this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
75 points (96.3% liked)

Buy European

8391 readers
992 users here now

Overview:

The community to discuss buying European goods and services.

Matrix Chat of this community

Rules:

  • Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. No direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments.

  • Do not use this community to promote Nationalism/Euronationalism. This community is for discussing European products/services and news related to that. For other topics the following might be of interest:

  • Include a disclaimer at the bottom of the post if you're affiliated with the recommendation.

  • No russian suggestions.

Feddit.uk's instance rules apply:

  • No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia.
  • No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
  • No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
  • Do not share intentionally false or misleading information.
  • Do not spam or abuse network features.
  • Alt accounts are permitted, but all accounts must list each other in their bios.
  • No generative AI content.

Useful Websites

Benefits of Buying Local:

local investment, job creation, innovation, increased competition, more redundancy.

European Instances

Lemmy:

Friendica:

Matrix:

Related Communities:

Buy Local:

Continents:

European:

Buying and Selling:

Boycott:

Countries:

Companies:

Stop Publisher Kill Switch in Games Practice:

Banner credits: BYTEAlliance

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
maam@feddit.uk
alex@jlai.lu
circledot@feddit.org
Argyle13@lemmy.world
buyeuropean@lemmy.ca
buyeuropean@feddit.org
Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
meldrik@lemmy.wtf
Sunshine@piefed.ca
Kjell@lemmy.world
75
[German] Wero launches with power in 2026: Logistics giant and all of Holland join (www.ad-hoc-news.de)
submitted 1 week ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Huh? I get 2 years of warranty and 14 days right to return no questions asked on anything I order online.

Money transfers are instant. Like less than a second usually for me.

And Wero doesn't have a good solution for POS yet, might never have a truly good one.

[โ€“] zqps@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I was talking about offline processing. But the 14-day return (and other consumer protections) hinge on the vendor playing along. If they don't, your bank just says "you authorized the transaction, SOL".

This is the reality with SEPA transactions even in cases of blatant fraud. Your bank tells you to sue the recipient in court, they won't do a thing for you.

[โ€“] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wero doesn't really have offline processing either yet. And when it will, it will be dependent on your phone, so good luck if it's out of battery or doesn't pass Google Play Integrity on an unlocked device.

This is why I keep saying we need actual European payment cards, not just a PayPal replacement.

But the 14-day return (and other consumer protections) hinge on the vendor playing along

Your bank tells you to sue the recipient in court, they wonโ€™t do a thing for you.

That's what consumer protection agencies and small claims courts are for. In my country, any time a vendor has a case with those it'll be shown forever publicly too, so it's a very quick way to lose reputation. Of course you can still get scammed by ordering from a company that was only made to scam people, but with reputable vendors it's almost impossible because they have too much to lose.

Also for Wero, right now the consumer protections are "planned" so I'm not 100% sure they exist already.

When Wero is actually ready, it looks like it'll cover 90% of use cases. I'm happy it's being done. But till we have an EU based payment card that's useable across the entire union (and preferably worldwide), I'll still have to have visa or mastercard or cash as an emergency backup and I don't like carrying too much cash with me (particularly when traveling), even if my physical size and shape is in the "eh easier to mug someone else" territory. And if I want to switch away from American smartphone operating systems and get a Linux phone, Wero won't even be an option for me, since it needs an app. My bank cards don't need an app (though it's convenient obviously).

[โ€“] zqps@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fair enough. Clearly I'm not that in the loop on the details, and I agree there should be a way to use it without relying on smartphones. I don't use a banking nor paypal app today either.

But Visa and Mastercard are making a big play to shift the European market towards the US model where their credit cards are used for everything, so time is of the essence. For that reason I'm okay with some drawbacks, because there's at least a chance they will be addressed down the line. Also combating the payment duopoly and circumventing US-based systems are major wins for consumers already. I further hope it would hopefully over time see adoption in other countries as well as a real alternative to CCs when travelling.

[โ€“] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

credit cards are used for everything,

Visa and Mastercard also have debit card systems. You canโ€™t easily escape their duopoloy, but you donโ€™t have to own a credit card in Europe.

[โ€“] basxto@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

The biggest part for me is online payment and thatโ€™s where it matters most that multiple countries share a system. I already used the predecessor service, but I hope this could lead to wider adoption on the vendor side. So far it looks worse than the previous system. If they donโ€™t change that I need an app to pay online, itโ€™s useless.

This also by no means covers or plan to cover all of EU. Itโ€™s just Germany, France and BENELUX

I hope theyโ€™ll try to bring the Girocard to more countries next. Right now it only works in other countries because of visa/mastercard co-branding.