Are shops allowed to refuse €100 bills?

DonJose · 24-01-2008 2:34pm #1

I was owed some money and was paid in €100 bills. I plan on paying for fuel today using a €100 bill. Are shops/garages legally allowed to refuse payment with €100 bills given it is legal tender. I've seen a few notices in shops where they refuse to accept bills above €50.

dublad23 · 24-01-2008 2:37pm

If the fuel is in your car and when you go to pay and if you say that's all you have they can't do much about it!

DonJose · 24-01-2008 2:42pm

dublad23 wrote: »

If the fuel is in your car and when you go to pay and if you say that's all you have they can't do much about it!

I'm not expecting a problem at the garage but what would happen if I went to a shop and the cashier refuses to accept the €100?

Barlow07 · 24-01-2008 2:45pm

DonJose wrote: »

I was owed some money and was paid in €100 bills. I plan on paying for fuel today using a €100 bill. Are shops/garages legally allowed to refuse payment with €100 bills given it is legal tender. I've seen a few notices in shops where they refuse to accept bills above €50.

Like you say its Legal tender so by law they should not be allowed to refuse it.

dublad23 · 24-01-2008 2:46pm

If you have loads why don't you just put them into your bank account and take the money out when needs be!

DonJose · 24-01-2008 2:51pm

dublad23 wrote: »

If you have loads why don't you just put them into your bank account and take the money out when needs be!

Its only 5 x €100 notes and this doesn't last long in ripoff Ireland

tbh · 24-01-2008 3:03pm

when you are in a shop, and you pick something up off the shelves, the shop is under no obligation to sell it to you. If they decide that they are not going to accept a €100 note, it's up to them. If it loses them business, that's a price they are obviously willing to accept, and you can't do anything about it.

MrPudding · 24-01-2008 3:08pm

tbh wrote: »

when you are in a shop, and you pick something up off the shelves, the shop is under no obligation to sell it to you. If they decide that they are not going to accept a €100 note, it's up to them. If it loses them business, that's a price they are obviously willing to accept, and you can't do anything about it.

This is ture, but then if he has the fuel in the car.......

MrP

Zulu · 24-01-2008 3:12pm

Are the allowed? Probably not - but what are you going to do about? Besides they have the right addmitance, you won't be able to force them to take it.

tbh · 24-01-2008 3:18pm

MrPudding wrote: »

This is ture, but then if he has the fuel in the car.......

MrP

true - if the place doesn't have large signs at every pump, it's their problem.

Gillo · 24-01-2008 4:54pm

There was a smiliar thread to this just before christmas, it got into a bit of a legal debate try looking it up.

Beano · 24-01-2008 5:18pm

Are they allowed? Definitely yes. Legal Tender just means they must be accepted as payment for a debt. If you go into a shop and try to buy something with a €100 note they can refuse to sell to you as no contract exists at that point and hence no debt exists.

thefinalstage · 24-01-2008 5:43pm

Beano wrote: »

Are they allowed? Definitely yes. Legal Tender just means they must be accepted as payment for a debt. If you go into a shop and try to buy something with a €100 note they can refuse to sell to you as no contract exists at that point and hence no debt exists.

But if they refuse to take it for petrol your off down the road.

Spud83 · 24-01-2008 5:51pm

thelastangryman wrote: »

But if they refuse to take it for petrol your off down the road.

If the petrol is already in your car then yes the will probably except it.

The reason for shops displaying signs like this is that many cashiers are instructed to not actually have more that €100 in their till at any one time.

This means that they probably wont have change for €100 which is why you see these signs in small shops as you are normally making small purchases. In bigger/higher end shops its not a problem as their normal customer is probably making a larger transaction.

The reason they are instructed to not have more than €100 in their till is because that is all they are insured for. If the shop gets robbed they can only claim €100 back from the insurers from each till that was robbed.

Riskymove · 24-01-2008 5:53pm

exactly

if they don't have the change they can refuse but

if you bought something worth €100 they couldn't, its legal tender

Spud83 · 24-01-2008 5:59pm

Riskymove wrote: »

exactly

if they don't have the change they can refuse but

if you bought something worth €100 they couldn't, its legal tender

Once again a shop can refuse to sell you anything at any time. They are not obligated to sell you anything, its there decision wether they want to enter in to a contract with you.

So they can still refuse €100 euro notes if they want to. I was just explaining why these signs exist, and the main reasons why a shop would refuse a €100 note.

Beano · 24-01-2008 6:01pm

Riskymove wrote: »

exactly

if they don't have the change they can refuse but

if you bought something worth €100 they couldn't, its legal tender

Like I already said this is not true. If you walk up to till with a €100 note in your hand they can refuse to serve you irrespective of what you are buying.

as much as i hate using wikipedia as a cite they do explain it quite well in the 4th paragraph here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender

Mena · 24-01-2008 6:06pm

Hypothetically, what if you walked into a store, open up say a can of cola or whatever, took a swig, then presented your €100.00 note?

