Truth be told, there is no straightforward answer to this question, like a one particular method.
In general, I think payment methods fall into one of the two categories: instant and traditional ones.
As far as the latter are concerned, I don’t think it’s the best term for these, but what I mean by that is traditional bank transfers and some obscure payment methods that take several days to process the payment. In general, I think rarely anyone uses these, now that you have so many other options that are so much faster and much more convenient than relying on international bank transfers, for example.
As far as the instant payment methods are concerned, there aren’t too many differences between their speed. Credit or debit cards, instant bank transfers, PayPal, Skrill, WebMoney, Paysafecard, Klarna, iDeal, Venmo, Google Pay, bitcoins and the like are just as quick and to be honest, it’s only a matter of which of these is your favorite, which one you use the most. As long as it is available on g2a, you’re good to go (and g2a brags that they support, like, two hundred of these). If not, look for a similar payment method that your bank supports, as not every bank allows instant transfers, especially international ones.
The ”local payment methods” bit g2a boasts about also seems true. I tried switching regions, used the VPN and indeed some local options have popped up in the checkout. Still, these are probably the most popular methods available locally, not sure if they support the most obscure ones.
There’s also the thing about a wallet that g2a apparently has, simply called g2a wallet. It appeared in some countries when I was playing with the VPN, then disappeared in those that are part of the European Union, so I don’t know if it’s still available in general (maybe it’s got something to do with the regulation in the EU?), but this option seems to be the fastest: you just top up your account once with lots of money and then buy stuff with just one or two clicks, no extra hassle – aside from topping up your wallet afterwards, that is. I don’t use it, so I can’t help you with things like how to add funds and the like.
Usually, a payment using one of the instant methods takes up to several minutes tops, which depends on a wide variety of factors, including your Internet connection, the bank having some communication issues or not and the number of steps that need to be taken in order to complete the payment (inputting all the details and clicking stuff might actually constitute, like, half of the time spent on conducting a transaction).
Usually, you have to log in and provide some details, then enter a security code that will authorize the transaction and allow it to be processed by the payment provider. As I said, this only takes a few moments and you should be able to enjoy the game you bought on g2a in a couple of minutes at worst.
What can you do in the case of payments not working? First things first, you should read the error messages that popped up. Usually it’s a matter of inputting some incorrect details, such as the CVV code or your credit card’s number. You should also check your Internet connection if it’s working properly, as sometimes this might cause problems.
Other issues might be on the bank’s side of things. Unfortunately, they do have technical breaks, connection problems and so on. If this happens, try again in a couple of minutes to see if things have gone back to normal. If not, this might mean some more serious issues. In this case I recommend choosing a different payment method, depending on the options available to you. As uncomfortable and time-consuming as it sounds, it’s good to have a couple of active payment methods to choose from, so that you can switch between them according to what you need.
So, to sum up:
- Most of the instant payment methods are pretty much equally fast. The only difference lies in the number of steps you need to take in order to complete a payment (probably).
- Skip non-instant payment methods, like international bank transfers, as these will be much more time-consuming (besides, who uses those these days?).
- If there are any problems with your payment, try again, check your Internet connection, or try an alternate payment method (it’s good to have more than one at your disposal).