🔗 Source: Sharknoon (Reddit)

I was looking for an alternative for PayPal and quickly stumbled upon Wero. But unfortunately Wero isn't yet acceppted by all countries, banks and online shops. So I built werotracker.eu to keep track of the adoption of Wero.

➡️ Link: https://werotracker.eu/

This dashboard has the following features:

📈 Show adoption stats

🔍 Search for banks and online shops

✅ Filter for countries and support status (supported/announced/unsupported)

💸 See individual payment features (P2P, eCommerce, POS), not every Wero implementation is equal

📱 App availability

I hope this dashboard is helpful to you 😀

The site as well as the data is open-source under the Apache 2.0 License. You can find the source-code here: https://github.com/sharknoon/wero-tracker

If you see an error or your bank is missing, please give us a hint or contribute directly: https://github.com/sharknoon/wero-tracker?tab=readme-ov-file#contribution

Thank you and have fun 🎉

top 48 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 17 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Per wikipedia:

Wero is managed by banks via their mobile apps. This creates a dependency on iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) systems. Consequently, Wero exchanges its reliance on payment networks like Visa and Mastercard, for a reliance on two Big Tech giants—Apple and Google, with the new dependency focusing on online availability and distribution through their application stores.

Needing to rely on two pro-fascist tech companies seems like a particularly bad idea. Wero also does not appear to be anonymous.

A better alternative to Wero is GNU Taler, which is a properly open standard that is a true anonymous digital cash, and offers real independence from tech-bro corporations.

We have a community that discusses GNU Taler over at !money@slrpnk.net

Also @PracticalFail@feddit.org

[–] jaschop@awful.systems 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This is a non-argument, even though it made it onto Wikipedia. A mass-adopted Taler-based payment system would also require mobile support, which would be gatekept by Google/Apple.

Breaking oligopolist control over the mobile ecosystem is a separate battle and applies to both Wero & Taler.

That's not to say that Wero couldn't do more in this regard, e.g. publish to F-Droid.

[–] haagch@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

A mass-adopted Taler-based payment system would also require mobile support, which would be gatekept by Google/Apple.

I can use the Taler firefox addon literally today on my Shift 6mq with postmarketOS with no compatibility layers.

Yea the UI isn't great, but it already today is usable everywhere where firefox is usable, and unlike Wero, the client source code is available and the UX can be improved independently.

[–] jaschop@awful.systems 0 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I think it's great that you use privacy-enabling tech, and developing these is valuable in my eyes. But nothing about your setup screams "mass adoption" to me. I'll spare everyone the mobile OS adoption charts, and browser adoption isn't looking better.

You just can't put out an on-par mobile service nowadays without an app in Play and Apple's store. I don't like it, but it is what it is.

[–] haagch@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

That's why Taler has native apps in the google play store, the apple app store, fdroid and a direct apk download. And still it does not prevent me from using it on other devices like Wero does.

[–] axx@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 days ago

I agree with you on numbersnumbers, but someone needs to build these things "for the nerds, by the nerds" before they can become adopted more broadly. It may take years, it may not happen, but before anything else you need a bunch of highly motivated folks and must recognise and nurture that.

The alternative is the big tech approach of binding until it's mostly there, then dropping it on tonnes of people at once (or startups and growth hacking).

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

For iOS yes, for Android, no. You can have Android independent of Google, it's what the Chinese are doing.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You‘re missing the point that Android and iOS are still the predominant platforms and realistically won’t go away anytime soon.

Using wero instead of PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, … is a first step and if implemented properly the hurdle is lower than GNU Taler.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

GNU Taler does the same job that Wero is attempting (replacing Paypal, Mastercard, etc), only better and anonymous. We should be pushing for a long-term solution that can't be abused, and GNU Taler is that solution.

You‘re missing the point that Android and iOS are still the predominant platforms and realistically won’t go away anytime soon.

Android and iOS have both made it clear that they will only become further enshittified and consumer hostile. We should be advocating for non-corporate opensource replacements for them as well to truly take back our computing freedom and privacy, in same way that we should advocate for GNU Taler to free us from any corporate control over our payment systems, and give us a genuine cash-like anonymity that cannot be abused by states or corporations.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Taler doesn't offer consumer protection, and the anonymous aspect might sound nice but KYC laws prevent merchants from accepting it (and in a lot of cases, knowing who the customer is is quite helpful from a merchant perspective).

