The rule of law is not against democracy, it is the other way round: courts protect people and democracy from unlawful actions. In democracies (with all four pillars of power intact), no politician and no criminal stands above the law, even if those play their usual “victim” role, when caught.

If politicians do not want to be convicted by court, they should not break the law. Seems to be a simple rule to follow.

For me it started with online purchases of books when the web went commercial. Later still books, music and audio books (CD), movies (DVD, Blurays), electronics, computer consoles and games, physical games, PC hardware, and more often used goods via marketplace.

In Germany we also have many good alternatives. Online I use for example Thalia, Booklooker, Zweitausendeins, Technikdirekt, Roboter-Bausatz, Alternate, Rebuy, Medimops, Konsolekost, … And from Poland of course GOG, my favourite game store :)

Thank you for clarifying. It is impressive how many shops they have participating.

This sounds interesting, thanks for sharing. Have now read through the page and FAQ. Is my understand correctly, that this app is only for paying in offline world, not for online purchases like e.g. PayPal?

An alternative was Paydirekt (Giropay) supported by my German bank. But while it worked quite fine, there where only very few supported sites (shops), for international payment it was more or less useless and end of last year 2024 the service has been discontinued.

It is frustrating to learn that from your experience Wero is also no good alternative for PP. Do you think there is anything we can do to persuade our banks that we want a different, better Wero? I have not so much hope for mine, but would be willing to use any serious EU bank providing a good PP alternative, which can be used worldwide.

PS: If such discussion should not be wanted in /c/europe, it could be a good fit for !buyfromeu@feddit.org