[LargeFormat] What's an ec card?

[Stuart Phillips]

Hi, what's an ec card?
(The first choice over a credit card)
thanks
----- 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.
>
>
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