But the real killer to me seems to be this (from the Taler docs):

It is possible for the merchant to refund a contract order, for example if the contract cannot be fulfilled after all. Refunds are only possible after the customer paid and before the exchange has wired the payment to the merchant. Once the funds have been wired, refunds are no longer allowed by the Taler exchange.

This basically means your payment method is dead on conception. Online stores in the EU are required to offer no-questions-asked refunds within 2 weeks. This means a store has to wait 2 weeks at minimum before they get their money (modern payment methods are instant or next-day, 2 weeks is exceptionally long). That's a massive dealbreaker. It also means exchanges can make tons of money by keeping the transferred funds in their account and collecting interest on it.

It also weirdly means that refunds aren't possible once a transfer is settled. That's a weirdly brief window imo.

It's also quite funny to me that Taler claims to be immune to chargeback fraud, when it doesn't offer chargebacks in the first place. Makes it easy, don't it?

I don't really see why a consumer or merchant would necessarily want to use this over other options. Perhaps a restaurant might, or some other store that sells things that are intended to be consumed immediately, or a service provided immediately (like a theme park or cinema). But even then there's other, more widely available options instead.

Wero is in a completely different space, doing primarily ecom payments instead. Taler doesn't do what Wero does any better (or in many cases, at all it seems).

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

the anonymous aspect might sound nice but KYC laws prevent merchants from accepting it

GNU Taler's documentation already covers KYC laws.

This means a store has to wait 2 weeks at minimum before they get their money (modern payment methods are instant or next-day, 2 weeks is exceptionally long). That’s a massive dealbreaker.

They would only need to wait 2 weeks if they specifically want to be able to reverse a charge, but AFAIK a merchant can take possession of the money much earlier, and can still send a refund to a buyer's Taler wallet at any time as a separate transaction.

It also means exchanges can make tons of money by keeping the transferred funds in their account and collecting interest on it.

I'm not sure how that's a problem specifically? Why does it matter if they gain a little interest on it on the time that they have it until the merchant exchanges their tokens for the money? Is that worse than the fees associated with Wero?

The European Payments Initiative (EPI), which developed Wero, has indeed promised that the new payment method will not be more expensive than iDEAL for the first two years. However, it’s unclear what exactly this means. In any case, the rate will increase after two years, creating uncertainty about what the exact costs will be. And even if the per-transaction fee remains the same, the extra procedures around chargebacks will still cause a significant cost increase for businesses.

I'm assuming that source is financially biased against Wero's success, but I couldn't find anything else about Wero's fees except from Wero themselves, which was very vague:

Our pricing is clear and merchant-friendly: a small percentage fee with built-in caps, so you stay in control of costs - whether you’re processing €5 or €5,000. One model that works for businesses of all sizes.

If you have a more clear source, let me know.

It’s also quite funny to me that Taler claims to be immune to chargeback fraud, when it doesn’t offer chargebacks in the first place. Makes it easy, don’t it?

That is a legitimate downside of Taler. Personally I think the trade-off is worth it for the increased privacy, since corporations and states will inevitably use your purchase history against you at some point in the future if fascists take power once again.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

GNU Taler's documentation already covers KYC laws.

For exchanges, yes. For merchants, no.

They would only need to wait 2 weeks if they specifically want to be able to reverse a charge, but AFAIK a merchant can take possession of the money much earlier, and can still send a refund to a buyer's Taler wallet at any time as a separate transaction.

Merchants can't take possession of the funds, the exchange determines when the money is sent. After that, according to the docs a refund will trigger a 410 Gone status code.

https://docs.taler.net/core/api-merchant.html#obtaining-refunds

It seems there is a template to offer a refund, but the customer would have to go and "accept" the refund manually, which is poor UX compared to every other payment method out there where this happens automatically.

I'm not sure how that's a problem specifically? Why does it matter if they gain a little interest on it on the time that they have it until the merchant exchanges their tokens for the money? Is that worse than the fees associated with Wero?

It means exchanges are financially incentivised to keep hold of the funds for as long as possible, delaying payments. In a world that's rapidly moving towards instant payments (like Wero), this means transferring money will happen at a snails pace. You can configure the wire deadline, but given that shortening it makes the refund UX worse I'm not sure it's ideal. It's weird to have this be a tradeoff anyway.

If you have a more clear source, let me know.

