In the Netherlands many people have credit cards, but most people only use them occasionally (travel, dinner, new TV) and most people are hesitant to use them on the web. Debit cards are much more popular; we also use chip cards which are preloaded from a bank account and used like a purse, no online transactions involved.

I do use my credit card for Paypal, Amazon and the like, but not without some concern. Web transactions are often secure these days, but occasionally a large firm is hacked and a whole customer database is compromised.

By far the most common method of asynchronous payment is by direct bank transfer, no checks involved, no costs whatsoever, no paper work either, most people do this electronically (they do trust the proprietary bank software, which they believe is less easy to hack). For many people Paypal would mean an investment in time, which might weigh heavier than the financial investment.

Erik Zachte