Card payments in the Netherlands

How people pay

The Netherlands has mostly stopped using cash at the till. In 2025, cash was 17% of point-of-sale payments and cards were 83%, up from 80%, according to the Dutch central bank and the Dutch Payments Association. The country made about 7.1 billion point-of-sale payments, worth 185 billion euros.

Look at how. Inserting a card was 4% of payments, down from 6%. Phone and smartwatch payments rose from 34% to 39%. In the Payments Association's 2025 checkout factsheet, 78% of all payments were contactless (rounded): 40% with the card and 39% with a phone or smartwatch.

Older customers are following. DNB reports that the over-75s used electronic payments more often in 2025, though they still use cash relatively frequently, so keep a drawer for the customers who want it.

For comparison, the ECB's 2024 survey found cash in 52% of point-of-sale transactions across the euro area, and in about one in five in the Netherlands.

Cards and the domestic scheme

The debit card in a Dutch wallet used to carry Maestro or V PAY. Mastercard and Visa are phasing both brands out gradually. Banks started issuing Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit in 2023, and a new card arrives when the old one expires, with no action from the holder. The Dutch Payments Association says every payment terminal in the country has been updated to recognise the new cards.

For a merchant the change is mostly invisible. One rule is worth knowing. Under Article 10 of the interchange regulation, a scheme can only require you to accept all cards of the same brand and the same category. You can take Visa or Mastercard debit and decline their credit or commercial cards, as long as you tell customers clearly. Ask your acquirer what your contract says.

The EU rules on interchange fees cap consumer debit at 0.2% and consumer credit at 0.3%. The caps apply in the EU and, through the EEA Agreement, also in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. They do not cover commercial cards, three-party schemes or cash withdrawals. It is a cap on one layer of the cost, not what you pay in total.

Beyond cards

Online, the Netherlands runs on iDEAL. The Payments Association says 70% of all e-commerce transactions in the country use it, and that more than 1.5 billion iDEAL transactions were made in 2025.

iDEAL is becoming Wero. The brand changed to iDEAL | Wero from late January 2026. In July 2026, the European Payments Initiative, Dutch banks and payment providers reaffirmed the aim of finishing the migration by 31 December 2027. All Dutch issuing banks were due to be connected to Wero in October 2026 (EPI, July 2026). Wero scheme pricing, meaning what providers pay the scheme and not necessarily your price, is meant to stay broadly in line with the current iDEAL | Wero level until 31 December 2028. Banks and payment providers will introduce purchase protection in phases, aiming for full coverage by 1 January 2028.

The Payments Association says every iDEAL merchant will have moved to Wero by the end of 2027 at the latest. What your provider needs from you is a separate question.

SEPA Instant is an obligation for euro-area banks: they had to receive instant transfers from 9 January 2025 and send them from 9 October 2025.

Rules a merchant must know

Card categories. The rule is the same brand and the same category. Debit, credit and prepaid are different categories, and commercial cards fall outside the rule, so you may take one and refuse another. Get that choice written into your contract and set on your terminal.

Say what you do not take. If you decline some cards, you must tell customers clearly and at the same time as you say which cards you accept: at the entrance and the till in a shop, and on your website or app online, before the customer commits to a purchase.

Co-badged cards. Where a card carries two payment brands, you may set a priority brand on your terminal but you may not stop the customer from overriding it (Article 8(6) of the interchange regulation).

Getting paid

The customer's authorisation is immediate. The settlement and payout follow your contract, counted in working days, and no national rule fixes one number. Ask for yours in writing.

The Dutch average payment is small. About 7.1 billion point-of-sale payments worth 185 billion euros in 2025 works out at roughly 26 euros each, so a fixed fee per transaction weighs more than it looks. Ask for it.

Online, the move from iDEAL to Wero is a change on your provider's side too. Ask whether payout timing, reporting and reconciliation files stay the same, and by when. Reconcile each payout against your sales every day. A gap is usually fees, refunds or a chargeback.

What I'd tell a merchant here

Check that your terminal reads contactless and phones. Nearly four in ten payments are now a phone or a watch.

Online, ask your provider one question today: what is the date for iDEAL to Wero, and what do I have to do? Then work backwards from the end-2027 deadline. The shops that ask early are the ones that do not scramble in December.

Do not plan around cash. Plan around the tap.