Fees differ per country, it's based on what the previous most popular payment method offered. In NL it's cheaper because iDEAL is fairly cheap. But here's a source on BE costs: https://www.ing.be/en/business/payments/wero/wero

0.3% per transaction under €33.33, and a flat €0.10 for transactions of €33.33 or more.

Basically you pay a percentage, but it's capped at a maximum transaction amount. Far cheaper than creditcards at least.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

For exchanges, yes. For merchants, no.

After looking around a bit more, I found this link here, which seems to suggest a KYC implementation is still in progress, since existing services don't meet their criteria.

Merchants can’t take possession of the funds, the exchange determines when the money is sent.

The Wire deadline as you mentioned later limits how long they can keep the money, and if they are purposefully delaying, they could be investigated by an oversight body or go unused compared to an exchange that does not.

but given that shortening it makes the refund UX worse I’m not sure it’s ideal. It’s weird to have this be a tradeoff anyway.

I can't say I disagree entirely, and I would hope that such oddities would be improved in the future.

Fees differ per country [...]

Cheers for the info and link, that does make it quite cheap, I must say.

Based on that, Wero is objectively an improvement over the credit card monopoly or paypal. However I fear that if it wins out this payment war, it will end up being the only option, and I very much doubt that it will ever implement the privacy features from GNU Taler that I consider absolutely paramount for a future digital payment system to not be abused in the future. We're already seeing how governments are pushing for less online privacy with the constant Chat Control legislation, which we're only narrowly avoiding, and with far right parties across Europe gaining more and more of the vote, I very much think it prudent to advocate for privacy respecting technologies wherever possible, even at the expensive of some convenience.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

Guys. With all the infos and the talks at 29c3 and all available articles, maybe feature/explain GNU taler in a separate post to the nice people of buyFromEU? Maybe with an outlook towards adoption and usability from your perspective?

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

The refund possibility is a real banger.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I know what GNU Taler is about and even took a look at it several month ago, tried the demo wallet. Even my bank is also following the progression close.

The first hurdle to get people on board I usability. I don't disagree with you for the long-term, but at the moment - until further support - GNU Taler is for tech savvy people whereas WERO is in the middle of a broader rollout even at merchants.

As with Android or iOS. There are alternative mostly Android based OSes, but as long as simple stuff like banking does not work (due to root/trust issues) the acceptance from an end-user-perspective will remain low. Changing mindsets and ecosystems is a long-term game.

[–] haagch@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Are you both arguing that we don't need banking on anything but iOS and Android because people won't switch, and that people won't switch because banking only works on iOS and Android?

Btw: Banking works of course on my non-Android/non-iOS Smartphones. Somehow the banks have zero trust issues in letting me use their Onlinebanking Website from these devices. With my hardware QR Tan generator I can easily make instant SEPA transfers using these devices. But if I see a Wero QR code, I have no means to send money to the receiver.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

You know exactly that a different type of (App-based) banking is meant by that 🤷‍♂️

And no, we’re not arguing that.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 days ago

but at the moment - until further support - GNU Taler is for tech savvy people whereas WERO is in the middle of a broader rollout even at merchants.

I fear that without more Bank adoption and dog-fooding of GNU Taler, it may not ever get that additional support, as it is diverted in favor of the 'good enough' solution of Wero. I can't say I'd mind having Wero in addition to Taler as an option.

[–] PracticalFail@feddit.org 24 points 5 days ago (2 children)

And just like that, I sent out a request to my bank what's keeping them from implementing it. Thx for sharing, super good that it shows that a competitor bank already announced the support, this way we can bully those into supporting it who haven't announced it yet :)

[–] Kaiserschmarrn@feddit.org 5 points 4 days ago

Thanks to your comment I now did the same and wrote an email to my bank. :)

[–] kaulquappus@feddit.org 5 points 5 days ago

Well done! My bank supports Wero by now, but it took a long time and I wish I had sent a request to show user support in the earlier stages ...

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 8 points 4 days ago

https://paymentsindustryintelligence.com/europa-and-epi-join-forces-to-extend-sovereign-payments-in-europe/

EPI (Wero) and EuroPA (European Payment Alliance) announced collaboration last year. Most of the banks in the tracker will never implement Wero, they will support it through integration with EuroPA payment systems like Bancomat (Italy), Bizum (Spain), MB WAY (Portugal), and Vipps MobilePay (Nordics).

