How Germans pay online: PayPal, invoice, direct debit and what a foreign store needs

Germany is one of the few large e-commerce markets where cards are not the default. A shopper there expects to see PayPal, often expects to pay after the goods arrive, and may be happy to give an IBAN. A foreign store that shows only a card form asks that shopper to change how they pay in order to buy from an unfamiliar seller.

This article covers what German shoppers use, how a store outside Germany can reach each method, what the consumer credit rules that apply from 20 November 2026 mean for pay-later options, and what to prepare before launch. For the wider market, see our Germany guide. For Wero alongside iDEAL and Bancontact, see pay-by-bank in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

How do Germans pay online?

Two good sources answer this, and they give different pictures, because they measure different things.

EHI Retail Institute asks retailers. Its panel of 172 companies, with 50.7 billion euros of net online revenue, reports these shares of online revenue:

Method	Share of online revenue, 2025	Share, 2024
PayPal	28.7%	28.5%
Purchase on invoice	26.1%	25.8%
Direct debit	14.4%	17.3%
Credit and debit cards	13.7%	12.3%
Instalment purchase	4.7%	4.3%
Prepayment	3.5%	4.3%
Apple Pay	1.3%	Not shown separately

Source: EHI, as reported by IT Finanzmagazin, May 2026.

The Bundesbank asks consumers. Its study of payment behaviour in 2025, updated in July 2026, records payments in a diary and sorts them by payment instrument. It finds that e-payment methods, led by PayPal, make up 50% of online transactions but 32% of online turnover. Direct debit and credit transfer together make up 30% of transactions and 45% of turnover, the largest share. Credit cards account for 15% of transactions and 19% of turnover, and debit cards only 4% of transactions.

The two are hard to compare. EHI’s panel covers retailers and shows invoice as a method of its own, while the Bundesbank groups by instrument and has no invoice line. Both point the same way: PayPal is the most common choice, bank-based payment carries a large share of the money, and cards are a minority.

Account ownership explains some of this. The Bundesbank says 77% of its respondents have a PayPal account and 48% a Klarna account. Younger shoppers lean hardest on these methods: people aged 18 to 25 use e-payment methods for just under 70% of their online transactions.

How does a foreign store accept PayPal?

Usually through its own PayPal account, or through a provider that offers it. Stripe’s documentation says it processes PayPal for businesses in supported European countries, and that businesses elsewhere use their own PayPal account through a separate route. Check this first if your company sits outside Europe.

The customer is redirected to PayPal, picks a funding source, such as the wallet balance, a linked card or a bank account, and authenticates. The merchant learns the result immediately. Stripe lists refunds for up to 180 days, and disputes are possible, with evidence submitted through the dashboard.

PayPal is not the cheapest route. EHI’s study, as reported by IT Finanzmagazin, puts PayPal’s mean cost at 1.94% of transaction value, with a maximum of 4.0%. The same article says PayPal and invoice cause the highest costs. Expect to pay for the reach.

How does purchase on invoice work, and who carries the risk?

The shopper orders, receives the goods and pays afterwards. That is why shoppers like it and why merchants fear it: in its plain form, the merchant ships first and carries the risk of not being paid. So most foreign stores should not offer it alone. There are three routes.

Klarna. Stripe describes the model clearly. Klarna redirects the customer, shows options based on factors such as currency and amount, and decides who may use them. The merchant receives the full order amount minus fees, Klarna collects from the customer, and if the customer cannot repay, Klarna carries the loss. In Germany, Stripe lists these options:

• Pay later: one payment in 30 days, from 0.10 to 10,000 EUR.
• Pay in 3: three interest-free payments, from 1 to 5,000 EUR.
• Financing: up to 36 months, which may include interest, from 25 to 10,000 EUR.

Klarna decides cart ranges and availability, and they may change. Location matters too. At Stripe, a business in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland can offer Klarna to customers in Germany, but a business elsewhere can sell only to customers in its own country. Other providers set their own terms.

There are conditions. Stripe’s Klarna rules bar B2B sales, say invoices or instructions must name Klarna as payee and not show your bank details, and forbid higher prices or fees for Klarna purchases. Klarna can also suspend a merchant whose dispute rates stay high and are not fixed promptly.

PayPal’s invoice product. PayPal’s Pay Upon Invoice, run with Ratepay, works much the same way: you are funded after a successful checkout and the buyer pays Ratepay. But it is not for most foreign stores. PayPal says it is available only in Germany to eligible merchants, lists Germany as the merchant country, and asks for a valid VAT ID. The range is 5 to 2,500 EUR, sales must be B2C, digital goods are excluded, and orders must ship within seven days.

Your own invoice. A store can send its own invoice and carry the risk itself. Few foreign stores should start here, because collecting small unpaid amounts across a border is slow and expensive.

On cost, EHI’s study reports a mean of 1.42% for invoice and a maximum of 5.99%, as reported by IT Finanzmagazin. Klarna-style pricing is set by contract, so get a quote.

What changes for pay-later options on 20 November 2026?

Germany’s law implementing the EU’s second Consumer Credit Directive takes effect on that date, according to Osborne Clarke. It brings more pay-later products under consumer credit rules. Three points matter for a checkout.

