Using direct debit in the US

In the future please try to consider that the world is actually quite a lot bigger than 40 countries.

US is a tough country to deal with when it comes to banking! The US demands full access to any bank accounts that way surpasses protections mandated by regulators in Europe and it is not like Europe is a financial paradise.

Not only Americans have trouble using debit cards in Europe (unless is a very well resourced bank) but Europeans banks get into panic mode when an American tries to open account in their bank for the same reason. Now, most non European countries should be able to pay with debit cards but it is a logistically nightmare with regulation compliance so most banks just prefer not to get there somall companies don't have much of a choice. Credit cards, are least, are regulated differently.

Mailbox.org you can blamed on many topics, but I would not do it in non accepting debit cards from the US.

I would absolutely blame Mailbox.org given that this is something literally every other vendor in existence can effortlessly achieve. And don't pretend like this is a US-specific thing, SEPA is like 40 countries. Mailbox.org is operating from an aggressively Eurocentric perspective and ignoring the entire rest of the world. This is embarrassing, incompetent, and anti-consumer behavior that they should be pressured to resolve immediately, not given excuses for.

I understand your frustration Ray... but 6 years working on the financial industry across EMEA, ASEAN and North America does expose one to the reality of regulations and complex fees. Of course they are companies that can handle the myriad of regulation compliance but either are well founded ones or they have a funded marketing plan in getting into a specific market; I doubt Mailbox.org is in either category. US debit cards in Europe, if endorsed with VISA or MC logo, are commonly only welcome on ATMs since it they are under different regulations.

Now, maybe Mailbox should jump that hurdle and capitalize on the American market (specially now that Skiff is gone, but Proton is way ahead on that quest on that and doubt many banks want to finance that for Mailbox now. Mailbox also probably believes in more on economically sustainably approach based on their European (lets be frank... German) market. Incidentally, this low profile will cut also costs on being an target for cyber attacks too. It is a hard to believe business approach in the US, but quite frequent in Germany.

Of course, this is mostly my speculation... I am in not in the email industry at all, nor had I lived in Germany much.

None of this matters. The simple, objective fact is that I regularly interact with loads of European vendors and none of them have the slightest issue billing American credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts. Maybe it's harder than interacting with banks in other SEPA countries, but clearly it's not hard enough, because they all manage to figure it out. There is no excuse for why Mailbox.org cannot do the same, other than laziness.

It is very hard to migrate from one email provider to another. I signed up for Mailbox.org years ago and yet I'm still having to update accounts that still send to my Gmail. So it is very frustrating that Mailbox.org continues to reinforce the fact that I made the wrong decision in adopting their service.

Again, I understand... I follow Mailbox but not yet a paying member until my temp username gets released (waiting 7 months already). But also keeping an eye on potential email provider alternatives.

It is appalling how few viable options there are worldwide... or or heavily surveillance and non-private ones in US, Proton but... something on Proton smells bad to me.... and the fact that still relies on Google for email notifications is appalling!! ... or Tuta, but not widgets or third party clients and uncalled for political standings... and then, the rest are too unreliable or lacking using own domain... Mailbox.org should step up, I agree that with you Ray!