When travelling abroad, one of the easiest, most convenient, and safest ways to pay for goods and services at the checkout is to do so from your smartphone using a digital wallet, but what exactly is a digital wallet? Take a closer look right here.

What are digital wallets?
A digital wallet, which some refer to as a web wallet, electronic wallet, or e-Wallet, is also known as an APM (Alternative Payment Method).

It’s an online/digital/electronic service/payment solution that can be used to pay for goods and services from your smartphone either online at hundreds of thousands of websites or offline at land-based shops, restaurants, and other stores that accept digital wallets.

Digital wallets eliminate the need for people to pay for things in the traditional way. In other words, people no longer need to carry paper banknotes, coins, bank credit and debit cards, or cheques with them to pay for things.

Instead, they can use the money stored digitally in their preferred digital wallet, which means they are great for travelling.

What are the most popular digital wallets in the world?
The most famous digital wallet/e-Wallet that many of you will already be familiar with by now is PayPal. It’s hard to find websites that don’t accept PayPal, and it’s a great way to pay for things.

Digital wallets like PayPal are perfectly secure (more secure than traditional payment methods) and are known for processing instant transactions.

They can also be used to deposit funds into your favourite online casino account, such as 32Red casino, and then withdraw your winnings when it’s time to cash out.

Some of the world’s other most popular digital wallets are the following tried & tested payment solutions:
● Skrill
● NETELLER
● Apple Pay
● Google Wallet
● Samsung Pay
● ClickandBuy
● Entropay
● Cash App
● Revolut
● Venmo
● Zelle
● Alipay

They are all free to sign up to and they all offer similar services. When you sign up to use any of these highly recommended digital wallets, they have secure apps that can be downloaded and installed onto your smartphone in under a minute.

The types of services you will have access to are paying for things, keeping track of your transactions, 24-hour support, rewards programs, perks, benefits, exclusive offers, and more.
Digital wallets can also be used for more than just paying for goods and services. For example, you can store other things digitally in your wallet, such as concert & theatre tickets, your personal identification, gift cards, membership cards, and coupons.

You can also store your digital bus, plane and train tickets, which is another reason why digital wallets are great for travelling. Everything important can be stored digitally on your smartphone.

They save having to carry around all of these other items in the physical form in your pockets or bag. It can all be stored neatly in your digital wallet.

The only downside to relying on digital wallets is if you lose your smartphone or if the battery runs out at a crucial time when you’re just about to pay for something or show your ticket to gain entry to a venue. Therefore, having backup documents or backup cash is also still advisable.

What other popular digital wallets are there?
Apart from the digital wallets mentioned above, some other popular wallets that are also now accepted at many websites and can be used to pay for things at the checkout are eZeeWallet, Trustly Wallet, Citadel, Jeton, and WebMoney.

Others include EPS, Paytm, MuchBetter, Dwolla, Wise, Amazon Pay, Walmart Pay, LivePay, and Microsoft Wallet, to name a few.

Some of these digital wallets, such as PayPal, are classed as open wallets, which means they can be used at multiple sites (wherever you see the PayPal logo), and others, such as Walmart Pay, are classed as closed wallets because they are the complete opposite.

Closed wallets cannot be used to pay for things at multiple sites. If you plan on travelling abroad soon, you may want to consider using a digital wallet. They can help make your journey a much smoother experience.