Why don't German grocery stores, such as Kaufland or AktivMarkt, accept Visa/Mastercard?

Question

Why is it that one can only use cash or their Sparkasse Konto?

Answer 1

i'm in the US-here,retailers pay 2-4% of the sale to the bank that issued the card.

Aldi stores in the US does not

take credit cards either!

Answer 2

German grocery chains have a tradition of no frills and low prices. Accepting Visa, MC or AEXP adds about 5% to their costs. This no frills approach is the reason why you have to bag your own groceries!

Answer 3

Most stores in the downtowns of larger cities will accept

visa, just the smaller stores and grocery stores will only accept a german cash card---same as our debit card. I don't exactly know why, must have something to do with their banking system.

Answer 4

The short answer: because this is the way the Germans are - they prefer to pay cash and they are very conservative, and do not change very quickly or adopt new methods like visa and credit.

However, Real and Karstadt (and Galleria Kaufhof) all accept credit cards (of the three, Real is affordable)

Answer 5

If you have a debit card with a Maestro Symbol  on the card that may work at those location. This include are US check cards that have a Maestro symbol on the back.  Just make sure to let your bank know before you go to Germany.

Answer 6

Germany is still mostly "cash" country.

Answer 7

The Germans are not really using credit cards at all. They developed the "Euro-Card" which they can use all over Europe. The money gets deducted directly from your chequing account - no fees. The credit card is still too expensive, that's why they prefer the Euro-Card. And because most people don't want to use the Credit card, the shops don't offer credit card payment. And as somebody said before - it would add more costs onto the price of the products. Since the marked for groceries is quite competitive, the stores can't really afford to make their products more expensive.

Answer 8

Just use euro