Unlike the UK and the States, in the Netherlands payment by cheque is unheard of and credit card much less common. The main method of payment are cash, and increasingly, debit card. The death of cheques is brilliant, there is a problem with the debit cards however: they do not have a 16-digit code which can be used for online payments. In 2005, iDEAL was introduced to deal with this problem, by allowing online payments between a customer and a merchant. All the major Dutch banks joined in, and all seemed well, or did it?
Sadly, it was only Dutch banks, so unless the merchant is based in the Netherlands (or CD WOW! based in Hong Kong, on which more some other time) you are still out of luck. This has not been mitigated at all. If you do not have a credit card, good luck ordering from Amazon.co.uk or .com! So, if you are 16, and want to buy a plane ticket to go to an admissions interview for university? Good luck ordering that without bothering your parents. Not iDEAL I’d say. I don’t even…