Of course using your overdraft is totally fine, but using the evil credit cards even when paying in full is just like declaring bankruptcy. Doesn't help payment services in Germany that Visa/MasterCard is always considered an evil credit card and debit brands aren't too common.
The reason they are "evil" is that they charge the dealer the by far largest fees. Cache: no fee. EC card: small fee. Credit card: large fee. And of course I can't ask the customer to pay for it, I must have one price for all. It was something like 1% vs. 3% (approximately(!), just to give an idea of magnitude).
It's not even any more convenient. Except for a few places like car rentals, where the credit card serves an insurance function (the rental deposit), there is exactly zero reason to point to convenience. Just use an EC card or a bank card that's attached to the major payment processing networks, everybody has one.
On the other hand, most credit cards cost a yearly fee of 20-70 Euros or so. The only reason I grudgingly pay for one is because I rent a car occasionally.
As a near-annual visitor to Germany, it drives me nuts that I can't use my Australian credit card everywhere (especially at Saturn). I would LOVE to have an EC card, but it seems there's no way easy way for a visitor to Germany to get one. Seems you need a bank account, and there doesn't seem to be a way to get one without a residency permit. It's not like Australia where a visitor can at least buy a pre-paid reloadable Visa Debit card in any post office.
[If I'm wrong about the EC Cards and bank accounts, please let me know, I'd love to use an EC Card like a proper German whenever I visit.]
However, I am not sure if this also applies to Australia or only to other European countries. But if you're really interested it might be worth checking it out. (Also, I think their website is only available in German, so you would need to understand / find someone who understands some German to sign up.)
Because it just magically transfers from your register to your bank account? :)
>It was something like 1% vs. 3% (approximately(!), just to give an idea of magnitude).
I know, but by now it is down to 0.9% for most retailers so not accepting credit cards is always an interesting decision.
>most credit cards cost a yearly fee of 20-70 Euros or so
When you get a card to collect airline miles or get the card from your bank. Most other banks (Advanzia, Barclaycard, LBB) charge nothing for it, but make up by charging high interest rates. Still most have an interest-free period, which can be beneficial for consumers.
> zero reason to point to convenience.
Regular cards still don't support contactless. Just tapping your card is vastly better than entering your PIN or signing. A lot of retailers in Germany support it.
> Because it just magically transfers from your register to your bank account? :)
> Regular cards still don't support contactless
Oh, I realy miss this. In my country it is impossible to find a normal card, all are contactless by default. Even if you'd like to get a normal one for security reasons you can't - banks don't offer them.
I rent cars quite frequently with the boring free VISA debit card from my normal checking account. I never knew that there are restrictions on which cards can be used for renting.
For example, I rented twice this year - I don't own a car and usually use the train - and the first time they wanted my to enter the PIN for the credit card, which I didn't know. A big hassle, they took (real!) money off of my EC card (which I got back afterwards).
The second time I didn't need a PIN (different car rental company), but they helped themselves to almost 800 Euros in alleged damages from my credit card (good thing I had used an online service and opted into the "we pay the deductible", which was 1,000 Euros, on the full insurance I had also selected to get).