Payment is the last step of a purchase and the only one where the buyer actually risks something. Which is why more nearly-closed orders are lost here than anywhere else.
Below is a look at the methods used across European stores, and what each of them means for you — not for the payment provider.
There is no single European buyer
The first thing worth knowing is that payment habits vary more across Europe than almost anything else about e-commerce. There is no method that is standard everywhere.
In the Netherlands, the overwhelming majority of online payments run through iDEAL, and a store without it looks broken. In Germany and Austria, paying on invoice and by direct debit still carry real weight, and a store that offers only cards loses buyers who are used to receiving the goods first. In parts of central and south-eastern Europe, cash on delivery is still a large share of orders. In France, cards dominate. In the Nordics, instant bank payment and buy-now-pay-later are normal.
The practical consequence: you don’t choose payment methods by what you like, you choose them by where your buyers are. And if you sell into more than one country, that means different combinations per market.
Cards
The closest thing to a universal option and the fastest for you — the money arrives, the order is confirmed, there is no waiting. Comfortable for the buyer, provided the process runs smoothly and the redirect to the bank doesn’t look suspicious.
One technical detail here isn’t marketing. If the payment form runs on your own site, the store falls under PCI DSS 4.0.1 — including control over the scripts on the page where payment happens. That isn’t an add-on to the store, it is part of maintaining it.
Bank transfer against an invoice
Often the main method for business buyers, and sometimes the only acceptable one. A transfer from the company account, payment within terms, the invoice into accounting. If you sell to businesses, you cannot go without it.
For consumers it is slower — the parcel only goes once the money arrives — so offer it as an additional option rather than the main one.
Cash on delivery
Easy to dismiss as outdated, and in several markets that would cost you real money. Where it is common, buyers like it because they pay when they can see the parcel.
It brings you two things: a little more reconciliation work and the risk of refused parcels. That risk is real, but smaller than the risk of losing a third of your buyers in a market where the alternatives aren’t trusted.
Deferred payment and instalments
Worth it on more expensive items, where the amount itself stops the purchase. The cost is the provider’s commission; the benefit is a higher average order value. On cheap items it usually doesn’t pay.
What actually loses orders
In our experience the main problem isn’t the choice of method but three other things.
A surprise at the end. A delivery or handling charge that only appears at the last step. The buyer doesn’t stop because of the amount, they stop because it was withheld.
Too many options. Eight payment methods don’t mean eight times the buyers. They mean one more decision. Three that work well beat eight that half-work.
An interrupted payment. A frozen redirect, an expired session, an error with no explanation. The buyer doesn’t try again — they assume something is wrong with you.
What this means for you
A sensible base for most stores is cards plus bank transfer, with the one or two methods your main market actually expects added on top, and delivery prices shown before the final step. Add the rest when there is a reason for it in your own orders, not because it is available.
And one thing is worth doing at least once: buy something from your own store using every method you offer, all the way through. Plenty of payment faults only show up there.