[Foundation-l] e-gold proposal

[Jens Ropers]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 18:36:49 +0100, Jens Ropers 
<ropers at ropersonline.com> wrote:
>> Germans commonly don't have
>> credit cards (for some weird reason they're regarded as snobbish and
>> elitist in Germany).

On 17 Dec 2004, at 10:54, Robin Shannon wrote:

> So how do germans usually pay for stuff online?
>
> paz y amor,
> [[User:The bellman]]
>

It varies.
(I'm not an expert here, as my online "coming of age" took place while 
I was living in Ireland and later England. Even now that I'm again 
based in Germany I rarely deal with German online businesses.)

eBay for instance has developed something called "Überweisung Plus" 
(which translates to "bank transfer plus"). Similar with paypal, you 
can do an Überweisung from and for a German paypal account. I also 
learned that it's for example standard practice with all German hosting 
providers to require customers to print out and snail mail in 
confirmation forms.

The complete insanity with this this daft German credit card aversion 
is that it doesn't make effin sense:
The German public considers credit cards a privilege of the rich -- 
when the opposite is the case, really. The way I remember things from 
Britain, while credit cards were a currency of convenience to well-off 
people, the folks who really DEPENDED on them were the less well off 
who did not always have the cash on hand and really could use the 
credit (with the attached risk of being hit with extortionate rates if 
they didn't pay back the money within a month, but that's another 
issue).
If I'm using my VISA in Germany I get funny looks ("Gee, he must be a 
rich bastard. Who would've thought?!") due to my now being a student. 
PEOPLE JUST DON'T FECKIN UNDERSTAND. It's called "CREDIT card". 
_CREDIT_ card, GEDDIT!!!
If I HAD the money ready I wouldn't NEED to use a _credit_ card. Yet 
somehow the perception that credit cards are snobbish is so ingrained 
in German public consciousness, it's mental, really. The retailers 
don't help things by often not accepting credit card because of the 
tiny fraction that the card companies keep. And worst of all, German 
banks treat requests for credit cards as if you were asking for a 
complimentary limo ride. They are really selective about who gets a 
credit card, because even they suffer from the above delusion (all the 
worse for their business) and try to let you feel that to be granted a 
credit card is a massive privilege which should inspire your perpetual 
loyalty.
The only bank in Germany that's not as much a moron about credit cards 
is citibank. I wonder why that is? ;-)

Without knowing any inside info, I'm pretty certain e.g. that German 
iTunes sales will be below expectations, because you need a credit card 
for the thing and Germans just ''don't have credit cards'' (even 
well-off people often don't).

-- ropers [[en:User:Ropers]]
     www.ropersonline.com