Germany Payment Methods: Understanding Local Preferences
Comprehensive guide to payment methods in Germany for businesses, discussing the popularity of cash, bank transfers, and digital solutions.
The exact change
Online retailers offering Ueberweisung as a payment option historically used real-time bank transfer services such as Sofortueberweisung (Sofort by Klarna) or giropay, an established real-time bank transfer scheme operated independently by German banks.
Online retailers offering Ueberweisung as a payment option historically used real-time bank transfer services such as Sofortueberweisung (Sofort by Klarna) or giropay, which merged its brand with Paydirekt starting in 2021 after Paydirekt acquired giropay in late 2020. The combined giropay/Paydirekt/Kwitt service was discontinued entirely on 31 December 2024, with the EU-wide Wero wallet positioned as its successor.
Suggested change
Corrected the status of Giropay/Paydirekt (which have changed), the number of PayPal accounts, the credit card usage percentage, and the direction of the PSD2/Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) threshold, which had been stated moving the wrong way.
Why this is better
The article described giropay as still operating independently, but it had actually merged with Paydirekt and was discontinued entirely at the end of 2024, so the outdated operational status needed to be corrected to reflect the service's actual current status.
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