Presumably there were some risk factors in your case that meant that they rejected you, it would be much more helpful to everyone if you specified what they were (i.e. you were in a high-risk industry like gambling, ticketing, etc.) that way people would have a better idea if what applied in your situation would also apply in theirs.
I can provide a counterpoint - we signed up with Braintree a few months back and their service so far has been nothing short of stellar. Nice API, well written client SDKs and a support team that you can chat to about code and get responses from very quickly. We found the signup process to be smooth.
I'll just copy-paste their announcement from the email list, I couldn't find any blog posts related to this:
European merchants who want to take advantage of Braintree to accept online and mobile payments can now apply for an account online.
The new streamlined process means that in minutes, merchants can complete the online application, and be on their way to accepting payments. Approval decisions usually follow a week or two after we receive your application.
With Braintree, merchants in 40 different countries can accept payments in more than 130 currencies, and settle in 13 currencies—including GBP, AUD, and EUR. Apply now and enjoy the global benefits of accepting online and mobile payments with Braintree—including our world-class support.
> European merchants who want to take advantage of Braintree to accept online and mobile payments can now apply for an account online.
I feel this is a common misconception that accepting credit cards in Europe equals having a good online payment option in Europe. It just means you've half implemented a payment system in Europe since a lot of people here use Debit cards [1]. Besides that there are also other common payments solution like direct bank to bank online Giro systems for example iDeal in the Netherlands or Giropay in Germany.
In my experience this isn't true at all, at least if you target startups and SMB. We have a task management product which is used by many lifehackers around Europe, and we get requests about iDeal or Giropay only occasionally. We also have an intranet/wiki product which is sold to businesses in the 5-200 people range and everybody pays with a Credit Card no problem (OK, a few prefer wire transfer).
If you have a B2C company where you want to charge €10 or so then alternative payment methods may become an issue. But if you sell SaaS subscriptions for €50 or €200 a month a Credit Card is still the way to go, even in Europe.
I for one avoid using my debit car online and I know many others who do the same, so I've always assumed few people use them online.
While the extra protection offered on credit card purchases is not overly significant for the size of most purchases, it is more than nothing so worth having.
The stats you link to don't specify the marketplace sampled, but I suspect it covers physical outlets as well as online ones which will skew the figures for debit cards at least (unless my experience is not representative of the larger population).
Only to be told that my 6 year old business that has been in profit each and every year and does a respectable 6 figure turnover is "too risky"
fuck that