[LargeFormat] How to pay German shops

[Marco Pauck]

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.