Spud83 · 24-01-2008 6:11pm

Mena wrote: »

Hypothetically, what if you walked into a store, open up say a can of cola or whatever, took a swig, then presented your €100.00 note?

Well I presume they could do you for damaging their goods considering it is not yours until you have completed the transaction.

More than likely however they will take the €100 note.

BaconZombie · 24-01-2008 6:15pm

Mena wrote: »

Hypothetically, what if you walked into a store, open up say a can of cola or whatever, took a swig, then presented your €100.00 note?

You can be done for shop lifting but only as soon as you walk out the door.

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 24-01-2008 6:17pm

If the petrol is in the car then you have incurred a debt to the retailer for the value of such, therefore they can not refuse legal tender in repayment.

PeakOutput · 24-01-2008 6:17pm

shes not around so i cant ask her but my mother used to work in a bank and i think i remember her telling me that they can only legally refuse when you are trying to pay with 100 of a denomination so if you try to pay for something that costs a euro with 100 1 cent coins they dont have to accept it etc etc

it was a long time ago that i asked tho so i could be remembering the details wrong. there something about damaged notes being accepted aswell as long as the serial number is on the part you have

LuckyStar · 24-01-2008 6:17pm

They can refuse any note if they want to. I worked in a supermarket that would not accept notes over €50. There's nothing you can do about it, yes it is legal tender yada yada yada but it can be legally refused!

I have to say, from reading this forum, the amount of people that don't know the law and spread the wrong "facts" is shocking. I worked in that supermarket for a year and it was the same, the amount of people that told me "But I assumed..."... Just because you think it should be the law, doesn't mean it is.

Spud83 · 24-01-2008 6:20pm

Sean_K wrote: »

If the petrol is in the car then you have incurred a debt to the retailer for the value of such, therefore they can not refuse legal tender in repayment.

+1

This normally happens when providing services instead of products.

Mena · 24-01-2008 6:24pm

LuckyStar wrote: »

They can refuse any note if they want to. I worked in a supermarket that would not accept notes over €50. There's nothing you can do about it, yes it is legal tender yada yada yada but it can be legally refused!

I have to say, from reading this forum, the amount of people that don't know the law and spread the wrong "facts" is shocking. I worked in that supermarket for a year and it was the same, the amount of people that told me "But I assumed..."... Just because you think it should be the law, doesn't mean it is.

Well to be frank, this could very well simply be the supermarket playing on the customers lack of knowledge in the area. Simply because the "supermarket" says so does not make it legal.

Personally I'd like to see some real facts around this one. I know in South Africa for example, legal tender cannot be refused for any transaction (well it was so when I left many years ago). And no, I don't have a link

folan · 24-01-2008 6:24pm

Grey area on opening and not paying. you have damaged goods without paying. same for filling car before paying. but thats done in good faith? Im not sure how this works.

Anyway, its perfectly legal to refuse to accept any cash in any situation. many newsagents wont accept 100, i worked in a shop that wouldnt accept anything above 100. got into a fight with someone one day about it, security had to be called.

good times!

folan · 24-01-2008 6:26pm

tis the same as not accepting a credit card or debit card or cheque.

Mena · 24-01-2008 6:27pm

folan wrote: »

tis the same as not accepting a credit card or debit card or cheque.

There could be technical/fraud reasons for not accepting CC/DC and cheques, but cash is king no?

ateam · 24-01-2008 6:28pm

€100 note is nothing nowadays! €500 note might cause problems. I was coming home from Dundalk recently driving with 2 other people in the car. Just as we got to the toll, we all realised we had not a penny on us. I handed in my card credit card and they said they don't accept cards, I think that's unfair.

Spud83 · 24-01-2008 6:33pm

Mena wrote: »

Well to be frank, this could very well simply be the supermarket playing on the customers lack of knowledge in the area. Simply because the "supermarket" says so does not make it legal.

Personally I'd like to see some real facts around this one. I know in South Africa for example, legal tender cannot be refused for any transaction (well it was so when I left many years ago). And no, I don't have a link

A shop can refuse to sell anything to any customer at any time without reason.

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 24-01-2008 6:34pm

folan wrote: »

tis the same as not accepting a credit card or debit card or cheque.

None of these are legal tender, they are sometimes offered as a service by retailers to give customers an easier way of paying, but they are NOT legal tender.

Cash, in Ireland is legal tender. Coins up to a certain volume, and an infinite quantity of notes must be accepted in repayment of a debt already incurred under Irish law.

A supermarket does not have to accept anything as payment for goods, as, at no point before a transaction is the customer indebted to them. The goods remain the property of the supermarket. They do not have to accept legl tender.

For a situation such as a petrol station or a taxi driver, a debt is incurred once the car is filled up, or once you have been dropped to your destination, to therefore legal tender must be accepted in repayment, unless there are other contractual considerations agreed upon by both parties.

Hope this clarifies.

Are shops allowed to refuse €100 bills?

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