an extra fee, but most don't.
I had my first Debit Card for online payment, as a student in 2004. Yes, paying with CC/DC in Europe is not an issue.
It is not novelty. They are common. Your bank might have simply not given it to you.
All that said, if I can, I will ALWAYS pay with SEPA.
The idea of giving someone the key to your wallet for a fee (merchants pays the fee, but it is baked into the cost of goods) is so absurd that I can't event fathom.
My business, Wide Angle Analytics, uses CC and even allows PayPal via Paddle. But we explicitly state that you can ALSO pay via invoice, with bank transfer for any annual subscription.
There are two types of debit cards.
1. The legacy Bank Cards (think EC card in Germany) and 2. The "new" (I say new, but they have been around for 20 years) debit cards, which looks and act like Credit Card, but do not give you line of credit and requires fund on savings/current account.
Except for German Sparkasse (not a real bank) almost every bank offers you option which card you want (Fidor even issues "Smart" card which is both, legacy and new Debit Card). The Netherlands had time with this super wonky Meastro cards, but I hear it no problem anymore.
Some dodgy bank will ask for an extra fee, but most don't.
I had my first Debit Card for online payment, as a student in 2004. Yes, paying with CC/DC in Europe is not an issue.
It is not novelty. They are common. Your bank might have simply not given it to you.