How you pay decides what you can get back

Bank payment, card, PayPal or pay later: the button you choose at checkout decides who gets your money back when the parcel does not come. One order of preference that holds for every shop.

Checked 2026-09-07

How you pay decides who you can turn to when it goes wrong. The shop, always: that is the law. But whether there is also someone who can pull your money back without you having to convince the shop depends on the button you chose at checkout.

A direct bank payment, iDEAL, Bancontact or a transfer from your banking app, is a transfer. The money leaves your account for the shop's, at once and for good, and your bank cannot reverse it. That is fine with a shop you know. With a shop you do not, it is a decision to place all your protection with the shop itself. A transfer in advance to an account number is the same decision in a still barer form, and it is the payment method fake shops like best: often the only one they offer.

A credit card has a dispute procedure. If the parcel does not come, the shop goes bankrupt, or turns out not to exist, you ask your bank for a chargeback: the bank takes the amount back from the seller's bank. There is a deadline, counted in months rather than years, and your bank knows what it is. Keep the order confirmation and the correspondence; the bank will ask for them. Since 13 January 2018 a shop may not charge you extra for paying with a consumer card, so "card costs more" is a reason to buy elsewhere.

PayPal sits in between. Buyer protection covers a parcel that does not arrive and a product that differs substantially from its description, provided you open the dispute within the period PayPal sets and paid as a purchase, not as a payment to "friends and family". That variant is a transfer with a different logo, and anyone who asks you to pay that way is asking you to give up your protection.

Paying after delivery, through Klarna, Riverty or similar, turns the order around: the parcel first, then the money. If it does not come, you pause the payment with the payment service and the problem is theirs as well. That is the strongest position a buyer can have, with one caveat: it is credit. EU Directive 2023/2225 of 18 October 2023 brings these services under consumer credit rules from 20 November 2026, with a mandatory check of whether you can afford it. That says enough about what it is.

At Amazon and the other large retailers the choice barely matters; those shops refund when they must. The choice matters at the shop you had not heard of last week. There the order is simple: pay after delivery if you can, a card if you must, a direct bank payment only if you already trust the shop, and a transfer in advance never. What you can tell about an unknown shop is in Is this shop trustworthy?; what you can demand of any shop in Your rights when you buy online.

Questions

Can I reverse an iDEAL or Bancontact payment?

No. It is a bank transfer and your bank cannot recall it. You can still claim the money back from the shop, under your cooling-off right or because nothing was delivered.

How long can I dispute a card payment?

That depends on your card issuer and is counted in months. Do not wait until the shop has been silent for months; open the dispute as soon as the delivery date has passed.

Is paying after delivery free?

As long as you pay on time, usually yes, but it is credit and paying late costs money. From 20 November 2026 these services fall under EU consumer credit rules.

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