What's used more, debit or credit card?

[Bronze]

I've managed to get various merchant account quotes for accepting money online. Obviously debit cards are a hell of a lot cheaper than credit cards to process.

I'm trying to do some forecasting for card transactions. What I don't know is which medium is more popular for making purchases, thus making any forecasting nigh on impossible.

Is there an average percentage between the two i.e. 70% credit 30& debit.

I know there's no definitive answer but surely you experienced traders must see an emerging pattern. I'm guessing what you sell and the value also has some influence.

Personally I would've thought debit card would be more popular from personal experience but that's only me.

Any insight would be greatfull

Best regards.

Lifted from main forum due to lack of responses

 

[nancy_r]

I would suggest you to use credit card, as it has limit of money to be used. Touch wood, but in any circumstances if your card is stolen only that much of amount is in question to be paid. While debit card can make a big transaction as much as of your bank balance.

so to be safe, better to use credit card. and majority of people use credit card while they do online shopping

 

[deniser]

For us it's about half and half online but that may be because we have a high proportion of international transactions for whom debit cards are not an option. For the UK only I would estimate it is about 75/25 debit/credit.

 

[Bronze]

It's funny because you always read conflicting arguments. I would've thought at a guess it would be similar to what deniser said as from personal experience I only use debit card 90% of the time. The only time I've used a credit card is when I'm making a one off big purchase (£1000 +) and want to take advantage of a 12 month interest free offer.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

Online I only use credit card - because of the protection

 

[deniser]

I'm with Dunerider but a lot of our customers are mums and I think they are more likely to use a debit card for budgetting purposes rather than thinking of the safety aspect as using a credit card.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

I hardly ever use a debit card - just don't see the point. I put virtually everything on the credit card then pay off the balance by the due date to avoid interest & charges. I also accumulate "points" from the spending and get the protection for larger purchases going wrong.

But from what others tell me, people tend to use debit cards for small purchases and credit cards for bigger purchases.

So I suppose it depends on what you're selling and your average transaction amount. If you're running a corner shop with a £10 average spend, I'd expect most sales by card would be debit card, but if you're running a furniture shop with an average spend of £1k, I'd imagine most card purchases would be credit card.

 

[movietub]

We find it's 50/50. Yes credit card is safer... But for everyone who is sensible enough to want to pay the safest way there is someone else who is sensible enough to avoid using credit cards!

Also the biggest factor in people deciding what card to use is more often than not which one actually has the most money on it.

So I reckon that's why we see 50/50, looks like others on here see a similar split.

I have seen a few sites giving a small discount for debit or even a surcharge for credit. Probably not worth exploring though.