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Debit card payments

Paying with debit cards is an efficient, secure, and customer-friendly way for merchants to receive payments. Most customers pay with their debit card, phone, or smartwatch. Debit card payments contribute to a fast counter process and reduce the risks and costs associated with cash.

How do you choose a bank and payment terminal that suits your business?

To accept debit card payments, you need two things:

  1. A processing contract – with a bank or payment service provider (acquirer).
  2. A connected payment terminal – fixed, mobile, or linked to a counter.

There are different types of payment terminals, depending on the type of business:

  • Fixed payment terminals – suitable for stores with a fixed counter.
  • Mobile payment terminals – ideal for restaurants, markets, and delivery services.
  • All-in-one solutions – integrated with cash register systems and accounting.

When choosing a payment terminal, pay attention to:

  • Costs: purchase or rental, transaction costs, maintenance contracts.
  • Functionality: physical keyboard, touch screen, tip options, QR payments.
  • Maintenance and service: installation assistance, breakdown service, upgrades.

Acquirers such as Buckaroo, ING, Rabobank, and others offer different packages. Therefore, carefully compare which solution best suits your business operations. Also take a look at PIN.nl: How do I become a merchant? (in Dutch)

What does a debit card payment cost?

The costs for accepting debit card payments (with debit cards) consist of:

  • Transaction costs: usually €0.06 – €0.10 per debit card payment.
  • Costs of the payment terminal: purchase or rental, paper rolls.
  • Connection costs: one-time costs for connecting to a transaction processor.
  • Data communication costs: for the mobile or fixed communication connection.
  • Service costs: for maintenance, breakdown service, and updates or upgrades.

The total costs for a merchant in 2023 averaged 17 euro cents per debit card payment. For a cash payment, the average was 61 euro cents. This included all measurable costs, such as the costs of a cash register, paper rolls, working time per payment, and working time for periodic accounting. For cash payments, the necessary and relatively expensive working time is much higher than for debit card payments.

Tap-to-pay and digital wallets

More and more customers are paying tap-to-pay with a mobile phone or smartwatch via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Garmin Pay. Every payment terminal is equipped for this as standard. Tap-to-pay speeds up the checkout process, even with physical payment cards.

Promotional material and support

Via PIN.nl, you can order free promotional material (in Dutch):

  • Stickers, signs, and so-called ‘cash register conveyor belt dividers’.
  • Digital print files, also in English, German, and French.

The Dutch Payments Association also offers practical information for merchants who want to start accepting debit card payments or are looking for other recommendations.

Prepare for a card payments failure

Although the Dutch payments system is very reliable, card payments failures can occur in the payment terminal due to power outages, telecom problems, or computer failures at a bank or transaction processor. A major power outage in Spain and Portugal in April 2025 showed that digital payments systems can come to a complete standstill (in Dutch) in a short period of time.

Easy, reliable, and secure payments are the engine of your business. By considering risks and failure scenarios in advance, you will be better prepared for unexpected situations and ensure that payments – even in the event of disruptions – go through as much as possible.

Provide fallback options

  • Consider an additional data connection via a different provider and network.
  • Consider an additional mobile payment terminal with a battery, via an alternative transaction processor and acquirer and via an alternative mobile telecom network. There are small, inexpensive mobile payment terminals that cost almost nothing when you are not using them.
  • Consider a contract and payment terminal for deferred debit card payments (offline). The terminal has a battery and can process and store debit card payments offline. As soon as the connection with the transaction processor is restored, all stored debit card payments are forwarded and processed.
  • Ensure that customers can pay account-to-account instead of with a payment card, for example with mobile request-to-pay QR codes, with QR codes from iDEAL or Wero, or with regular mobile instant payments to an IBAN account number.
  • Ensure that customers can pay securely with cash for as long as possible in case of a card payments failure.

Read more about all fallback options in the event of a card payments failure at PIN.NL (in Dutch)…