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There is no such thing as a generic "European debit card". Dutch retailers accept specifically only Maestro, VPay, MasterCard Debit or VISA debit cards, but usually not not VISA Electron, or various other other country-specific European debit cards like Bancontact or giropay or EC. Albert Heijn (except in a few stores in Amsterdam and Schiphol) doesn't accept any credit cards and does not distinguish between domestic or foreign. It's a matter of costs, not xenophobia.

Retailers just choose from the options from their bank, which are the debit card I already listed (Maestro, VPay, MasterCard Debit or VISA debit), and optionally VISA and MasterCard credit cards (which are separate from their debit cards). Retailers do not have the option of accepting Dutch Maestro/VPay but excluding Maestro/VPay issued elsewhere in Europe. They do have the option to exclude credit cards altogether, and many do for the reason of € 0.06 transaction cost vs 1.7% and that around 100% of Dutch account holders have one of (Maestro, VPay, MasterCard Debit or VISA debit). Xenophobia has nothing to do with it, any more than retailers in your countries might not accept Bancontact, giropay or UnionPay cards.



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