Dutch MP's want to ban buy-now-pay-later on online alcohol sales

A majority in parliament wants to ban buy-now-pay-later options when buying alcohol online. Various parties plan to discuss the topic with State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (Prevention) on Tuesday, RTL Nieuws reports.

Over the weekend, RTL reported that almost all of the big online liquor stores in the Netherlands collaborate with “pay later” apps like Klarna and Riverty. Customers get their orders immediately but only have to pay in 30 to 60 days. The apps advance the bill to the webshops and collect the amount from customers later. Customers who pay late can face fines.

Because “deferred payment” does not count as credit legally, the purchases are not supervised by the credit registration office BKR. Prevention organizations Jellinek and the Trimbos Institute want to ban this payment method, especially for alcohol sales. They say that it makes it more attractive for young people and problem drinkers to buy alcohol, and it can lead to problematic debts.

CDA parliamentarian Anne Kuik is outraged that online liquor stores offer this payment method. “I find it incomprehensible that the market apparently does not have the moral sense to prohibit this,” Kuik responded. She demanded clarification from State Secretary Van Oojen. “We want to know what the State Secretary is going to do and whether this can be arranged immediately.”

ChristenUnie, PvdA, and D66 also want to ban web stores that sell alcohol from using deferred payments. “Liquor stores have to take responsibility,” D66 MP Jeanet van der Laan said to the broadcaster. PvdA MP Mohammed Mohandis called it a “bad development.”

“Offers and ‘deferred payment’ make people make more impulse purchases,” said ChristenUnie MP Mijrmam Bikker. “So this is bad news. You would hope that companies take their own responsibility.”

The VVD also wants the State Secretary to look critically at this practice. “The VVD is not against the online sale of alcohol. I do have difficulty with the buy now pay later concept, where you can order alcohol on credit,” VVD MP Rudmer Heerema said to RTL. “This can cause people to end up with payment problems later.”