Which online payment methods to accept in Germany?

PayPal, ELV, SEPA Direct Debit, SOFORT, and RatePAY are important to address the German market. Other relevant payment methods are Klarna, Amazon Pay and Apple Pay.

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Germany
E-commerce Market Profile

Find below the key stats for the German ecommerce market.
Here you can find the most popular online payment methods in Germany.

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Currency

euro (EUR)

Household Internet Access Rate

Internet Country Code

.de

B2C E-commerce Market Size

67.5 billion USD (2015)

Population (+ Global Rank)

80.1 million (2020) (#19)

Online Payment Methods

SOFORT, ELV, SEPA Credit Transfers, Giropay (discontinued: June 30th, 2024), PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Klarna, Ratepay, Paydirekt (merged with Giropay in 2015)

Country GDP (+ Global Rank)

$4,199,000,000,000 (#5)

National E-commerce Association(s)

Händlerbund

GDP per capita (+ Global rank)

$50,800 (#27)

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Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is an online payment service owned by Amazon that lets shoppers use their amazon.com account to make online purchases. With Amazon Pay, shoppers can make purchases using credit or debit cards stored in their digital wallet. The acceptance of Amazon Pay can lead to an improved payment acceptance rate, lower cart abandonment, and increased conversions as Amazon Pay shoppers can pay for products and services without creating new accounts or leaving a merchant’s site.

Ratepay

Ratepay is a popular 'shop now, pay later' payment method in Germany and Switzerland. Shoppers can choose between full payment of installments to settle the invoice amount. Merchants are pre-funded (and can directly ship their goods). Ratepay absorbs the merchant's risk of non-payment.

Trustly

Trustly is a convenient alternative to cards, which allows consumers to make or receive payment by signing into online banking without leaving the merchant's website or mobile app.

paydirekt (merged with Giropay (2015))

This payment method merged with another German alternative payment method 'Giropay', back in 2015. The Giropay brand has been discontinued as of June 30th, 2024.

Klarna | Pay-Later

Klarna allows shoppers to buy now and pay later. And Merchants to increase their conversion rate with optimised user experience for m-commerce as well as state of the art payment options.

SOFORT - Pay now by Klarna

Sofort, also known as Pay now with Klarna, is a popular online banking method in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and Belgium. Sofort is also available in Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

American Express

American Express is a credit or charge card that can be used for online payments. American Express is amongst the major credit card brands in the world.

VISA

Visa is one of world's best known online payment methods and largest credit card brand. Visa truly is a global payment brand with acceptance at point-of-sale and online in over 170 countries.

MasterCard

MasterCard is one of world's best known online payment methods and dominant credit card brands. MasterCard is truly a global payment brand, supporting 150 currencies with over 35 million acceptance locations (point-of-sale and online) in over 210 countries.

PayPal

PayPal is the online payment method that enables people to send money and to shop online without sharing financial information. Shoppers can pay from their PayPal preloaded balance, directly from their bank account or stored credit cards like MasterCard and Visa.

Apple Pay

The Apple Pay payment service allows consumers to pay contactless, in-app and on desktop through the newest Apple Macbook and iMac's. Consumers are able to securely store credit and debit card details into their Apple Pay wallet and confirm payment by simply scanning their fingerprint with Apple's Touch ID or by using Face ID.

Giropay (stopped June 30th, 2024)

No longer supported - Giropay has been discontinued as of June 30th, 2024. Giropay was one of the common online payment methods in Germany in the period from 2015 till 2024.

ELV

ELV stands for Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren and is a popular online payment method in Germany. By choosing to pay with ELV at checkout, the consumer permits the merchant to collect (debit) the purchase amount directly from his or her bank account.

SEPA Credit Transfer

The SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) allows consumers to pay for their goods and services by using their euro bank account to transfer money directly to the merchants' bank account. Both the consumer and merchant should be domiciled within the SEPA (eurozone) region.

SEPA Direct Debit

The SEPA Direct Debit enables to make pan-European collections in euro's on a one-off or recurrent basis.

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Which online payment methods to accept in Germany?

Germany
E-commerce Market Profile

Currency

Household Internet Access Rate

Internet Country Code

B2C E-commerce Market Size

Population (+ Global Rank)

Online Payment Methods

Country GDP (+ Global Rank)

National E-commerce Association(s)

GDP per capita (+ Global rank)

Looking to accept payments online?
Find your Payment Service Provider »

✓  Our matching service is free of charge
✓  Offers quick insight into your options
✓  Helps out to wisely select your provider

Online Payment Methods in Germany

Amazon Pay

Ratepay

Trustly

paydirekt (merged with Giropay (2015))

Klarna | Pay-Later

SOFORT - Pay now by Klarna

American Express

VISA

MasterCard

PayPal

Apple Pay

Giropay (stopped June 30th, 2024)

ELV

SEPA Credit Transfer

SEPA Direct Debit

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Which online payment methods to accept in Germany?

GermanyE-commerce Market Profile

Currency

Household Internet Access Rate

Internet Country Code

B2C E-commerce Market Size

Population (+ Global Rank)

Online Payment Methods

Country GDP (+ Global Rank)

National E-commerce Association(s)

GDP per capita (+ Global rank)

Looking to accept payments online?Find your Payment Service Provider »✓ Our matching service is free of charge ✓ Offers quick insight into your options✓ Helps out to wisely select your provider

Online Payment Methods in Germany

Amazon Pay

Ratepay

Trustly

paydirekt (merged with Giropay (2015))

Klarna | Pay-Later

SOFORT - Pay now by Klarna

American Express

VISA

MasterCard

PayPal

Apple Pay

Giropay (stopped June 30th, 2024)

ELV

SEPA Credit Transfer

SEPA Direct Debit

If you follow us, we like it.

Germany
E-commerce Market Profile

Looking to accept payments online?
Find your Payment Service Provider »

✓ Our matching service is free of charge
✓ Offers quick insight into your options
✓ Helps out to wisely select your provider