then im safe. my paypal only has 0.34 dollars :D

Standards are, in fact, a great idea! Why not support an ISO standard about safe online transactions? That way, we'd create a level playing field so any bank would be able to join in and any web developer would only have to implement one standard.

The very fact GOG can exist and you can still choose whatever browser and internet provider you like to view them with, is because of open standards, such as HTML.

My account is set up with direct debit so there's never anything in there. That's not about to change.

You mean that de facto standards are unlikely to permit change? That's the mechanics that make that type of standard more a kind of monopoly. Unlike there exists a level playing field that allows for other companies to get a piece of the cake, in which case a company is the 'standard' purely because they offer better services.

Some more food for thought. [warning, fictional, if not purely]
Consider the CEO of PayPal might be good friends with the CEO of Steam, and the latter decides the current Holiday Sale on GOG combined with their ability and will to also move into the newer games business (see Witcher 2) is a bit too much of a threat to their marketshare.

In that case PayPal could just freeze the account of GOG for an unspecified time over some 'suspicions of fraud' (they have done so before, search this forum) to 'research' the issue. Ow, what a shame that this coincides with the holiday season..
Oh? So GOG and it's users don't like that? Well, good luck in finding an alternative. Guess what, there won't be one, because we didn't bother supporting anything else than the standard.

I honestly think you're exxagerating the problem. I COMPLETELY AGREE that the standard of master/visa/paypal is almost a monopoly (oligopoly in fact). But have you asked yourself why no one ever bothered on looking for further options? It's because the ones used WORK. If you can propose a proven, safe, widely used alternative payment method for GOG, you got my support. But till there IS a proven, safe, widely used alternative, our options are the ones of monopoly

If only i could buy GOGs using some SMS paying scheme.. I don't use the phone much, so i could use that extra credit for something different than EA's sorry Bejeweled port for Nokia..

Though those transactions tend to be tax and bonus fee heavy.;/

Interesting suggestion, I'll add it to the list, thanks!

So, in the end is a bloody vicious circle which we are never going to get off? Crap. Well, i'll stop mocking and think on suggestion. One that comes to my mind is, for example, going to a popular store in which you can pay taxes, bills & other stuff. Here there are some in which you can pay for some online services. Maybe that can be applied to GOG (altough it will work mainly if not only in Poland or the EU)

Thanks for thinking with us. Interesting suggestion, would that be prepaid or pay on order or both? Wouldn't it be cumbersome to have to go to a shop for online stuff or is that standard practice in other countries?

Not exactly. My example here is Abitab which is a chain of stores which sells Lotto tickets and where you can pay your bill, taxes, etc. But some websites here like Mercadolibre (latin america version of ebay) are in connection with them. So, say, you want to sell a car in Mercadolibre, you have to pay a comission. When you are prepare to put the advice, they give you a code. you go with that code and pay with that. A couple of newspapers here do the same. So, it would work like this. You buy a gog game and during checkout, you mark "direct transfer through "STORE NAME HERE"". they give you a code. you go with that code to the store, pay and they give you a ticket with the confirmation of payment. You go back to your home, enter to your account or email and wait for the GOG mail "your payment has been received!, Here are your GOGs".

Today in the news: Fed wants to limit transaction fees for Visa/Mastercard.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/federal-reserve-moves-to-reduce-debit-card-fees-visa-mastercard-decline.html

Good idea! :) In the end, this can lead to lower prices here on GOG (dreaming of 5$, 9$ price points).

Excellent! Although I wouldn't mind a higher price point as well, wouldn't hurt giving them some extra body and some special gems are just worth it.

I repeat here some options I know to be in use in the EU, some of which are prepaid tickets you get at stores, others are payment methods specializing on games.

paysafecard

click2pay

zeevex

playspan

There is also Moneybookers.com for the EU (Don't know if they offer their service worldwide)

Used them for years already, never had any issues.