[LargeFormat] Re: OT: What's an ec card?

[Marco Pauck]

Stuart Phillips wrote:
> Hi, what's an ec card?
> (The first choice over a credit card)

It's quite similar to a credit card and is issued by almost
all European banks for free. There are 1.65 million shops in
Europa that accept the ec-card but 'only' 2.7 million world-wide.
Fees are considerably lower that for credit cards.

Some ec-cards also include an eCash option that allows to pay
small amounts ('micro payments') easily.

Marco


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Marco Pauck" <marco@pauck.de>
> To: <largeformat@f32.net>
> Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 2:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] How to pay German shops
> 
> 
> 
>>Let me clarify a few things (yes, I'm German ;-)
>>
>>Credit cards are not *that* seldom used in Germany. Most most
>>larger shops, restaurants, etc. accept them. If you travel a lot,
>>as I do, you really need a credit card to pay flights, hotels,
>>cars, etc. Some hotels even require a CC for reservation ...
>>
>>But it's true, due to the high fees CCs are second class payment
>>methods especially compared to the ec-card which is very popular
>>here.
>>
>>Regarding the eBay specifics observed by tripspud: Profiles are
>>visible to German users even though surprisingly not international
>>users. And yes, there is no 'reserve' which I consider as an absurd
>>concept anyway - an appropriate starting price makes far more sense.
>>
>>Marco
>>
>>
>>tripspud wrote:
>>
>>>Hi Philip,
>>>
>>>       An aside about Germany.  I've noticed that on the eBay, you can
>>>not look at another buyer's profile if they are a German citizen.  I do
>>>a lot of snooping on buyer's before I bid, to find out if they've
> 
> already
> 
>>>bought a similar item, they're bidding practises, etc.  All this is
> 
> available
> 
>>>for past auctions they have bid on up to 30 days.  But a disclaimer
> 
> appears
> 
>>>stating that German law prohibits revealing private information on
> 
> auctons.
> 
>>>      Also auctions on eBay.de never have reserves because of German
> 
> law,
> 
>>>though the seller can still set a very high opening bid like elsewhere,
> 
> often
> 
>>>not an auction, but a 'for sale'.
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>Rich Lahrson
>>>Berkeley, California
>>>tirpsup@transbay.net
>>>
>>>philip lambert wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I sold something to an overseas buyer who paid me by Western Union
> 
> transfer.
> 
>>>>I had to take my passport and the Western Union document to a nearby
> 
> travel
> 
>>>>agent who dealt with Western Union and I was handed cash. I then sent
> 
> off
> 
>>>>the item I had sold. Maybe you could buy from Germany this way. PL
>>>>
>>>>Most German sellers seem to have an antiquated view of financial
>>>>transactions. I've had to arrange direct bank transfers in the past
> 
> which
> 
>>>>take an age to complete - my bank tells me its the german banking system
>>>>that holds things up. Why they wont take credit card payments or paypal
> 
> is
> 
>>>>beyond me.