Card only sales.

[VicW]

Yet again I was in a shop today that would only accept cards for payment. When I queried the legality of this requirement the cashier didn't know whether it was legal or not but said, obviously, that no cash made their accounting considerably easier, so much so that they were going to stay with card only sales after lockdown. Is this legal not accepting coin of the realm as a tender for payment?

Vic.

[hemming]

I believe shops can opt to insist on card only (or cash only if it comes to that).
I've just heard today that Tesco are introducing a system where, when using pay at the pump, they take an initial  ("holding") deposit of £100. This is intended to be adjusted when refuelling is completed. However, this may not be the case and you could have to go through your own bank to get the refund on your actual spend. Sounds like a potential
nightmare if true. Good luck (not) to them trying to make this stick...

[trebor1652]

You could always vote with your feet and shop elsewhere.


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[trebor1652]

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18820506.martin-lewis-explains-shops-can-refuse-accept-cash/

Just found this.

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[culzean]

Explanation of 'legal tender' - a court cannot refuse cash in payment of a fine....   but businesses can refuse to take cash, or to take cards as long as it is clearly displayed.

[peteo48]

First time I came across this was a cafe somewhere that had gone to card only and this was before lockdown. They had also banned tipping but had given the staff a pay rise to compensate. They argued that dealing with cash was an expensive business.

[WelshBeauty]

The Tesco £100 'marker', is that the same as when a company pre-authorise your card with a agreeded deposit? These deposits can take up to a week to be removed.

[hemming]

I don't think it's the same thing as the pre-authorised limit you are speaking about.
I imagine that part of the purpose is to make sure that customers do not fill up before finding that there is not enough in their bank account to pay.
We have drifted a bit from Vic's original post but I hope his query has been answered.

[nowster]

In legal speak, a shop offers items for sale as an "invitation to treat". It can decide whether or not it will accept your method of payment.

If they allow you to have that item "on account" and then pursue you through the courts for that debt, and the court orders you to pay the debt, they may not refuse any legal tender in payment of that debt, even if it takes the form of a wheelbarrow full of pound coins.

[embee]

As nowster says, it's an invitation not a right.

As for the amount "set aside" at a pay-at-pump, this catches folk out particularly when on holiday abroad. In France for example, failing to pay (writing a cheque when there are insufficient funds etc) is taken far more seriously than here in the UK, though I believe the legal principles are essentially the same. If you write a bouncy cheque you are in real trouble.

At a pay-at-pump, you can use a debit card or a credit card.

If it is a debit card it is effectively the same as a cheque drawn on your personal bank account, and in France they will lay claim to an amount to cover the maximum potential fuel delivery (Eu100 or similar) in order that you cannot default on the payment. Until the actual transaction clears, that Eu100 in your current account is earmarked for them. If you fill up again before it has cleared then another Eu100 will be earmarked. Folk have discovered that they suddenly have no available funds in their current account until the transactions have cleared.

If you use a credit card, the fuel company is dealing with the credit card company not your personal account, and as such they "know" that they will be paid, consequently only the actual transaction amount gets charged, they don't need to safeguard the potential full Eu100.

Always use a CREDIT card when paying at a pump abroad.

[Westy36]

All well and good being card only, but it is reliant upon your card and their card machine working. Internet problems, or a card problem occuring, could leave one easily inconvenienced by such a policy, so I do not think it should be allowed.

Quite a large section of our society still work on a cash only basis. Excludes them, so not on at all IMHO.

All of that said, I can't remember the last time I paid cash for anything! 

Always use a CREDIT card when paying at a pump abroad.

Agreed. Check the charges too. We used a Halifax Mastercard for our countless euro trips, as they have no foreign transaction fees unlike a lot of providers. 

[culzean]

I pay for pretty much everything by credit card, and never, ever, ever, ever use debit card on internet... using debit card allows people access to your bank account, with credit card you have the huge infrastructure of the credit company between you and problems.

When using credit card the transaction / contract is between the seller and the credit card company, legally you are out of the loop and any problems will be sorted by credit card company.  Anything over £100 you are very well covered and entitled to money back if anything goes wrong  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

I have had problems in the past with getting money back either for goods not supplied or faulty goods and one mention to supplier of involving the likes of Mastercard or Visa and the money is back within days.....

[culzean]

First time I came across this was a cafe somewhere that had gone to card only and this was before lockdown. They had also banned tipping but had given the staff a pay rise to compensate. They argued that dealing with cash was an expensive business.

Well pilfering by staff will be reduced if cash out of the loop, but the cost of the machine and the amount card companies charge must make cards more expensive than cash,  especially American Express,  who according to businesses I have spoken to 'charge like a wounded bull'..... and that is the reason a lot of places do not accept AMEX.   The real reason businesses like cards is that people simply spend more, as many investigations have shown,  with cash it is 'real' and you know exactly how much you are forking out, and can only spend what you have with you, with a card it 'is not real money' until the statement arrives 

https://www.valuepenguin.com/credit-cards/credit-card-spending-studies

There are many other tricks besides cards that retailers use...

https://www.thedollarstretcher.com/frugal-living/food-and-groceries/how-retailers-trick-shoppers-into-spending-more/

As Peter Kay says in 'Car Share',  'eye level is buy level'.

[richardfrost]

I pay for pretty much everything by credit card, and never, ever, ever, ever use debit card on internet... using debit card allows people access to your bank account, with credit card you have the huge infrastructure of the credit company between you and problems.

When using credit card the transaction / contract is between the seller and the credit card company, legally you are out of the loop and any problems will be sorted by credit card company.  Anything over £100 you are very well covered and entitled to money back if anything goes wrong  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

I have had problems in the past with getting money back either for goods not supplied or faulty goods and one mention to supplier of involving the likes of Mastercard or Visa and the money is back within days.....

I have worked in the Banking & Financial Services world for 40 years, still do, and I 100% endorse everything Culzean just said. I would just add that secondary card holders, e.g. my wife, often don't have all the same benefits, so best to get people to have primary cards in their own names if you can.

The system of filling up in the US gets me every time. I think you have to guess an amount, they charge that and then adjust the amount down if you don't spend that. We ended up never brimming the tank as we always wanted to guess low.

[TnTkr]

I believe shops can opt to insist on card only (or cash only if it comes to that).
I've just heard today that Tesco are introducing a system where, when using pay at the pump, they take an initial  ("holding") deposit of £100. This is intended to be adjusted when refuelling is completed. However, this may not be the case and you could have to go through your own bank to get the refund on your actual spend. Sounds like a potential
nightmare if true. Good luck (not) to them trying to make this stick...

In Finland it's been a standard for all pay-at-pump stations for years that you can select the amount of deposit i.e. maximum sum that you are getting fuel out of the pump. This applies both debit and credit. I have never had any delays in adjusting tha actual amount. And with any delays I mean that I have never managed to see the amount of deposit on my account. Update delay on the bank statement when looked at online bank is bigger than delay in adjusting the deposit.