Debit and credit cards

Credit cards have been used for online purchases for years. Until recently, this was not possible with debit cards. That is changing with the arrival of new debit cards from the Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit card schemes. These cards can be used to make online payments.

Market share of credit cards

The Dutch mainly pay online with iDEAL. In 2024, more than 70% of all online purchases were paid for with iDEAL. Credit cards follow with almost 10% and have remained stable in second place for years.

There are several reasons for the relatively limited use of credit cards:

Many Dutch people do not have a credit card; there are roughly 6.5 million credit cards in circulation, including corporate cards.
Paying with a credit card often requires manual entry of card details and additional verification in the card issuer’s (bank’s) app.
iDEAL offers a trusted payment process: consumers are redirected to their own banking environment to check and confirm the payment.
For small online stores, the costs of credit card payments can be relatively high.

Renewed debit card

Renewed debit cards from the Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit card schemes offer the option of paying online. For online retailers, payments with these debit cards are often cheaper than with credit cards.

Click to Pay

More and more online stores support Click to Pay. This allows customers to pay more easily and quickly with a debit or credit card than before, without having to fill in all their card details and delivery information.

Outlook

The use of credit cards for online purchases remains limited. Its use is expected to decline further as banks issue more updated debit cards and the convenience of Click to Pay becomes more widely available. This could also be at the expense of the use of iDEAL.

Ultimately, consumers’ choices will depend on cost, trust, and convenience.