iDEAL

iDEAL is the bank-to-bank payment method most Dutch shoppers use online. A group of Dutch banks launched it in 2005, Currence ran the scheme for most of its life, and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) has owned it since October 2023. The Dutch Payments Association counted 1.56 billion iDEAL payments worth €157 billion in 2025, about 71% of Dutch e-commerce transactions.

At checkout the customer is passed to a central iDEAL page, chooses their bank (or is recognised through an iDEAL profile) and approves the payment in their banking app, scanning a QR code if they began on a computer. The merchant receives an immediate, guaranteed confirmation, and customers cannot dispute the payment through their bank. It works in euros only, for account holders at participating banks: ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank, plus newer players such as bunq, N26 and Revolut. Refunds are sent back by the PSP, and subscriptions normally begin with an iDEAL payment that sets up a SEPA Direct Debit mandate for later charges.

The bigger change is Wero. Since late January 2026 the brand has appeared as iDEAL | Wero, and from October 2026 payments start moving onto Wero's infrastructure, with the migration due to finish by 31 December 2027. EPI says scheme pricing will stay broadly at current levels until the end of 2028, and Wero is set to add purchase protection, recurring payments and in-store use.

For anyone selling to Dutch consumers, iDEAL is hard to do without, and it is standard at European gateways from Adyen and Mollie to Stripe and Worldline. Providers usually charge a flat fee per payment rather than a percentage, which works out cheap on larger baskets. Dutch merchants must show their KvK number on their website under the scheme rules, and integrations started now should allow for the Wero contract and technical changes due over 2026 and 2027.