tbh, i was thinking that at some point (loooking at the URL of your website): "hmm, that looks like a service provided by ISPs decades ago. I hope she doesn't lose it."

fwiw, i have been satisfied with this paid email provider (1€/month). i particularly like the plenty of payment methods.
i self-host my website.
but for both email & website i use a forwarding service. you cannot use that one, but i'm sure similar solutions exist elsewhere. i did that once years ago and hopefully never again will i have to tell my friends that my email changed (even if i should find out that my current email provider isn't so good after all).

Which was in fact my point.

I reckon everything is spied on these days, so I just use plain web mail, I have 3 accounts, if 'they' want to look, so be it, they won't find anything interesting, unless they're into computer, ukulele, whistle, flute, or harmonica forums.

Never mind, hazel - we cross paths many times. Give it to me on something else .
There's also Kim Dot Com's mega.nz with the same philosophy as a cloud drive. It gives 50G free, although I think they throttle bandwidth on free users. Same Privacy principles.

And there was I thinking that email addresses and a web page were something all ISPs provided. Some of my friends have multiple addresses so that family members can have their own mailboxes.
Just checked them. Another setup that I like the look of on ideological grounds. And it supports pop3 with nice instructions on how to set it up. The problem would be paying them. I don't have (or want) a credit card, I don't currently have any facilities set up for direct bank transfer and I'm reluctant to set them up for security reasons. I don't do online banking on principle. If they did a direct debit, that would be OK, but of course you can't use those internationally.

What would be the point of paying 1€ a month for an email account when for 0.90€ you can get the first years hosting for a website and Roundcube webmail as part of it?

I think you can make up to 500 addresses and forward mail received to another box.

I consider online banking too risky but I do have a Paypal account that is connected to my local checking account. The purchase amount is automatically deducted from my checking account during the sales transaction.

Initially I was doing it as check-by-phone through Paypal to have money transferred to my Paypal account. That took 10-14 days to clear and the money be transferred before I could make my purchase. Not everybody works that way.

Once I had my Paypal and checking account linked it was instant access. I've never had a credit card but do have a debit card through my bank so I can draw out the money I have via ATM. I also have that linked to Paypal.

I got mine set up so I could shop ebay and am very comfortable using ebay and Paypal. I limit what scripting I allow and that is a big security issue with me. If I use another machine it may tell me it's not recognized as mine and ask to call my phone for conformation before being allowed to proceed. I feel secure in using their services and in my security measures or wouldn't have any part of it.

I had been limiting myself significantly for no good reason. I have a collection of Soviet Era watches and done business in many different countries. I got to be friends with the main guy I bought watches from in Russia. His Father was a watchmaker and cleaned all mine before they were shipped as a favor. It's been an enriching experience. And I love a good bargain.

As far as I am aware Direct Debit is a lot more risky than credit cards, for example, as the rules are a little odd and I seem to recall the recipient can take more than initially agreed without authorisation.
I have to admit I have now added a credit card to Google Pay so I can pay for some things monthly, however, before that I was buying Google Pay vouchers with physical UK notes -- no bank details needed.
edit: [b]hazel[b], the way I understand it one of the simpklest, yet more protected, ways to pay for hosting would be to have a credit card you use for hosting, then let your bank direct-debit the full balance out of your account to that card so that you incur no interest.

I don't like the idea of Paypal for the same reason that I don't like using my debit card online. Both are directly connected to your current account.

With direct debit, the amount can be changed but the organisation drawing the money have to notify you well in advance. If you don't agree with the change, you can cancel the arrangement.
There is a guarantee given by all banks that you get a refund if more money is taken than you authorised.

hazel look into these: https://www.maketecheasier.com/secure-email-services/
or here are the highlights:
https://mailfence.com/en/
https://protonmail.com/
https://www.hushmail.com/
https://tutanota.com/
https://www.mail.com/mail/

you can even pay in cash (it doesn't say so on the site, but i'm sure it means sending money in an envelope).

also, can't you simply pay the money from your account into their account yourself, by walking into your bank (if you don't do online) and doing just that? that's what I do (albeit online), once a year.

like i said, plenty of payment methods.

I'll hand out one more piece of advice: If/When they ask your age or birthday,lie. I registered my wife on Apple as born in 1886, because they rejected 1885. Who aims their products at folks over 130? Needless to say her spam is low.

Sure, if you have Deutschmarks available! I don't.
You mean a BACS transfer. Yes, that might work. If they give you their account number and sort code, that would be possible.

@Business_kid, I don't need to lie about my age. I'm already old enough not to be of any interest to advertisers (except ads for stairlifts and incontinence pads perhaps)

I agree that using a debit card for online payments (or even in person payments) is a bad idea. It is a direct link to your money. Even if your bank or the law has policies that will give you the money back in case of fraud you might still have to deal with other fallout due to automatic payments of outstanding checks bouncing.

Using a credit card, you're insulated from the fraud by a billing cycle and dispute the charges without paying them so the cash never goes away. Of course you have the risk of someone stealing your CC from a site where you've used it.

One of the few reasons I still use Bank of America is their Visa cards let you use a thing called ShopSafe. ShopSafe lets you generate a temporary credit card number, set the expiration (as little as 2 months) and the spending limit. Moreover once you use the temporary credit card at a site it can't be used anywhere else so even if someone hacks that vendor and gets the card it is useless to them. The charges appear on your regular credit card account but the vendor never sees your real credit card number.

One beauty of setting the limit is vendors that "automatically renew" unless you opt out just before renewal find that the card they try to renew on has expired so they have to ask you for a new one.

Personally I think such automatic renewals should be opt-in only rather than opt-out just before renewal - these people rely on you not keeping track of the opt-out later. Shopsafe protects me against such people.

Citibank has the same thing available with some of their cards - they call it a Virtual Account Number. I use it all of the time for online purchases. It's one of the big reasons I've kept my Citibank card.