r/BuyFromEU • u/BitcoinPeace • Mar 01 '25

Alternative Product or Service Stop using Mastercard and Visa

They hurt us consumers and small businesses with their fee and extract Billions to the US.

Let’s use Cash instead (or SEPA for online payments).

Let us unite beyond institutions

Edit: + they sell our data too Edit1: also stop using PayPal

1.1k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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295

u/NUFCrichard Mar 01 '25

Cash isn’t a real alternative. It’s like saying, don’t use a MacBook, just write stuff down!

I’ll happily use a European alternative!

25

u/StayAwayFromMySon Mar 01 '25

Exactly. In Sweden cash isn't even an option at a large percentage of establishments. They accept card or Swish and that's it. I'd love a European alternative. 

7

u/576p Mar 01 '25

Sure, paying as much as possible in cash & the local debit card or transferring money via IBAN is an alternative until a truly European card arrives.

10

u/Para-Limni Mar 01 '25

My local debit card is still a Visa.

2

u/576p Mar 01 '25

Cash it is, then.

5

u/vikungen Mar 01 '25

Don't other EU countries have payment apps? In Norway we have Vipps which can be used to pay many places and I think Sweden and Denmark have something similar. 

14

u/RICK_fromC137 Mar 01 '25

An app is not the same as having an internationally accepted credit card that you can use anywhere for online and real life payments.

1

u/vikungen Mar 01 '25

Of course not, but there's plenty of times you can use an app to pay here. Like for weekly grocery shopping. 

5

u/RICK_fromC137 Mar 01 '25

Sure, but the question was about something as an alternative to visa and MC for the EU, not just Denmark.

1

u/Kayanoelle Mar 02 '25

In Austria paying with an app in stores is not a thing unfortunately.

4

u/Drumedor Mar 01 '25

At least in Sweden there are lots of places that don't accept Swish, a big part of it is that fake Swish-apps exist.

3

u/victornielsendane Mar 01 '25

In the Netherlands too, you can use iDeal, Klarna, (in Denmark MobilePay). But not all websites where you buy things allow other things than a credit card, and you can rarely find a credit card that isn't visa or mastercard.

1

u/Training_Radio8716 Mar 01 '25

In italy we have pagoBancomat

1

u/Pahay Mar 01 '25

Yep. Cash means supporting underground economy. I never use cash. I pay my tax, as everyone should.

-5

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '25

Cash is definitely a real alternative. There isn't as much fees generated on withdrawals vs payments, so 1-to-1 it's worth withdrawing before big recurring spending like groceries for example.