Payment methods by country · Payment methods
How do Germans pay online?
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Germans favour e-payment solutions such as PayPal: the European Central Bank's 2024 SPACE study puts them at 46% of online payments in Germany. Klarna is also big, with pay later in 30 days, pay in 3 and financing up to 36 months. SEPA Direct Debit lets a store debit a euro bank account under a mandate. Giropay closed in June 2024, and Wero, a new European bank wallet, is rolling out in Germany.
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Online share
- E-payment solutions 46% of online payments (ECB SPACE 2024)
- Buy now, pay later
- Klarna: pay later €0.10–€10,000, pay in 3 €1–€5,000, financing up to 36 months
- Bank payments
- SEPA Direct Debit; Wero (EPI)
- Discontinued
- Giropay stopped taking payments by 30 June 2024
- PlatformDTC offers
- Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Klarna
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC checkout offers German shoppers cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal in euros, plus Klarna on one-time orders from €1 to €10,000 when the store's Stripe account is in the EEA, UK or Switzerland. SEPA Direct Debit and Wero are not offered today.
What changed for German checkouts
Giropay's owner shut it down in 2024. For consumer sales in Germany, Stripe now points businesses to cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Klarna instead.
Wero, from the European Payments Initiative (EPI Company SE), links a shopper's bank account to a wallet; online the shopper approves by scanning a QR code with the Wero app. EPI lists Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg.
SEPA Direct Debit and Klarna
SEPA Direct Debit can debit any euro account in the SEPA area once the customer accepts a mandate, and customers can dispute a debit with no questions asked for eight weeks. Stripe notes that Germany, Sweden and the US are the only countries where Klarna's pay later works for subscriptions; PlatformDTC still keeps Klarna off subscription carts.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I still need giropay for German shoppers?
- No. Giropay stopped processing payments by 30 June 2024.
- What is the most important method to add for Germany?
- PayPal and Klarna. The ECB's 2024 study found e-payment solutions made up 46% of online payments in Germany, and PlatformDTC offers both PayPal and Klarna there.
Sources
- Study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) 2024 — European Central Bank
- Availability of Giropay: June 2024 update — Stripe
- Wero payments — Stripe
- Wero — EPI Company SE
- Klarna payments — Stripe
- SEPA Direct Debit payments — Stripe
Related
- Austria — EPS online bank transfers are accepted by most Austrian shops, with Klarna and cards alongside.
- Switzerland — TWINT mobile payments are the Swiss favourite, with cards, PayPal and Klarna alongside.
- Netherlands — iDEAL bank payments, now becoming Wero, are by far the usual way to pay online.
- France — Bank cards on the Cartes Bancaires network dominate, almost all co-badged with Visa or Mastercard.
- Belgium — Bancontact cards and app payments are the local habit; Wero and Klarna pay later are also live.
- Ireland — Cards and phone wallets lead; open-banking Pay by Bank and Klarna pay in 3 are newer options.