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this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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Is there really a reason we need a dedicated payment service? Iirc in the US you can't just wire money to people with your regular bank account and that's why PayPal took off. It might save you a few seconds compared to filling in your credit card details when online shopping but is that really worth it?
Independence from US card companies? When you pay with a VISA card, VISA takes a fee. Or any other card. They all take a fee. Same if you add them to PayPal. The card issuer takes a fee, PayPal takes a fee. Mastercard just blocked the selling of certain games on Steam because they wont allow transactions for games with sexual content.
There are many valid reasons to not rely on the VISA/ Mastercard/AMEX etc. these were just some examples.
When you use wero - it’s connected directly to your bank account. No card issuer involved.
im still waiting for an app to replace google wallet on my watch
In the US you really could not send money from one Person to another?
It's actually the same in Europe. You can only instruct someone else to take money out of your account.
I dont think so. As far as i know i can send money to whoever i want when i have their iban number.
Nope. You're telling your bank to tell their bank that you authorize them to withdrawal that amount.
@quick_snail @polle Hmmm. A bank transfer (my banks literally call it "send money") or standing order is different from a direct debit authorisation - the first two are me sending money, the last is me letting them take it. Pretty sure we don't need a special app. My bank apps even allow me to send money to a phone number.
I go to my phone app, make a transfer, put the IBAN of the one I want to send money, put amount, bank tells me if it takes a day or is immediate, go.
The other person recieves money, lately most banks have it instantly, so they get it instantly.
Is it really that important what the banks are doing internally if I'm the one initiating the action and they get the money?
I even have my usual contacts in the bank's app, so most of the time sending the money is super simple.
I'm familiar with the UI. Its pull-based in the back end. Source: I worked for a bank
Which is irrelevant for my point, what's relevant for the comment chain is that a person can quickly make a direct transfer and the second person receives it instantly most of the time. The inner workings of the functionality are not relevant when talking about the use case.
You make it seem like I need to send a request email to the target bank, then wait until their certified postal mail reaches my bank, then my bank sends them money. This is a hyperbole, what I mean is that you make it seem way more cumbersome than it is for the end user.
It's absolutely important. Because pull based transactions are less secure.
I agree that it's important from a security standpoint, but it's not relevant from a usability standpoint.
They originally said:
And you answered:
You are describing how the process works internally to someone in a chain that describes usability from the end user. In Europe we can send money, we tell the bank which amount and where, and then they use their incredibly shitty security methods to perform the transaction. That's agnostic to me from an usability standpoint. That's why I said that you were not saying relevant information.
@quick_snail @polle Bull. Shit.
What exactly?
@polle the entire statement regarding authorising another bank to withdraw money.
I was trained as a banker and learned that stuff. I have no desire to do an entire writeup but this stuff should be easy to read up on.
Banks sum up all transactions with another bank, send the net sum (or ask to receive it) and the transaction details to the other bank and that's how it works.
Well you could the wikipedia about sepa its written there. Perhaps it is different for your Country.
What you describe is SEPA Core Direct Debit and not a sepa credit transfer
They're both debit. The difference is the UI. In the backend, its both pull-based.
You can't prevent someone malicious from pulling from your account.
But you can transfer is back if its maliciously. Its just a click in the online banking. If you transfer it yourself you cant get it back.
Tell that to my bank which couldn't undo a scam transfer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What all those shiny new services underestimate about Paypal is buyer protection for the costumer and for shop owners the guarantee to receive the money. Probably the latter not so much anymore, but back in the day, when online shopping took of it was.
Was the scam tranfser to long ago timewise? There is an maximum time frame for undoing that.
No, it was an instant transfer which was withdrawn already at the receiving end, so they could not undo it. Everything within one working day. But be it as it may, maybe I could've done something more, but that is, why I came to like Paypal: very hassle-free to get your money back. Every other service would need to do the same at least to convince me.
So someone tansfered money out of your Bank account without having any info about your or stolen data if your card? Seems there is something missing to the story.
The idea behind wero is to save those few seconds PayPal is saving you. It also provides a safety layer, by allowing you to cancel wrong payments. Other then that it is just bank transfers.
How does cancelling payments work? Isn't Wero basically based on the SEPA instant payment system?
Well, Paypal made some things right: you wire money by e-mail address. Some people did not like the thought of sharing banking details with "everybody".
The second thing was the strong buyer protection: if the item does not show up or is damaged or anything I instantly get my money back. Shifting the burden of proof to the shop owner sucks for the shop owner a lot, but as a customer this is a huge bonus.
Finally, other people said it in the thread already: using e.g. my banks online banking in the browser on mobile is a shitty experience, fumbling around a lot. Paypal feels like half a click in comparison. The need to install an app for Wero already kills it instantly for me.
Legit question, but yes. Transferring money via QR-code/e-Mail/Phonenumber is worth it. Obviously the hurdles are big enough, so that the most money transfers with my peers (e.g. for balancing a shared pizza order) happen to be via PayPal.