Card payments - minimum spend?

The Ayatolla

I go into a petrol station and the cost of my items is €7.50 - the shop assistant tells me I must spend €10 to use my contactless debit card or chip/pin.

I always wondered, is this "legal"?

Or can I say, "tough ****, I only have card"?

Or, do I have to throw in the pack of Wrigley's Extra and a bottle of Deep RiverRock?

Edups

The Ayatolla wrote: »

I go into a petrol station and the cost of my items is €7.50 - the shop assistant tells me I must spend €10 to use my contactless debit card or chip/pin.

I always wondered, is this "legal"?

Or can I say, "tough ****, I only have card"?

Or, do I have to throw in the pack of Wrigley's Extra and a bottle of Deep RiverRock?

I believe it's at the shops discretion

BeardySi

Shops don't have to accept cards. If they do they're free to have a minimum spend. Nothing is stopping you from walking away, I often have - it's a practice that I find rather irritating.

Del2005

Treadhead wrote: »

Shops don't have to accept cards. If they do they're free to have a minimum spend. Nothing is stopping you from walking away, I often have - it's a practice that I find rather irritating.

AFAIK they can't have a minimum spend on the machines according to their contracts, but the margins are so low that it costs them money for smaller transactions.

Joseph

So the only piece of info I have about this is (and I know it is not directly related to your question) if they are charging a fee for card use the maximum they can charge is the cost to them for the transaction.

L1011

Joseph wrote: »

So the only piece of info I have about this is (and I know it is not directly related to your question) if they are charging a fee for card use the maximum they can charge is the cost to them for the transaction.

Don't believe there is any legislation about this.

Most merchant agreements ban minimums but the banks have no interest in enforcing. The rates have been cut hugely by EU regulations recently and I've seen a direct reduction in shops with limits of surcharges since.

hdowney

Treadhead wrote: »

Shops don't have to accept cards. If they do they're free to have a minimum spend. Nothing is stopping you from walking away, I often have - it's a practice that I find rather irritating.

In most cases walking away is fine, but in the OPs example he has already pumped petrol into his tank.
I believe in these instances the shop should clearly state on each pump the minimum card transaction they allow. Otherwise they are basically scamming customers into spending more, knowing very well they CAN'T walk away.

snubbleste

hdowney wrote: »

In most cases walking away is fine, but in the OPs example he has already pumped petrol into his tank. ....

Where does it say that

clairewithani

L1011 wrote: »

Don't believe there is any legislation about this.

Most merchant agreements ban minimums but the banks have no interest in enforcing. The rates have been cut hugely by EU regulations recently and I've seen a direct reduction in shops with limits of surcharges since.

Well is charging for a lower amount ok. I had it happen twice (in the same shop admittedly) where I was asked to pay 20c on my purchase or a €10 minimum spend. I opted for the 20c because I hate having to buy things just to make up the €10.

hdowney

snubbleste wrote: »

Where does it say that

Fair point it doesn't explicitly (its early. Brain not working) but given that the location is a petrol station it is safe to assume that some customers will be pumping petrol then entering the shop to pay, just to be hit by the minimum spend.

Special Circumstances

clairewithani wrote: »

Well is charging for a lower amount ok. I had it happen twice (in the same shop admittedly) where I was asked to pay 20c on my purchase or a €10 minimum spend. I opted for the 20c because I hate having to buy things just to make up the €10.

Sounds like Spar's policy on contactless cards!

OldMrBrennan83

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LittleGarry

hdowney wrote: »

Fair point it doesn't explicitly (its early. Brain not working) but given that the location is a petrol station it is safe to assume that some customers will be pumping petrol then entering the shop to pay, just to be hit by the minimum spend.

Who buys €7.50 worth of petrol these days - wouldn't even fill a 5L petrol can?!

wyndham

LittleGarry wrote: »

Who buys €7.50 worth of petrol these days - wouldn't even fill a 5L petrol can?!

Mopeds/motorbikes/lawnmowers/petrol bombers

M94

My local centra wants to charge 20c for every card transaction under 10, it's the only shop I have seen that does that and I don't have much choice since it's 5 min from my house by walk.

testicles

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dudara

Off topic posts removed. Let's leave the AH comments in AH.

dudara

Fred Swanson

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Walter2016

The cost of lodging cash is similar to the new debit card charges so I just can't see the reason for the charge.

It does really annoy people and probably costs a lot more in lost business.

Edups

M94 wrote: »

My local centra wants to charge 20c for every card transaction under 10, it's the only shop I have seen that does that and I don't have much choice since it's 5 min from my house by walk.

I find this better than flat out refusing cards

Head Wreck

My local has a minimum spend of a tenner, PLUS a 50c charge for anything under 20euro.

I complained to the shop and the bank but nothing changed.

ibFoxer

I was given to understand that there was no minimum spend on a contactless transaction?

OldMrBrennan83

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BeardySi

I wouldn't go back full stop.

I wonder is this local shop perhaps a rural shop with no others nearby?

Skatedude

The banks charge a minimum charge per transaction and the shops will often lose money on sales if they are less then a tenner or so. but most stations have atm's so you can usually get cash

Head Wreck

Patww79 wrote:

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Treadhead wrote:

I wonder is this local shop perhaps a rural shop with no others nearby?

The nearst shop is about 6 miles away. They don't accept card payments at all so really we have no choice. Nearest ATM is 10 miles away

allthedoyles

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Looking at the BOI website schedule of charges , they charge 1c per contactless transaction .

clairewithani

allthedoyles wrote: »

Looking at the BOI website schedule of charges , they charge 1c per contactless transaction .

1c to whom

Cardholder?
Retailer?
Both?

Edups

clairewithani wrote: »

1c to whom

Cardholder?
Retailer?
Both?

The cardholder. The retailer chargers are set by whoever manages their card machine.

Sleeper12

I am charged 25c for each transaction I receive from a debit card & 3% from a credit card. I can see why shops have a minimum spend.
I have the opposite problem. If I supply & fit a product for 800 euro I'm getting about 100 for the fitting part. It kills me that almost 25 euro comes out of the 100. It makes a huge difference to me if someone uses a credit rather than a debit card

BrokenArrows

The Ayatolla wrote: »

I go into a petrol station and the cost of my items is €7.50 - the shop assistant tells me I must spend €10 to use my contactless debit card or chip/pin.

I always wondered, is this "legal"?

Or can I say, "tough ****, I only have card"?

Or, do I have to throw in the pack of Wrigley's Extra and a bottle of Deep RiverRock?

Nothing wrong with this. I agree its annoying but the shop needs to make a profit.

Every time you use your card a % of the price gets paid to the credit card authorization company.

These companies also have two types of fee. One for secure businesses who spend time and money to make sure their CC transactions are secure and others who couldnt give a ****. The latter being more expensive and probably where the small petrol station or shops fall into.

They will probably pay something like 2% of 25cents per transaction.

So if you buy something for €1 and try paying with a card then the shop has just lost 25% of the price of that product.