If you're in a country that doesn't have any mobile payment system then yes, your best chance is to wait for Wero. Many people can already pay with European alternatives other than Wero and this will not change. The system will integrate, not be replaced. Only tracking Wero is weird. Wero is just one of many systems and most people will never use it. Tracking integrations between countries would be more useful.

[–] copacetic@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 5 days ago

Nice, I was searching for something like this recently.

[–] 7tis@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago (2 children)

If there is a will there is a way. The EU should just mandate a EU based payment card system. Just using existing technologies. Can't be that difficult, or?

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago

It is always difficult when the EU “mandates” something and all 27 sovereign countries have to follow. Did you just follow the news on “mercosur”? It took 25 years…

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

They EU can't mandate anything without unanimous support from 27 countries, one of which is dictatorshipped by Orban.

[–] Lumisal@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It won't catch on in Finland because the name sounds like "tax"

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Maybe they can rename it for the Finnish market. Maybe something that rhymes with "I love saunas, also, fuck Russia". Should get 100% market share in 2-3 hours

[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 days ago

Shut up and take my money!

[–] trolske@feddit.org 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I really hope Fennoscandinavia will join soon. I asked my bank and got a standard reply (paraphrased) "We do not reply to request like this individually. If anything happens, we'll announce it on the website"

[–] lime@feddit.nu 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

i mean we already have multiple national payment systems (like vipps, swish, and mobilepay) that are in the process of interlinking with eachother, and there are other eu-sanctioned digital payment systems also rolling out (like tips). wero is very early in its deployment. i would not be surprised if our banks are waiting until a clear winner emerges to jump on the single payment system.

[–] trolske@feddit.org 2 points 5 days ago

I agree, but especially since MobilePay announced the cooperation with a Portuguese payment app as far as I remember a while back, I was hoping they would jump faster on the Wero train.
I would just prefer generally a system relying on standard SEPA transfers, like Wero, instead of having yet another national standard.

[–] fatalicus@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

We already have vipps/mobilepay up here though, that is supported by all banks in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and most stores with an online presence in the same and some offline stores.

[–] trolske@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm aware, but I would hope for only needing one app across Europe, and not one for central Europe, one for northern Europe etc.
Also easier for tourists, as you can only set up Mobilepay if you have a bank account in one of the supportes countries and if your Google store location is set to that country.

[–] fatalicus@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What I ment to say with it, is that those are already better supported than this wero (more banks and stores) according to what the tracker says there is of wero support.

So shouldn't we rather hope vipps/mobilepay is the one that spreads to the rest of Europe?

[–] trolske@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago

Better supported is a matter of definition I'd say. Sure, Mobilepay is better supported by stores, but Wero is already now supported by more countries.
Wero is backed by a broad consortium of banks and aims to be a pan-european payment solution, while Mobilepay has been around for a while and seems to be content with staying mainly in the Nordics. Ideally Mobilepay would be compatible with Wero, but I feel that they are quite protective of their market share

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

How about retailers? I want to pay via QR code on sites and in stores

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Has been in test and will be rolled out this year afaik.

[–] freebee@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Wait why does Germany have so many church banks?

[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 5 days ago

How else would they manage the 12 billion euro per year in church tax from their members which the government collects for them for free?

Not to forget the 600 million euro in yearly damag payments for condemning large swaths of church owned property (e.g. entire cities) ~200 years ago due to Napoleon.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 6 points 5 days ago

Quite funny that the Ramstein AfB home team is one of the first sports teams to adopt it.

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 5 points 5 days ago

This misses quite a few banks! If yours is not listed, make sure to add it!

You can check if it is there via the search bar, and if it's not there, then there is an "add" button.

[–] LorIps@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Austria has no banks supporting it, and the one bank who announced they will be supporting it is fucking Raiffeisen 😭

[–] Europellinore@europe.pub 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

https://www.asnbank.nl/ is missing, but can’t find any wero updates or planning from them

[–] Gebruikersnaam@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Isn't Wero basically a clone of Ideal? Should be easy enough for them.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

Wero is basically iDeal+, so yeah, they're mostly going slow to ease consumer into it. Remember, your grandma only just got used to iDeal in 2005, so we can't rush things...

[–] hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 1 points 5 days ago

This will not catch on unless it becomes some EU directive, simply because almost each country has its own version. e.g. Spain has Bizum.

I really hope we do reach a mutual agreement for both transfers and nfc payments (EU cards I guess are a distant dream).