1. It doesn't make any sense to allow yourself to risk spending more than you have
2. They're more prone to abuse: if somebody gets hold of the numbers on your card (whether by a leak or hack or by old-fashioned pickpocketing), no further PIN, password or 2FA token is required
3. The only use for them is online spending outside Europe, and even then the number of websites that require them is rapidly shrinking (PayPal can work with bank accounts, and Stripe now supports SEPA direct debit and local payment methods such as SOFORT (Germany), iDEAL (Netherlands) and Bancontact (Belgium))
4. They cost money (see point 3, people don't like paying for things they don't use)
The cost of the risk of fraud is bundled into the ~2-3% transaction fee.
1. As for 1, it's self control.
3. The only use is not for online shopping, it's for every day use. Cash can get stolen, credit card can, but you can then cancel it.
4. Plenty of cards are free.
3. For every day use, there is your bank card which comes for free with your bank account. (A growing number of people don't use cash daily, and there are even people who have ditched cash altogether and gone card-only.)
4. I have not run into any free CCs offered in my country (Netherlands). If you have, please point me to them.
As for fraud, it's not only about the risk, but also about the hassle. I have heard of people who had their credit card suddenly cancelled because of fraudulent transactions, and the banks will only send a replacement to your home address, even when you are travelling! The risk that this happens with a bank card is much lower, as entering your PIN proves that you authorize the transaction.
Definitely not the experience in united states. I was offered to cancel my card for a similar situation, and they offered to send it to my country.
I guess a bunch of countries are behind USA in credit card offerings. I am from Turkey, and situation in Turkey is very similar to united states - credit cards are very very common.
China is almost credit card free now, except for things like pre-auth at hotels. People use apps like alipay or wechat to pay everything. They have the following advantages:
* Easy to use, you always carry your phone.
* Never expire.
* Password protected, card number and CVV are fragile.
* Works without a POS. Basically in China QR-codes on paper are everywhere.
* Online payment is super easy, you won't need to type billing addresses, etc.
I recently got my first card. Before that, I had tried applying for two but got rejected for some random reason. It's a pain to navigate through the banking bureaucracy, so I didn't try hard. Because debit cards worked fine always, even for International transactions, I never felt a strong need to get one.
In some countries you won't get a credit card if your employment has gaps etc. - and debit cards serve the exact same purpose as credit cards, just with different billing model.