Third-party pay-later products are in scope. Regulated lenders must give pre-contract information, including the standard European credit form, assess creditworthiness and show forbearance before enforcing a debt. Klarna-style providers carry most of that work, but the checkout has to fit around it. PayTechLaw’s analysis, by a lawyer at Annerton, adds that showing invoice or instalment options may count as consumer credit advertising, depending on the setup, and that a declined customer must get an explanation of the decision and their rights, not only a technical rejection.

A merchant’s own invoice has a narrow exception. Osborne Clarke says a trader that grants a free payment term without involving a third party can stay outside the rules within limits. The limit is up to 50 days for small and medium businesses. For larger businesses selling online by distance contract, it is 14 days, and no third party may acquire the claim. Neither source addresses a seller based outside Germany, so ask a German lawyer.

Your wording matters. Stripe says that from 20 November 2026, EU businesses advertising Klarna’s credit products must use Klarna’s pre-approved copy and the required disclosures. Osborne Clarke also warns that platform operators passing customer data to outside payment providers at checkout are likely to count as intermediaries that need a permit, which matters for marketplaces.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Duties depend on who the lender is, how the product is built and who holds the claim.

Is SEPA direct debit worth offering?

Often yes, for the right customers. It is the cheapest of the main options: EHI’s study puts direct debit at a mean of 0.65% of transaction value and a maximum of 2.0%, against 1.94% for PayPal. Its share is falling, though, from 17.3% to 14.4% of revenue in a year.

Stripe’s documentation shows what you take on. The shopper gives a name and IBAN and accepts a mandate. Stripe’s list of business locations reaches well beyond Europe and includes the US, the UK, Japan and Singapore. The trade-offs are timing and disputes:

• Slow confirmation. Stripe says to wait at least 6 business days before treating a payment as successful, because the bank can reject it during a 5 business day refusal window.
• Easy disputes. Customers can dispute without giving a reason for up to eight weeks, and those claims are automatically honoured.
• A long tail. After eight weeks and up to 13 months, a customer can dispute a debit as unauthorised.
• No appeal. Stripe says these disputes are final, and that German disputes come without further detail, for privacy reasons.
• Double refunds. A refund does not stop a dispute, so a customer could be credited twice.

Direct debit therefore suits repeat customers and goods you are willing to ship before funds are certain. For first orders of goods that are easy to resell, decide whether to wait for the refusal window to close, and tell the customer how long that takes.

Where do cards, girocard and Wero fit?

Cards are growing. Their 13.7% share in EHI’s panel was up 1.4 percentage points, the largest rise among the methods reported, so they belong at checkout, with 3-D Secure working properly.

Girocard is Germany’s domestic debit card, and it is a shop card. EHI puts it at 40.5% of in-store revenue, but an interview in EHI’s Payment Special 2026 gives it only a minor part in e-commerce, mainly when built into wallets. Adyen said in 2021 that Sparkassen girocard holders could pay online through Apple Pay, and that its merchants already taking Apple Pay needed no extra integration. So for most foreign stores, Apple Pay is the practical route to these customers. Our article on Apple Pay and Google Pay covers the setup.

Wero is the one to watch. The European Payments Initiative said in November 2025 that its e-commerce product was live in Germany, starting with savings and cooperative banks. The Bundesbank’s July 2026 study cites around 7 million German users, and Retail-News reported 10 million registered users in September 2026. Those are registrations, not shoppers: in the Bundesbank’s late 2025 survey, 5% of respondents had set up Wero, when its functions were still almost entirely person-to-person. Lidl added it online in July 2026 and dm at the end of August. EHI’s 2026 study does not list it. Stripe’s Wero page lists only EEA business locations, so stores elsewhere should ask early.

What does a foreign store need before launch?

Start with who can contract for what. The table uses published terms from Stripe and PayPal as a reference. Other providers differ, so confirm each row with yours.

Method	Who can get it	When you know it worked	Refund window	Dispute route
PayPal	Own PayPal account; through Stripe, European businesses	Immediately	180 days	Yes
Klarna	At Stripe, EEA, UK and Swiss businesses for German customers	At checkout; Klarna pays you	180 days	Yes
PayPal invoice	German merchants with a VAT ID	At checkout; Ratepay collects	180 days	Check with PayPal
SEPA direct debit	Stripe lists many countries, including the US and UK	After about 6 business days	180 days	Yes, final
Wero	At Stripe, EEA businesses	Usually under 10 seconds	730 days	No

Then work through this list:

1. Offer the leaders first. Add PayPal and one pay-later option before anything else. Our guide to which local methods to add first shows how to score the rest.
2. Translate the whole journey. Checkout, emails and returns should be in German. See our article on checkout localisation.
3. Review pay-later wording. Use provider-approved copy, and take advice before 20 November 2026.
4. Set shipping rules per method. Decide when you ship for direct debit, and whether you can meet any time limits your invoice partner sets.
5. Plan returns. The Germany guide covers withdrawal rights, and our article on refunds across local methods covers how each method behaves.
6. Prepare for several settlement patterns. Each method pays out on its own schedule, so plan reconciliation before launch.

How does Omno support a German checkout?

Omno puts the providers you choose behind one integration, and each provider onboards you separately. Where a connected provider offers PayPal, Klarna, direct debit or Wero, your team can add it in the no-code checkout builder and show it by country, currency and amount, with no release needed. Omno forms can collect extra customer data when a provider asks for it, so you do not build or store those fields. The hosted checkout page shows how it works.