Are Digital Wallets Good for Travelling?
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Digital wallets are a relatively new way to pay for goods and services at websites, plus they can also now be used to pay for things out in the real world at grocery stores, clothes shops, theatres, and restaurants.
The question being asked here is, are digital wallets good for travelling? Find out more about digital wallets as an Alternative Payment Solution (APM) right here.
Are digital wallets good for travelling?
Yes. Digital wallets, which some people refer to as e-Wallets, electronic wallets, or web wallets, are ideal for travelling. They eliminate the need to carry around physical cash with you (e.g., banknotes, coins, and cheques). They also eliminate the need to carry any other traditional payment methods, such as credit or debit cards.
Physical cash, credit cards, and debit cards can easily get lost or stolen, whereas digital wallets can be stored virtually on your smartphone or tablet device, which is why they are good for travelling.
You can also use your digital wallets to pay for your taxi or Uber ride, bus, train, and plane tickets. They can even be used for storing things like your hotel reservations, bus/plane/train tickets and your virtual currency. That’s not all. Today’s most popular digital wallets can also be used to deposit and withdraw at a growing number of real money gambling sites, such as Unibet UK for example.
What are the best digital wallets?
There are now hundreds of digital wallets to choose from, and some of the most popular ones that many of you will already be familiar with by now are the following tried and tested digital wallets:
- PayPal
- NETELLER
- Skrill
- Apple Pay
- Samsung Pay
- Apple Pay
Honourable mentions
Some of the other secure, reliable, and convenient digital wallets that are also easy to use are AliPay, Paytm, Wisem Evnmo, LivePay, ClickandBuy, Google Pay, Microsoft Wallet, Walmart Pay, and Amazon Pay. Some of these digital wallets are more widely accepted than others. It depends on whether it’s a closed wallet or an open wallet.
For example, closed wallets, such as Walmart Pay, or Amazon Pay, can only be used to pay for things at the Walmart or Amazon checkout, whereas open digital wallets, like Skrill, PayPal, and NETELLER, can be used to pay for things at hundreds of thousands of land-based and online merchants.
Things to remember when signing up to use a digital wallet
Until we live in a completely cashless society, it might be a good idea to carry around some physical cash or your credit or debit card in your wallet as a backup. For example, your smartphone battery might die just as you are about to pay for something, or you may be experiencing difficulty at the checkout using your digital wallet, and it won’t let you pay for your items for whatever reason.
Therefore, having cash or cards on standby can be handy. You might not need to use your cash or cards, but you will be glad you came prepared if you do end up having to use a traditional payment method. Digital wallets are generally easy to use and always free to sign up to.
As well as using the funds stored in your digital wallet to pay for things from your smartphone or tablet device, you can also use those same digital wallets to pay for goods and services when visiting websites from your desktop or laptop computer.
How to stay safe when using digital wallets to pay for things
Before you pay for anything at a website using your preferred digital wallet, take a few minutes to check that the website is safe. For example, does it have SSL encryption protection? SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption technology, which is usually 128 or 256-bit, protects your transactions and any personal information or banking details you enter on the website.
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